Documenting the Emerging Marriage Equality Movement

After the election night vigils, the first big wave of actions to take place were the marches and rallies that people organized on their own, with the help of Facebook and this new site that popped up, Join the Impact. In San Francisco, that meant thousands of people marching through downtown for more than 5 hours one night (11/7), and thousands more at a rally and impromptu march this past Saturday at City Hall. Similar activity has been happening around the U.S., with solidarity actions in Canada and internationally.

While much of this activity in the streets continues to take place, a second wave of activism has become apparent - economic boycotts.

While the established organizations push the CA Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8 and make their plans for 2010, many from the LGBTQ community aren't waiting for their voice to be heard - making it clear that supporting hate isn't publicly admissible.

The fact that so many people have taken it upon themselves to launch boycotts and other activities like flooding YELP, has had a significant impact already, including resignations, statements from high-profile corporations, equal donations to LGBTQ rights groups, and more. So much has been happening, in fact, that it's been hard to keep track of. In order to help facilitate this, I've made a list of everything I could find. Please comment if there are things I've missed!

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High profile activities:

6 separate California Supreme Court Lawsuit
http://www.eqca.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=kuLRJ9MRKrH&b=4061163&content_id={BFE39EF1-DEE3-4FDD-9D14-390D1335DD79}&notoc=1

1) NCLR, ACLU, Lambda Legal, Equality CA
2) Counties of SF, Santa Clara, Los Angeles and the City of LA
3) Private attorney in LA
4) APALC, NAACP, MALDEF, Equal Justice Society
5) CA Council of Churches
6) California Women’s Law Center, Equal Rights Advocates


Join the Impact Rallies (hundreds of thousands of people rallied throughout the U.S. - now writing postcards to Obama)
www.jointheimpact.com
Nov. 15 results: http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Attendance+Totals+(How+Many+Attended+in+Your+City)

Day Without a Gay – Dec. 10
http://daywithoutagay.org/

Daily protests and demonstrations in many cities.

Ongoing Boycotts:

Manchester Hotels
- Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, CA
- Grand del Mar Resort, San Diego, CA
- Whitetail Club and Resort, McCall, ID
http://www.boycottmanchesterhotels.com/ (Californians Against Hate)

A-1 Self Storage, 30 locations throughout CA
http://boycotta-1selfstorage.com/ (Californians Against Hate)

Cinemark, Century, CineArts, and Tinseltown Theaters
www.nomilkforcinemark.com

Hoehn Motors, San Diego, CA
Pre-Nov.4 pickets, phone calls. Post-election phone calls
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/11/the-boycott-eff.html

El Coyote Restaurant, Los Angeles, CA (controversial)
Phone calls, emails, Nov. 13 protest, numerous facebook groups
http://shutupiknow.blogspot.com/2008/11/boycott-el-coyote-cafe.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/11/gay-marriage-ba.html
[Management held press conference, distancing themselves from the employee that donated to 8, saying they have many gay employees and customers, and the company donated to Lambda Legal and the LA GLBT Center. Some boycott activity ongoing.]

Boycott/Move Sundance Festival (is in Utah and uses a Cinemark theater)
http://movesundance.com/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20081115/en_celeb_eo/68992
http://perezhilton.com/2008-11-16-boycott-sundance

Wolfe’s Market, Claremont, CA
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=96812135182

Lassen’s Health Food Stores, Southern California http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=29740162765

Kroger’s, Ralph’s, etc. Supermarkets (controversial) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34336709689

Averted Boycotts:

Bolthouse Farms
[Settlement w/ Californians Against Hate - $110,000 donated to GLBT causes]
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1859323,00.html?iid=tsmodule

California Musical Theatre, Sacramento, CA – Gay Artists, including Marc Shaiman (Hairspray) and Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) Threatened Boycott
[Scott Eckern, Artistic Director, Resigned & Donated to HRC]
Resignation Letter:
http://www.ibtimes.com/prnews/20081112/scott-eckern-releases-statement-and-announces-resignation-as-artistic-director-for-california-musica.htm

Subway Food Chain – Blogger Privately Threatened Boycott
[Settlement – donator requested money back, company upgraded Anti-Discrimination policy, sent letter to 30,000 franchisees]
http://pageoneq.com/news/2008/International_food_chain_111808.html

Companies Issuing Precautionary Messages

Marriott
http://www.blogs.marriott.com/default.asp?item=2284808

Other Activities:

Human Rights Campaign Town-Halls on Next Steps Against Prop 8
http://www.hrc.org/news/11575.htm

Mormons writing opposition letters, including resignation from the Church
http://signingforsomething.org/

Campaign to take away the tax-exempt status from the Mormon Church
http://www.mormonsstoleourrights.com/

YELP negative reviews of companies donating to Prop 8.
[YELP management issued statement, started actively deleting prop 8 comments]
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/politics&id=6501024

Notable Petitions:

Courage Campaign / MoveOn / CREDO (300,000+)
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/repealprop8

Equality California
http://www.eqca.org/petition

Celebrities Speaking Out Post-8:

Wanda Sykes (came out at Las Vegas JointheImpact Rally)
Lance Bass (rally)
Rose McGowan (rally)
Sean Penn
Kevin Spacey
Christina Aguilera
Madonna
Melissa Etheridge (said wouldn’t pay CA taxes)
DJ Samantha Ronson
Perez Hilton
Joe Trohman
Pete Wentz
Whoopi Goldberg
Keith Olbermann
Spencer Pratt
Ellen Degenerous
Rosie O’Donnell
James Cromwell
Patricia Clarkson
Anjelica Huston
Ricki Lake (rally)


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