Wednesday, March 4 is the day before the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the validity of Prop 8. That evening, the Eve of Justice, we'll stand together and send a unified message to our fellow Californians, including the Supreme Court Justices, that individual liberties like the right to marry are guaranteed by the Constitution to everyone and cannot be stripped away at the ballot box by a bare majority. Just as important, we will give our love and support to all the families headed by same-sex couples who are threatened by the recent electoral outcome, as well as same-sex couples whose hopes and dreams of marriage and family have been frustrated by enactment of Prop 8.
Since the state of California voted against same-sex marriage in November, the LGBT community has formed all kinds of grassroots organizations to mobilize efforts to repeal prop 8. The protests, marches, rallies, and vigils that have taken place not only nationally, but also around the world, show our dedication and capability, and the power we can have when we come together. Being able to communicate and band together, in large cities and small towns, to show our presence everywhere is such an important part of the movement for LGBT rights as a whole. Through email blasts, Facebook groups and event invites, MySpace, blogs and news websites, we have been able to reach all demographics of our community and allies and have created a new type of activism in the process.
The reaction to the passing of prop 8 was something no one could have predicted. Now that those efforts are being recognized, and the Supreme Court is hearing the case's file for prop 8 repeal, we need to come together again as support for the Justices, and for those representing our community in the court case.
Once the date of the hearings was announced to the public, many of the Southern California grassroots organizations immediately started planning our next action. Our Northern California counterparts heard our idea for the Eve of Justice, and quickly began planning as well. Now the "Eve of Justice: Lighting the Way for the Supreme Court" has developed in 32 cities in several states.
The success of the past few month's events is a statement of success in our efforts to not only get involved as individuals, but to bring out new activists, and most importantly change the minds of people with previously undecided or opposing views. When pro-Prop 8 leaders heard about our event and all the cities joining as we expanded, they sent out emails blasts to several of their followings, encouraging them to come out against the event in whichever city they could. We must show them we are now even stronger and more passionate than we proved to be in November after Prop 8 passed.
Each city has a slightly different program planned, which are all detailed on each city's individual page at https://www.eveofjustice.com. It has been quite an interesting and amazing experience planning for this night. The program for Los Angeles alone has music acts, faith leaders from more than five faiths, legal representatives that will be at the hearing the next morning, a re-commitment ceremony, a candlelight pledge, and a march from Olvera St. to the Supreme Court in downtown. All of our fun begins at 5:30, with our march to happen at 8:00pm.
You can find more information, share the page and invite your friends through the Facebook event page and changing your status to show support, or by emailing and/or posting a link to https://www.eveofjustice.com. The flyers we have been handing out are also available on the website for you to print out yourself. Let's make sure to show our country that h8 is unconstitutional. Come continue the fight for equality!
