California Action Alerts: A Prop 8 Campaign Update from COLAGE

COLAGE calls on youth and adults with LGBTQ parents, their families and our allies to take action to defeat Proposition 8 this weekend.

1. Display your No on 8 Signs in response to Conservative Churches Sign Making Campaign

We have learned that there is a plan in place to put up one million 'Yes on 8' yard signs at 7:00 am on September 22nd. The effort is not necessarily to persuade unsure voters but instead to identify the Yes vote throughout communities within California. While this effort is said to be headed by the Mormon Church who has also helped fund the Yes campaign by several million dollars many other faith based groups are taking part as well. The plan is to place them in unison and whether or not that happens it is said to be the largest faith based political efforts ever in the state of California. The main groups working on this campaign is the Mormon, Catholic, and Evangelical Christian church whom also allied together 8 years ago during Proposition 22. This goes to show that the message of "separation between church and state" needs to be emphasized more than ever in the next 48 days!

We won't let their sign campaign intimidate us as a community or our allies. Let's take a moment to regain strength and the courage to get out there and have our voices be heard of the importance of voting NO on 8. There are other things you can do as well, make your own yard signs to be put out the same day and/or window posters to hang.

Art and Action Parties: For Bay Area folks, COLAGE is hosting and Art and Action Party on September 27th in Oakland in response to this where we will be creating our own signs, postcards and advocacy materials. For more information visit the COLAGE Bay Area website. If you live in another area of California and are interested in hosting an Art and Action Party, please contact Paulie Milagros Schreck by email or 415-861-5437 to learn how!

2. Join a Weekend of Action event near you!

COLAGE encourages our members and allies to join this weekend’s actions. Over the weekend thousands of volunteers will be staffing phone banks, going door to door, emailing friends and waving lawn signs to bring attention to the growing coalition opposing Prop 8 on the November ballot.

From staffing phone banks, to going door to door, from faith leaders urging congregations to join the cause, to supporters waving signs, thousands of volunteers to the No on Prop 8 campaign will be reaching out in their local communities to urge their neighbors, friends and co-workers to Vote No in November. Youth are welcome to participate and everyone can make a difference!

Learn more about the many volunteer opportunities available near you online.

3. Now is a great time to donate to Equality for All

Have you heard that the right-wing has now raised $16 million to pass Prop 8? Just $5 million of this has been raised since September 1. They've used this money to buy massive amounts of air time to run ads for Prop 8 as early as late September. Soon endless ads will flood the airwaves with the goal of eliminating marriage rights for same-sex couples.

We need your help now more than ever – because we are behind. The Yes on 8 campaign is out fundraising our side at a pace of 3 to 2. We must match what is raised dollar for dollar with the right wing; if we do not, we are at serious risk of losing this November. We must raise $200,000 in the next 48 hours to meet our fundraising goal. Donate Now.

You've probably heard that the polls show our side ahead. Some are saying that victory for our side is a sure thing. Don't be fooled! This race is too close to call. The ugly truth we have learned from defeat after defeat in states across the country is that people lie on polls, especially about how they feel about LGBT people. In contest after contest, from Wisconsin to Colorado, we have gone into election day with polls showing our side with 7 to 10 points more support than we actually received at the ballot box.

And, these polls do not factor in the media battle that is about to unfold here in California. We know that between 15% - 20% of California voters remain undecided on Prop 8. We can persuade them to vote no, but only if we reach them first and often with our message. Reaching them via TV will be vital to win. Right now the opposition may out-campaign us over the airwaves. We must be competitive on TV or we risk losing undecided voters to the other side.

We must raise more money now to stay competitive. And we need your help to do so. If you've given before – thank you – we need you to dig even deeper for our fight. If you've not yet given, now is the time to act. Give today directly to the Equality For All Campaign to help us reach our ambitious $200,000 fundraising goal.

For more information about what you can do to participate in COLAGE’s effort for No on 8 contact Paulie Schreck at paulie@COLAGE.org or 415-861-5437