Equality On Trial

Running for equality tomorrow

March 17, 2012

Community/Meta

By Adam Bink

I wrote about this back in January and just wanted to update everyone. Karen Ocamb over at LGBTPOV.com has the details — tomorrow, 46 members of Courage Campaign, including myself, will be running the 2012 LA Marathon to raise money for our LGBT equality work! 20 of us are running the full 26.2 miles and 26 of us running the two-person 13.1 mile relay.

And, as of this post, they’ve raised $39,820 to support our work changing hearts and minds on Prop 8, marriage equality, and the Defense of Marriage Act!

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who chipped in to sponsor a runner (including 6 of you who sponsored me!). They’re putting their time and bodies on the line for equality and our entire community is pulling together to help them run for equality. That’s just fantastic.

I just wanted to share some amazing stories of folks who are running and why they’re doing it, simply because there are a lot of folks who are doing it for their gay brother, or aunt who is in a long-term relationship with her partner, or because they feel so strongly about equality for all Americans. Check it out below. Wish us luck and see you at the finish line!

The Courage Campaign Institute is proud to announce “Team Courage” as an official participant of the 2012 Honda Los Angeles Marathon that will be held on March 18, 2012.

“Team Courage is running to help put an end to discrimination against LGBT Americans,” said Courage Campaign Development Director Michael Bridges.“This is the civil-rights cause of our generation, and we are running to raise money to educate the public.”

The team, which has raised more than $39,000 so far, includes 46 runners from California, Minnesota, Washington, Texas, Utah and Washington, D.C. There will be 20 people running the entire 26.2 miles and 13 running the charity two-person marathon in 12 teams of two. Most of the two person teams are Courage members who have never met. They will meet their partner the day before the race during a special event at the home of Rick Jacobs, the chair and founder of Courage Campaign, a progressive online organization with more than 750,000 members around the United States.

Courage Campaign member Rex Yancey, of Kanab, Utah, felt compelled to run the full marathon, his first ever, after being diagnosed with prostate cancer last year. After surgery, the 56-year-old is now cancer free and excited about living out one of his dreams – running a full marathon. After sending out about 300 emails to friends and family, he has raised $2,570 thus far.

“Being diagnosed with cancer scared me and it reminded me that I’m not immortal,” Yancey said. “This was always a dream of mine so when I got the email from Courage, I was like, ‘wow, this is perfect.’ It gives me the chance to go after my dream and fight for something I stand for – LGBT equality.”

Kim Meyers, 49, is a Methodist pastor who will be flying in from Katy, Texas for the relay race. She has raised $865 so far. Meyers has a gay brother and says she is running for him, his partner and their three adopted sons. She adds that there is a lot of pain in her church because same-sex marriage and ordaining gay clergy is not allowed.

“Change comes slowly,” Meyers said. “I’m running for my family and some good friends who are directly affected by issues of inequality. They are gay, they want to be married and they should be married.”

Training for the relay has brought a mother and son team closer together over the past few months. Danville, California resident Kathy Leonard, 58, and her 16-year-old son, Shannon, will be running the relay and have raised $1,561 so far. Even though they live in a conservative small town, the activist family, who consider themselves strong straight allies, fought against Prop 8 and fighting for justice is important to them. They will be joined in California by their entire family — Kathy’s husband, their 11-year-old daughter, Kathy’s two married same-sex brothers-in-law, their 7-year-old daughter and her son Shannon’s girlfriend.

“Everybody is so excited to be helping and everybody knows that these things take money,” said Leonard, a Courage Campaign monthly donor. “Fighting Prop 8 doesn’t just happen. You have to work, organizations have to work and I’m trying to instill that in my kids. This is what you do. When you believe in something this is how you handle that.”

Washington, D.C. resident Larry Tsai will be running the relay portion of the race and has raised $1,610 so far. He completed his first race last year in Anchorage, Alaska. Running for equality is a big incentive for Tsai, 39, who works in the mortgage banking business. He recalls that when Prop 8 passed, “I felt like I got kicked in the stomach.” Tsai has no immediate plans of getting married but if that changes, he’d like to know that his union would be recognized outside of D.C. Courage Campaign Institute works to educate the public about why the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which bans interstate recognition of lawful same-sex marriages, should be repealed.

“There’s something about your marriage getting recognized in some states and not others that does not sit well with me,” Tsai said.

This is Courage Campaign Institute’s first year as an official charity with the marathon. The marathon is committed to leveraging the publicity and interest surrounding the marathon to benefit 501c3 charities. The Marathon’s goal is a collective raise of $4 million dollars in 2012. The money raised by Team Courage will go toward public education, training and research in the fight for full LGBT equality. The Courage Campaign Institute works to use public education, strategic research and training to help create a more equal society and defend and extend human rights.

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