by Rex Wockner
Several new activities are being planned by JoinTheImpact, the grassroots organizers who conceptualized and coordinated the huge Nov. 15 protests against California's Proposition 8.
Those protests took place in some 300 cities in all 50 states.
The weekend of Dec. 5, JoinTheImpact is urging people to go see the new movie Milk, about the legendary late gay activist and politician Harvey Milk. The group wants to make Milk one of the top-3-grossing movies of the weekend.
Dec. 10 has been dubbed "Day Without a Gay." Among other things, JoinTheImpact is urging all GLBT people not to spend any money on Dec. 10.
Dec. 20 will see candlelight vigils around the nation in malls or other shopping areas, the group says. Participants are urged to wear shirts that say "Second Class Citizen."
On Jan. 10, JoinTheImpact is calling for marches on the 50 state capitols as a "National Protest Against DOMA," the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The group says it wants to remind President-elect Barack Obama that he has promised to repeal DOMA.
Finally, on Feb. 12, JoinTheImpact is calling for nationwide sit-ins at marriage-license bureaus.
"If you are denied a license, don't leave," the group says. "Sit with your community, your allies and friends. Let's show this country just how many U.S. citizens are denied equal protections under the law."
JoinTheImpact says these upcoming activities are "just the beginning."
"Change will not come if we sit back and do nothing," the group says. "Change comes through visibility, conversation, demonstration and action."
For more information, see http://www.jointheimpact.com. For details on local activities, visit http://www.jointheimpact.wetpaint.com.
