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We are winning this case together
This post is part of P8TT’s annual fundraising drive (penned last year). Please become a Sustaining Member so we can keep this community together to fight the battles ahead (and to enter for a chance to win two tickets to the new “8″ play premiere with an all-star cast in Los Angeles!). You can chip in here so P8TT can keep going with a sustainable source of funding.
P8TT monthly donors so far
By Matt Baume, American Foundation for Equal Rights
You can’t force people to care.
Even when it’s as important as marriage. Even when everyone knows someone who’s affected. Even when our families, our homes, and our lives are at stake. And even when we’ve got a video starring Marissa Tomei.
The truth is, legal proceedings are boring, court dates are inconvenient, and poring over documents puts most of us to sleep.
And that’s why the Prop 8 Trial Tracker is so important. Beyond what its name suggests, it’s so much more than just a simple reporting of the trial. It gathers us when we are at our best, joins us together as we fight for what we know is right.
Whether we’re watching legal proceedings, coordinating a meetup in advance of a court date, or poring over documents together, we’re not doing it because someone made us — we’re doing it simply because we care. Because we’ve felt that innate human calling to make the world a better place.
And we have the Prop 8 Trial Tracker to thank for reminding us that there’s good in all of us, even in those who harbor prejudice.
As Justice Kennedy wrote in a 2001 decision concerning disability discrimination, “Prejudice, we are beginning to understand, rises not from malice or hostile animus alone. It may result as well from insensitivity caused by simple want of careful, rational reflection or from some instinctive mechanism to guard against people who appear to be different in some respects from ourselves.”
We’re not just winning this case. We’re winning this case together.
Please chip in here so we can get to the finish line- together- on Prop 8 Trial Tracker.
2 Comments February 25, 2012
Where we’ve come in two years
This post is part of P8TT’s annual fundraising drive. Please become a Sustaining Member so we can keep this community together to fight the battles ahead (and to enter for a chance to win two tickets to the new “8″ play premiere with an all-star cast in Los Angeles!). You can chip in here so P8TT can keep going with a sustainable source of funding.
P8TT monthly donors so far
By Shannon Minter and Chris Stoll, National Center for Lesbian Rights
When Ted Olson and David Boies filed the Perry case almost 3 years ago, everyone knew it would be big news. What we could never have predicted was how deeply engaged our entire community would get as we follow all the twists and turns of the case. Prop8TrialTracker.com made that possible.
As the case progressed, we’ve been thrilled to share with P8TT readers our thoughts and insights based on our experience as long-time participants in the legal fight for LGBT equality. We’ve done live Q&A forums with P8TT readers following major rulings in the case and shared our analysis and predictions before important hearings. Every time we’ve appeared on the site, we’ve been deeply impressed at the passion of this community and the depth of knowledge represented here.
But running a site like this costs money. We think it’s well worth pitching in a few bucks to make sure this site stays up, because P8TT is such a unique way for people in our movement to interact at a deep level with the legal battles that are shaping our community’s future.
We are truly at a turning point in the history of the fight for LGBT equality. Case by case and state by state, the barriers to full equality are falling. Just in the past year, we have seen the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the passage of full marriage equality in New York, Washington State and Maryland, and the Ninth Circuit’s resounding defense of fairness and inclusion in striking down Prop 8. With your continued commitment and support, we will soon see the day when LGBT people are treated as full citizens, and most people scratch their heads wondering why that wasn’t always true.
We are so grateful to the Courage Campaign for its fearless leadership and especially for providing the community with a great way to stay informed about the latest legal developments through P8TT, and we are grateful to you for making this community what it is. Let’s be sure they have the resources to keep providing this invaluable service!
1 Comment February 24, 2012
Three months in: many victories in 2012 so far, many more to come
This post is part of P8TT’s annual fundraising drive. Please become a Sustaining Member so we can keep this community together to fight the battles ahead (and to enter for a chance to win two tickets to the new “8″ play premiere with an all-star cast in Los Angeles!). You can chip in here so P8TT can keep going with a sustainable source of funding.
P8TT monthly donors so far
By Jacob Combs
I have to say that it comes as a surprise to me that I just marked my third month of writing for Prop8TrialTracker.com earlier this month. I say that because so much has happened since I came on as P8TT’s writing intern, and I know that if we can accomplish that much in three months, the rest of the year (and beyond!) will certainly hold surprises and victories for us. I’ve been a part of the P8TT community, though, from the beginning: as I mentioned in my very first post for the site, I got hooked on P8TT during the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial with Judge Vaughn Walker. In the two years that have passed since then, I’ve been excited to watch (and proud to contribute to) P8TT’s transformation into a leading site for the fight for marriage equality, and a place for our community to come together and share our ideas, hopes and disappointments.
It’s exhilarating to be writing this in the week following our incredible victory in the 9th Circuit. I think there are two big takeaways from this month’s decision. First, marriage equality has some serious momentum right now, and each victory we have will build the foundation for others to come after. Second, we have a lot of work to do to make sure that we keep the wins coming.
Prop8TrialTracker.com is going to be a part of making sure that happens. As I hope we demonstrated last week, P8TT is one of the leading sites when it comes to in-depth coverage and analysis of the Prop 8 trial, and we are committed to covering the trial until the end, even if that is several years to come. In the meantime, though, we are proud to be part of a much larger conversation on marriage equality taking place in the country. Our coverage of Washington State’s and Maryland’s passage of marriage equality is just one way that we’re seeking to broaden our horizons: we also plan to cover the many DOMA trials making their way through the federal courts this year.
But on a more personal note, I want to share what this site really means to me. I’ve heard people say that gays and lesbians shouldn’t be single-issue voters: that we shouldn’t be so focused on marriage equality, when there’s so much else we have to get done. It’s true that marriage equality is not the only fight that LGBT people should feel passionately about — we need to get ENDA passed, with protections for transgender individuals, and we need to address the many ways that LGBT people can be disadvantaged by our society.
Nevertheless, marriage is a central issue to our lives and, I believe, a watershed opportunity for the greater LGBT cause. I want to get married, someday, in my home state of California, and I will fight to make that happen. And I want every other kid who is gay or lesbian to grow up knowing that one of the most important and transformative choices in his or her life will be recognized, supported and celebrated not just in some other state, but in the place that he or she calls home. When that day comes, I know I will be able to look back, think of P8TT and say, we made a difference. We helped this happen.
2012 is going to be a big year, one which I hope will bring a good deal more great news. I am so proud to be a part of P8TT. Please help us make 2012 a year for equality by chipping in to support P8TT a little each month.
1 Comment February 24, 2012
