We're Just Two Weeks Away

Two weeks away from the day we celebrate love - Valentine's Day - and two weeks away from the largest state-wide visibility push ever conducted for the freedom to marry.

Take the first step: add your name to our letter to Governor Schwarzenegger that has already garnered over 8,700 signatures. Ask him to tell the California Supreme Court that the current law banning marriage for lesbian and gay couples is unconstitutional and that all loving couples deserve the freedom to marry. We're delivering it on February 14th, and we want your name on it.

On our day of visibility – Valentine’s Day -- it’s also vital that we make ourselves seen. That means wearing your Let California Ring t-shirt and displaying your ring wherever it can be seen (on your finger, bag or your keychain) to prompt a conversation about what the freedom to marry means to you.

If you’ve already ordered a ring, you should get it by Valentine’s Day. Order a t-shirt at a special rate of just $20 between now and February 6th to get yours by February 14th!

Help us make Valentine’s Day a milestone to remember for the LGBT community by making yourself seen and heard today:

• Sign our open letter to Governor Schwarzenegger. Show him that you’re one of the many Californians – his constituents! – who support the freedom to marry for all people.
  


• Get a t-shirt at a special $20 rate and wear it with pride on Valentine’s Day. February 6th is your last chance to get one before the big day!
  


• Print your sign and hang it up! Download one of our “I Said It” posters and hang it in your window or cubicle (or anywhere where people are likely to see it and ask what you said!). You can also take a photo of yourself with your sign and add your face to the hundreds of others who are making their support visible in our gallery.

I hope that Valentine’s Day 2008 will be a big moment in our shared history – for LGBT people in California and people in every state. Our state will be the tipping point, and the momentum for change, the kind that has the power resonate across the country, and it starts now with you.

Thanks for reading. And I hope you’ll join us!

Sincerely,

Geoff Kors
Let California Ring

New Facebook Application!

Show your support for the freedom to marry on Facebook.

Add our ring of support to your profile and show your commitment to the freedom to marry!

We hope you’ll display our ring until the day that everyone has the freedom to marry the person they love.

Six Organizations: One Event

What issue can get key LGBT leaders from national, statewide and local organizations in one room? Marriage in California.

Over 150 people braved the rain in Los Angeles last night to get insight and raise money for Let California Ring. It was truly unprecedented to have the leading LGBT organizations in the city, state and country on one stage. It is such a crucial time in California right now and to see so much support for the campaign was inspiring.

On the stage: (l to r) Geoff Kors (Equality California Institute), Patrick Sammon (Log Cabin Republicans), Joe Solmonese (Human Rights Campaign), Matt Forman (The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force), Jody Huckaby (PFLAG), and Lorri Jean (L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center).

If Al Gore can say it...

Al Gore said he supports the freedom to marry for LGBT couples. Everyone's listening. And when you say you support the freedom to marry, people who love you listen too.

Just say it by signing our open letter to Governor Schwarzenegger at www.LetCaliforniaRing.org/justsayit and ask your friends and family to do the same.

Sign an open letter to the Governor on marriage

Opportunities like this don't come along very often.

Sign our open letter asking the Governor to tell the California Supreme Court that the current law is unconstitutional and that all loving couples deserve the freedom to marry.

With the Court expected to rule on the legal right for gay and lesbian couples to marry in 2008, right now is the time for your voice to be heard: heard by Governor Schwarzenegger by February 14.

As a defendant in the case, the Governor's voice is critical -- he can change history. That's why we want him to tell the Court that all LGBT Californians should be able to marry the person they love. But your voice can be equally powerful, so I want you to just say it too.

Just say it: "Everyone should be able to marry the person they love. I support the freedom to marry." Say it out loud, to the person next to you on the bus or at dinner. And then, ask Governor Schwarzenegger to tell the Court that the current law is unconstitutional.

Let California Ring is all about everyday people coming together to amplify their collective voice of support for the freedom to marry. For people like you and me, that starts with the most basic action: "just say it" -- to our friends, family members, and neighbors.

We need to generate conversations and get every Californian -- from Supreme Court Justices to our elected leaders to your colleagues at the water cooler -- thinking about what the freedom to marry means for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people between now and February 14 -- the day we celebrate love. So just say it, right now.

With the Court's ruling on the legal right for gay and lesbian couples to marry expected this year, showing that Californians support that basic freedom for everyone is critical right now. Here's how you can help:

• Sign the open letter to Governor Schwarzenegger

• Just say it. Tell all your friends, family members and colleagues and ask them to join you in signing the open letter to the Governor.

Now is the time to double your impact: sign the letter to the Governor and then just say it: make your support for the freedom to marry seen and heard between now and February 14.

Thanks for all that you do -- every action you take makes a difference and fills me with determination.

Sincerely,

Geoff Kors
Let California Ring

Behind the Scenes: Volunteer Night!

If you live in Los Angeles, we have an easy and fun way for you to get involved. Hannah blogs about Volunteer Nights:

We have volunteer night a couple times a week here at Let California Ring. On Monday nights we gather from 7-10pm for Data Entry Night. We crowd around the table in our conference room; you can barely see the table underneath the piles of data we are entering, pizza, and the many lap tops in use. Although we get a lot of work done at Data Entry Nights it hardly feels like work. As we type we talk about anything from what’s been going on in our lives since the Monday before to current events to our love lives. We spend a lot of time laughing. The hardest part about Data Entry Night is deciphering the handwriting of the data we are entering; we all squint at the most troublesome handwriting and everyone takes a guess at we think it says.

We also have Phone Bank Night every Thursday from 6:30 to 9:30. On Phone Bank Nights we call people who have told us they want to volunteer with us and sign them up for a specific activity. We each ding a bell when we get someone signed up for a shift, it’s a lot of fun to hear dings coming from all over the office and shout, “Way to go!!” down the hall.

Volunteer nights are what help keep things running here at Let California Ring. Without them we couldn’t get our data entered and we couldn’t sign up enough volunteers to keep building our team. I feel fortunate to get to work with so many great volunteers, and have so much fun along the way!

--Hannah, Field Organizer

"My little party attracted notice..."

When I came to a Let California Ring House Party held by student friends of mine, I knew right away that this was something I wanted to do myself. Not at my small home, where I find myself gathering mostly with other queer folks, but at my workplace—Chochmat HaLev, a progressive Jewish spiritual community in Berkeley. I love Chochmat HaLev, for its welcoming and supportive vibe as well as its ecstatic and contemplative variety of Jewish spirituality. It is a place of meeting points for me—where my identity as a queer person meets my identity as a spiritual person, and the main place (other than school) that I meet supportive straight people.

I was so surprised by the results. My little party attracted notice, not just at Chochmat HaLev, but in the Jewish and interfaith community all over the Bay Area, and even across the state and as far away as Santa Fe! Those who came were not necessarily the curious and open-minded allies I had expected to make welcome, but were strong leaders in the LGBT Jewish and interfaith communities for whom this event fit right in with the important work on LGBT equality they were already doing. We've made connections that will enable more of this work to be done not only at Chochmat but all over the state. I'm humbled to have been a part of this remarkable beginning.

Maya, Trina, and Liam from Let California Ring were a great support for me helping me organize things, plan the event, and get the word out. It was an amazing opportunity to start 2008 on a high note. I encourage anyone who is thinking about doing something for the freedom to marry to consider putting on a House Party—at your house, your office, your school, or any other place you gather. It’s the most fun way to help out, and the rewards are incredible.

I’d like to thank once again all those special people who made it out in the rain, who shared their spiritual and personal experiences, and whose actions will spread the work we are doing together farther and deeper into our communities. Thanks are due to Karen Ehrlichman from Jewish Mosaic, who couldn’t be there but who was indispensable for connecting me with the other people who pitched in, Rachel Biale, from Progressive Jewish Alliance, who added the power of PJA’s beautiful “Bringing the Orange Under the Huppah” campaign, Sasha T. Goldberg from Nehirim, who are creating an exciting spiritual retreat for LGBT Jews in March, Kerry Chaplin from California Faith for Equality, who was a great help not only with planning and publicity but with setting up and cleaning up, Steve Krantz at Jews for Marriage Equality, who helped us spread the news to Southern California, to Joy Silver for being excited enough to come all the way from Santa Fe, and to Maya, Trina, and Liam, and all at Let California Ring for being such an inspiration.

--

Kerrick Lucker
Office Manager
Chochmat HaLev

“Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.”
-Hafiz

New England is Winning

The new year in New Hampshire brought unprecedented amounts of snow, an unprecedented winning streak for the Patriots and the implementation of a new civil union law.

New England is now winning with the number of states that extend rights and benefits to LGBT couples. My home state joins the ranks of Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts. (New Jersey is not in New England).

When I was home for the Christmas holiday, I got to talking about the new law with my father who works in the State Attorney General’s office.

The good news, he said, is that the law is simply defined. It basically says that couples entering in to a civil union have the same benefits and protections as a married couple. The bad news is that because it is so simply defined there are a lot of wrinkles that still need ironing out. For instance, it doesn’t tell government agencies how to implement the law, whether nonresidents can apply, whether California’s domestic partnerships will be honored, and on and on and on.

While they’ve gained significant gains with civil unions, New Hampshire families will continue to have to struggle with a second-class status until they have full marriage. It’s possible the full extent of civil unions won’t be known until it’s fully tested in the courts. But unlike their neighbors Vermont and Massachusetts, there was no strong opposition to the new law so who knows how long it will take.

The New Hampshire Legislature could have solved a lot of frustration by going the way of Massachusetts, as only marriage will allow families to live out their hopes and dreams and give them the respect they deserve.

New Hampshire might not be on the ball with marriage, but at least they can say they have an unbeatable football team.

Hello, 2008

State of the movement for the freedom to marry:

In New Hampshire, laws went into effect on the 1st granting lesbian and gay couples civil unions.

In Oregon, progress on civil unions is being held up in the courts.

And here in California, we’re still pressing ahead, opening hearts and minds and finding new supporters.

Things can be great in 2008!