National Day of Action for Marriage Equality: Sunday for Maine*

* Now with fundraising thermometer, below.

If you’ve been watching the news, you know that Maine needs our help.

The same campaign of fear-mongering and misinformation that helped remove marriage equality in California is being waged in Maine. All the way down to the exact same ads promoting the exact same lies (see the Box Turtle Bulletin posts: Maine “Yes On 1” Ad Recycles California Ads, Casts Activist As “Teacher,” and That “Maine Teacher” Is No Stranger to Anti-Gay Lies). Bedfellows of the misinformation-mongerers? Holocaust deniers (check out the second BTB piece “No Stranger”). There’s a little something to ruminate on during these holy days ‘twixt Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

In another parallel to the 2008 California battle, the fear-mongering and misinformation is working. The more passionate, motivated contingent is the anti-marriage one, and the most recent polling by DailyKos shows that, were the election to be held today, we’d lose another state’s extant marriage equality. (Advocate coverage of Kos poll here.)

This Sunday is being organized as a National Day of Action to support Maine’s battle to retain its marriage equality. All we need is a two-hour chunk on Sunday, time to participate in one of the training conference calls, phone, and a computer screen (I presume, wired to the internet).

Sign up here to help PROTECT MAINE EQUALITY this Sunday.

Addendum: if you’re far from Maine, time on the phone is probably the most valuable thing you can give. But if you can’t give that, or if you can and you want to give more, then please throw something into the coffers for No on 1 / Protect Maine Equality. To help them keep countering the steady stream of misinformation, to help turn back the tide of hate and bigotry once and for all.

Here are all the organizations using ActBlue pages to fundraise for No on 1/ Protect Maine Equality. You can also contribute directly to No on 1. Or if you want to donate via this site (and thereby inspire other LD readers to join you in your commitment), click the contribute image below. LD readers were tremendously supportive in the battle against Prop 8 in California, and  I would be very grateful and proud if we pulled in some healthy fraction of that in the battle on the other side of the country. Over $16,000 was raised here on behalf of California marriage equality. Let’s start with $1,000, OK?

For Maine, for Maine’s kids, raised in LGBT families or no. And for No on 1 / Preserve Maine Equality.  Because, bless ’em, the Maine marriage equality battle began including visibility of LGBT families (see the selected video over there on the sidebar). This is something the California battle never did do (feature the actual kids who stood to lose with the loss of their family’s legal/financial protections).  I join many others who believe this to be one of the No on 8 campaign’s chief, most unforgivable fatal flaws. It didn’t keep me from trying to defeat the proposition. And obviously it didn’t keep me from trying to use this space to fundraise for it. While I am phenomenally grateful for the generosity of the hundreds of LD readers who joined in that fundraising, I would be very wary of soliciting financial support for a campaign that closeted us again.  Which is why I’m hauling my sorry bruised butt up on the horse again and stumping for No on 1 / Protect Maine Equality.

Ultimately, no matter where it’s being waged or how, this is very much a “protect the kids” battle.  All our kids. So please help, in whatever way you can.