Stop the Hate Pink Day: Wear Pink!

Like many of you, I wanted to take part in the "Day without a Gay" protest against Prop 8, but I was unable to because of current economic conditions (read: I'm broke and can't afford to lose my job because I called in "gay"). But there were other problems with getting people to participate in that movement; for one thing, in its name alone, it excluded all those who don't identify as gay but wanted to support the cause.

So I was trying to think of a way that people could show their support for gay civil rights that didn't involve the potential of losing one's job, and I came up with this. Let's all wear pink on January 15th to show our support for reinstating marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.

I know what you're thinking: How is wearing pink going to advance the queer civil rights movement? One of the great frustrations I've heard about the No on Prop 8 campaign is our complete lack of visibility. People didn't see us. There weren't even gay people on the literature or ads. So let's raise the visibility. Let's let people see us. Let people see that we're proud of who we are and proud of whom we love. Wear pink on January 15th and show the world that we won't go back into the closet.

Update as of January 5th: I wanted to make sure everyone knew about a major hate crime that occurred in the Bay Area last month. On December 13, a Richmond lesbian was brutally gang raped by four men who have now been arrested and are being charged with a hate crime. You can read about it here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/01/01/state/n091840S52.DTL

Studies have shown that incidents of hate activity have gone up in areas that have passed anti-gay legislation. While the passage of Prop 8 didn't cause this attack, the atmosphere that it created makes it easier for some to see us as less than human. I started this group to do something about Prop 8, and now wearing pink seems woefully inadequate. If you want to do more, please check out this website that was created to support the victim of this attack:

http://tatasworld.typepad.com/were_here_for_you/

We need to remind the world that we are beautiful human beings. We need to tell the world that we will not suffer quietly. And we need to be seen. Please forward this note and invite anyone you know who wants the hate to end to join us on January 15th.

We are going to make a graphic you can download to wear as a sticker if you like, but queers are generally creative anyway and can figure out their own nonverbal messaging pretty well.