DID YOU CALL IN GAY (OR GAY FRIENDLY) TODAY?

The Day Without a Gay mission statement reads:

"Gays, lesbians, and straight allies plan to call in “gay” to volunteer within their local LGBT communities on December 10, 2008 to protest passage of anti-gay constitutional amendments in Arizona, Florida, and California. Wherever possible, gay Americans and allies plan to volunteer for local gay and civil rights organizations across the country through a brand new national database at www.daywithoutagay.wetpaint.org.

Every day since Election Day, thousands have protested up and down streets in cities across California, including in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento. A national, grassroots coalition of LGBT activists have followed in their footsteps. Now gay citizens and their allies are teaming up to show America and the world the compassion, the love, and the posititve spirit of the gay community through service.

On December 10, 2008 the gay community will take a historic stance against hatred by donating their time to a variety of different causes in order to raise public awareness of the need for LGBT equality in marriage and in other civil rights."

Personally, I'm still working through where I stand on the use and abuse of marriage as a general societal institution, but the fact that we're being discriminated against from a legal standpoint based on personal biases is just wrong, and for that I will stand up.

I really don't know what kind of impact this is actually going to have -- or how anybody could possibly even measure it. I don't particularly like the idea of protesting for the sake of protesting, and personally feel that this effort wasn't thought through all that well nor organized very effectively, which is likely how Prop 8 got passed in the first place.

But here it is just the same.

Stay home today if you can and try not to circulate any money.

We do deserve the same basic rights as everyone else. And that alone is worth joining the effort.