Nonviolence 4 Equality

“It’s easy for many queer people to shrug off the idea of civil disobedience… Civil disobedience has been called naïve by those who have turned cynical by the lack of progress made after years of struggle. It has been called reckless by those who believe the path to full equality is good behavior. There are those who believe that at the end of the day civil disobedience won’t really change anything, so why bother? It’s true; Civil disobedience isn’t going to change the minds of the Supreme Court justices or convince the bigots to join PFLAG. It’s going to change us.” from The Degree to Which you Resist is the Degree to Which You Are Free! — May 7th, 2009 by David McElhatton, One Struggle One Fight blog (http://onestruggleonefight.com/)

Arrests follow Proposition 8 Decision*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB1SzihxCRY

*Video produced by Karl Mondon.

Watch a news report from the morning of May 26 here: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6832888

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On May 26, 2009 the California Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding the constitutionality of Prop 8 which bans gay marriages in the state. Soulforce of Colorado staged a nonviolent direct action that same afternoon to protest the ruling and also remind Colorado that marriage equality does not exist here either. The direct action had two parts. First, there was a traditional picket along Colfax in front of the Webb Administration Building. Second Soulforce volunteers staged a sit-in at the clerk and recorder’s office where marriage licenses are issued.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpsIPMdvHfA

Video by Daniel Gonzales. Soundtrack is “Revolve” by hisboyelroy. Available at ccmixter.org. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

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Feb 14, 2009 - Chicago Civil Disobedience for Marriage Equality - At the Office of Vital Records, seven Chicagoans are arrested for criminal trespass because they intended to stay in the office of vital records until that office fulfilled its duty not to enforce laws that undermine equal rights under the law. Specifically, they requested that a marriage license be issued to a same-sex couple. Sponsored by http://www.GayLiberation.net and http://www.JoinTheImpactChicago.com.

Sit In at the Cook County Clerk’s Office of Vital Records

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P127n3Ocuzg

The three minutes before the arrest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6LfdInfK8M

Highlights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpqdzetAUCE

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Nov 7, 2008 – http://castrointhestreets.com/action - Short video of the beginning of our first civil disobedience action against Prop 8 (11/7/2008). This blockade of Market St. at 7th (in San Francisco) was coordinated in less than 24 hours. 12 people formed the core affinity group, and we were surrounded by about 20 others playing direct support roles. We were not arrested for this action, and after several hours of holding the intersection, we led a march to City Hall and then to the Castro for a rally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzFfPFnopg4

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Sep 24, 2007 – Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder sit-in at the Denver Clerk and Recorder office, confronting Colorado’s discriminatory anti-LGBT marriage laws… and prompting an arrest for trespassing when they refused to leave after being denied a marriage license.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7luw6WKiI_E

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July 13, 2007 – Marriage Equality Direct Action – Marriage Equality direct action led by Rev. Elder Dr. Nori Rost, Ryan Acker and Frank Volz.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2676943607911566302&hl=en

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April 28, 2007 – Roses and Reality – Chris Hubble and Leigh Lyon are arrested entering James Dobson’s ministry headquarters to deliver A False Focus On My Family and the open video letter DVD Dear Dr. Dobson.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-809226073899638175&q=en

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Feb 18, 2007 – Lesbian couple Dotti Berry and Robynne Sapp enter the fundamentalist mega-organization, Focus on the Family, to demand that Dr. James Dobson stop his misinformation campaign about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender families. Dotti and Roby declare a nonviolent sit-in until Dobson apologize for his distortions of social science research in his December 18, 2007 Time magazine article. Uninterested in dialogue, Focus on the Family calls the police to have the two women arrested for trespassing.

PART ONE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x47aY2NtotQ

PART TWO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruoJgggrEKM

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