So by now you may have noticed that I haven't written anything on Burnt Orange Report in over a week and a half. That's because I've taken temporary leave of Texas to come up to Kalamazoo, MI where the city is voting on whether to extend basic job, housing, and public accommodation protections based on sexual orientation and sexual identity. Yes, I'm one of the those people who thinks vacation includes canvassing, phonebanking, and managing media operations. What can I say?
As part of my time here, I've had an opportunity to experience a fully operational field, voter registration, student organizing, media, and community based campaign with real urgency. As such, I've helped to organize a project to bring awareness and support to all three of the GLBT battles facing electoral battles next Tuesday (Maine, Washington State, and of course, Kalamazoo). It's the Countdown to Equality project which you'll see across the wider GLBT and political blogospheres today.
See you back in Texas next week, hopefully with a victory in hand.
Kalamazoo, MI:
Who We Are: The Yes on Ordinance 1856 / One Kalamazoo campaign is working in Michigan to support the City Commission of Kalamazoo's twice approved ordinance for housing, employment, and public accommodation protections for gay and transgender residents. Opponents forced a public referendum on the ordinance so dedicated local volunteers, led by former Stonewall Democrats Executive Director Jon Hoadley, are working to ensure voters say YES to fairness and equality and keep Ordinance 1856.
Why The Urgency: In the final weeks, the opposition has gone all out with aggressive disinformation and misleading red herrings to try to defeat the ordinance. This includes signs that say "No to Discrimination" (even though voting No actually supports continued discrimination of GLBT residents), transphobic door hangers and fliers, and now radio ads that falsely suggest that criminal behavior will become legal when this simply isn't true. The Yes on Ordinance 1856 supporters are better organized but many voters who want to vote for gay and transgender people are getting confused by the opposition.
This is a sample of the radio ad and fliers that the opposition is using to confuse voters.
How To Help:
1) Help the One Kalamazoo campaign raise a final $10,000 specifically dedicated to fight back against the lies on the local TV and radio airwaves and fully fund the campaign's final field and GOTV efforts.
2) If you live nearby and can physically volunteer in Kalamazoo sign up here. If you know anyone that lives in Kalamazoo, use the One Kalamazoo campaign's online canvass tool to remind those voters that they need to vote on November 3rd and vote YES on Ordinance 1856 to support equality for gay and transgender people.
