Announcing Equality Ball 2010
BUY YOUR TICKET
Date: Saturday, September 18th 2010
Location: Walton Arts Center Starr Theater
Time: 7pm to 10pm
Dress Trendy
Join the NWA Center for Equality for an evening of Heavy hors d’eouvres, Wine, Beer, Non-Alcoholic Beverages,and Music by a special guest DJ, a Silent Auction, and our First Ever Bachelor and Bachelorette Auction, with Guest Speaker Representative Kathy Webb (the first out lawmaker in Arkansas!), and Presentation of Community Awards. All proceeds will help benefit programming for the coming year! Enjoy this evening with friends for an all inclusive ticket price of $50.
New for 2010 purchase a Red Carnation Corsage for $20 to help kick off the Center’s HIV testing. Each Carnation will help supply the Center with a valuable HIV Test Kit to help prevent the spread of HIV in NWA!
All Inclusive Ticket Price $50
All Inclusive Ticket plus Red Carnation to Support HIV Testing $70
Report: Parents abandoned No on 8 in last weeks
Another study came out about California’s Prop. 8 and the struggle for marriage equality. Center blog readers will remember my previous post on the Patrick Egan report that suggested that some commonly held assumptions about marriage campaigns and voters were not supported by the facts. This new report is an IMMENSE two year project of well-respected organizer and movement consultant Dave Fleischer and is a far more in-depth look at California in particular. It yields important insight for the marriage equality movement. It’s important to remember that the Egan report looked at narrow questions that applied to ALL marriage ballot measures in the U.S. and that the Fleischer report looks at myriad issues on just California’s Prop. 8 campaign and election.
About the author and the study
Dave Fleischer is founder of the LGBT Mentoring Project and is a long time professional consultant and trainer in the LGBT equality movement. Twice I have had the opportunity to attend grassroots organizing training led by him and I can attest that he knows his stuff. This study is more academic and scientific than his previous work and he did great diligence to the importance of the topic. The study is based on 10,000 pages of previously unreleased data from the No on 8 campaign and weighs in at a whopping 511 pages. You can download the entire report here (13MB).
In Fleischer’s words
What is the biggest finding of this study?
Though many in the marriage equality movement had a gut feeling about the opposition’s use of fear mongering about dangers to children being the cause of the passage of Prop. 8, this study confirms that folk wisdom. The mid-campaign lead for No on 8 disappeared after the Yes on 8 campaign used fears and lies about dangers to children to appeal to parents. The loss of support from households with children under 18 in them was the likely cause of Prop. 8’s passage. Did you see some their disgusting TV ads?
How does this contradict the previous report?
The previous Egan report found that voters were not confused by ballot language in each state into voting the wrong way. The Fleischer study suggests that indeed voter confusion was prevalent in California but that it came to the aid of the No on 8 campaign. If true voter intent had been achieved, Prop. 8 would have won by an even larger margin.
Additionally the Egan report suggested that voters did not change their mind during the campaigns in each state. The Fleischer study clearly identifies a change in position of parents of children under 18 during the last part of the campaign in California.
Where does this study AGREE with the previous report?
The number one recommendation of the Fleischer report and the main emphasis of the Egan report were identical: start early. Work before and outside the context of an actual campaign is vital to winning the hearts and minds of voters BEFORE we win their votes. Both reports also agree that there was no magic bullet that would have won the 2008 campaign. The votes for equality just weren’t there.
The opinions expressed by our Contributors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NWA Center for Equality, its Members, or any employee thereof. The NWA Center for Equality is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Contributors.
Arkansas to D.C.: personal visit and DADT
Many years ago a school teacher asked me “What did you do during your summer vacation?” I answered “I went to Washington, D.C..” This year I would answer the same, except with an extra phrase: “and lobbied Congress for equality.” I drove to Richmond, Virginia this past week and realized that D.C. was just a short train ride away. With Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell being discussed so much this summer, I couldn’t resist the opportunity. So I headed to the Capitol.
Too often we focus our effort and emotions on the action of the minority of Americans who will never, EVER support equality for queer people. Think of the Ronnie Floyd’s of the world…think of the Westboro Baptist Church…think of the protestors…think of the guy sitting with this sign on the National Mall:
He said "publically" was spelled wrong because we want alternative marriage.....whatever.
The easy answer to his question is this: it’s a waste of our time. In order for equality to prevail, we have to talk to the middle portion of America. There is always a chunk of people or voters in the middle that determine whether the people on either end of the spectrum prevail. A pride parade is for the convinced…the choir. The opposition protests us, and those folks are never going to change their mind in a million years. The people in the middle are where we focus our attention. The people with no opinion or who are open to change. We don’t have to convince 100% of America. In fact we only have to convince a small percentage in the middle. Want to narrow down the numbers even further? I will show you who really need to convince:
While lugging a backpack around Washington on foot and sweating like a Razorback, I called Sen. Lincoln’s office and arranged a meeting with a staffer. I showed up dripping in sweat, looking very much the part of the tourist, and delivered a strong message to the three staffers I was fortunate enough to meet with. The message from me as an Arkansan and from the NWA Center for Equality as the leading voice for equality in NWA was that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is wrong for the United States, wrong for the military and wrong for Arkansas. Just before I had headed to Sen. Lincoln’s office I had seen this:
WWII Memorial
How many gay, lesbian, and bisexual Arkansans have fought and died for our country? We may never know, but the best estimates there are tens of THOUSANDS of LGB military personnel and HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of veteran members. It’s time to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Sen. Lincoln’s lead staffer for military affairs assured me that Sen. Lincoln stands firm on supporting the repeal of DADT. It has taken years for our community to get to this point, and Sen. Lincoln is a great sign of what we can do when we persevere, but we are not done yet. The vote has been postponed all summer and it looks like September is when it will come. Call, write, visit your Senators. Thank you to everyone who has phonebanked with the Center to call voters on this issue.
Senator Lincoln’s Washington office—202-224-4843
Little Rock office—501-375-2993
Fayetteville office—479-251-1224
Senator Pryor’s Washington office—202-224-2353
Little Rock office—501-324-6336
A special thanks to the Human Rights Campaign for engaging the Center in a concerted effort around DADT. I had a chance to swing by their beautiful headquarters in D.C.. Of all the monuments and famous buildings, this one made me the most emotional. When I first came to Washington years ago I didn’t know I was gay. I didn’t realize how much work there was to be done. Now I can look at this building and feel proud that so many in this country have stood up and started working for equality for all Americans.
The opinions expressed by our Contributors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NWA Center for Equality, its Members, or any employee thereof. The NWA Center for Equality is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Contributors.
New study of marriage amendment campaigns reveals strategy flaw
Robert Sklar, an LGBT rights consultant, said it best: “This report will knock your socks off.” Her later blog hints at and questions the amazing findings with the title “Voters immovable on marriage equality?”
The report, by New York University professor Patrick Egan, was released in mid-June and was received with mixed emotions. I was on the press conference call that was attended mainly by reporters from the California mainstream media and LGBT media as well. The California folks asked questions trying to figure out what went wrong with the campaign strategy in 2008. As an outsider from Arkansas, it appeared there were still sour grapes about how the campaign in California was run. It’s like they were looking for some magic un-bullet to blame the loss on. The answers given by the researchers only frustrated them more.
This research was not just about California. It was from the ballot measures experienced in 33 states since 1998. Some were constitutional amendments (like AR in 2004) and some were state statutes (like CA in 2000). What this research looked for was the difference between the polling during the campaign and the actual result on election day. Did voter intent change during the campaign? Why were the election results different from most of the polling? Were voters lying to pollsters in some kind of marriage equality Bradley Effect? Or was something changing their minds just before they cast their ballots?
In a nutshell, campaigns to defeat anti-marriage equality ballot measures don’t work. Polling stays consistent during the campaign, but the polls all show fewer opponents of marriage equality than show up on election day. And voters aren’t confused by the ballot questions nor are they socially pressured into lying to pollsters. Here are the research findings from the executive summary:
• Those favoring and opposing the ballot measures have largely fought to a draw, in that the share of the public saying they intend to vote for or against these measures typically changes very little over the course of these campaigns. Neither side has been more successful than the other on average at changing voter sentiment between the beginning and the end of a campaign.
• Nevertheless, survey data consistently underestimate voter opposition to legal recognition of same sex couples. The share of voters in pre‐election surveys saying they will vote to ban same‐sex marriage is typically seven percentage points lower than the actual vote on election day. By contrast, survey estimates of the proportion of voters intending to vote against same‐sex marriage bans tend to be relatively accurate predictors of the ultimate share of “no” votes.
• Voter surveys do not become appreciably more accurate as election day approaches, meaning that even those polls conducted in a campaign’s final weeks understate the true share of the vote against legal recognition of same‐sex couples. Support for a ban on same-sex marriage projected from final polling typically falls three percentage points short of actual results.
• No support is found for two reasons—social desirability bias and voter confusion– typically offered to explain the gap between surveys and election results. There is no immediate evidence indicating that the discrepancies are caused either by poll respondents’ reluctance to express anti‐gay sentiment to survey researchers or respondents’ confusion about the meaning of a “yes” and “no” vote.
What does this mean for these campaigns? Well, let’s look at one campaign. In 2007 and 2008 I worked on Florida’s statewide campaign to defeat their marriage amendment. During the early campaign we spent most of our time raising money and building teams of people to raise even more money. The whole idea was to have the resources to get people knocking on every door in the state with our message and to buy as much advertising as we could afford…..during the last two or three months. According to this research it was too late. The work has to be done before the issue is raised as a ballot measure.
Voter education must happen before campaigns ever begin because voters may be suspicious of anyone trying to convince them in the heat of a campaign season. This means public education campaigns and yes, even door knocking….years before marriage equality will be an issue. For California in particular, the findings suggest that they do not need to go back to the ballot box for marriage until the polling shows a majority of pro-marriage equality voters. Not 48% PRO to 44% ANTI to 8% UNDECIDED. Marriage equality must consistently poll over 50% before a campaign even starts. It’s a good thing California is waiting until 2012 to return to the ballot box.
Does this mean we roll over when the anti-equality forces put something on the ballot? No. The insiders on the call strongly encouraged typical campaign activities to counteract the opposition. We might not convince the other side, but we must turn out our side at least. And there is something to be said about losing forward. Though we lost the ballot measures in 2004 and 2008 in Arkansas, they could have been experiences that left behind a great infrastructure for progressive LGBT political activity. Sadly they did not, but I think Arkansas is about to figure it out. We have to build the infrastructure to communicate our message to Arkansas voters. The growth of C.A.R. as a statewide advocacy group is promising as well as the establishment of the NWA Center for Equality as a growing focus of the community in the most important sub-region of Arkansas. The increasing participation between them is ever more promising.
But we can’t wait until the next campaign! Every single one of you must become involved now. And as much as we might want to be quiet and “mind our own business” on relationship recognition, we can’t. Though we have much to work for in Arkansas (workplace non-discrimination, safe schools, hate crimes), we have to start now talking about why our relationships deserve recognition and protections. We might be smart to avoid the word marriage for now, but we must speak about why our families need equality under the law.
The opinions expressed by our Contributors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NWA Center for Equality, its Members, or any employee thereof. The NWA Center for Equality is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Contributors.
By demand: Mayor’s Proclamation
The Center has received numerous requests for the text of the speech given by Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan at the recent NWA Pride Parade rally. We called the city to get a copy of it. The speech is actually the text of the proclamation secured by NWA Pride to commemorate “Pride Week.” The Center also secured a proclamation declaring June “LGBT Pride Month” to coincide with our All OUT June celebrations.
Of particular note is Mayor Jordan’s adept use of symbolic language in his proclamation. He referenced the generally acknowledged beginning of the LGBT rights movement by saying “Today we break down the stone walls of discrimination that are barriers to our ability to secure a fully-cohesive community.” His speech not only referenced the culturally significant Stonewall Riots, but it also clearly described how equality is the birthright of all Americans.
Thanks Mayor Jordan!
WHEREAS: We march today, and we take a stand today to stand up, to stand proud and to stand together; and
WHEREAS: Pride Week celebration contribute much toward reducing misunderstandings, discrimination, isolation and barriers faced by individuals in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community; and
WHEREAS: The city of Fayetteville supports efforts to ensure that everyone has the right to live in conditions of dignity, respect and peace; and
WHEREAS: We all are created equal and it has been long- proclaimed that we are equal as Americans and that everyone deserves the same rights; privileges and opportunities- that is our birthright and that was the promise that demands fulfillment, and
WHEREAS: There is a necessity for individuals to no longer be referred to merely as an act, as a category, or as a secondary citizen instead of being referred to and treated as an equal person deserving of equal rights, and
WHEREAS: Today we break down the stone walls of discrimination that are barriers to our ability to secure a fully- cohesive community; and
WHEREAS: The use of the social weapon of ostracism wielded merely because someone is exercising legal rights of freedom, liberty, and equality is no longer an accepted option; and
WHEREAS: Presidents, legislative representatives, justices and judges, Mayors, Governors, and the people have long praised the American value of equality, and with that affirmation, we should assure that we do not desire to limit the equality of some- where there is unequal treatment there is no equality; and
NOW THEREFORE, I Lioneld Jordan Mayor of the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas do hereby proclaim June 21-27, 2010 as “PRIDE WEEK”
In Fayetteville, Arkansas and all citizens to join me
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas to be affixed on the 26th day of June 2010.
Attest: ____________________________________ Mayor
__________________________ City Clerk
Interview with HRC’s Jess Osborn
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has invested staff time in Arkansas by sending a field organizer to help repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Northwest Arkansas is lucky to have this resource. Jessica Osborn is a talented HRC Field Organizer covering states in the South. I first learned about her commitment to equality while I was working in Florida in 2008 to defeat their anti-marriage amendment. Jessica learned and perfected organizing skills on campus at the University of Central Florida and with the amazing statewide advocacy group Equality Florida. I was so glad to learn she was coming to Arkansas and this week I had the opportunity to sit down with her. Read her interview below and learn about HRC’s work repealing DADT. If you ever wanted to change this discriminatory policy, Jess is the one who can help you become an advocate for equality!
See our other Blog Posts about DADT:
Crunch Time for DADT Repeal
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
HRC Field Organizer Jess Osborn and NWA Center for Equality President Raymond Sweet
CW: I understand that you are here in Arkansas to help organize voter contact with Senators Lincoln and Pryor about repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). Where are you from and is this your first time in Arkansas?
JO: I’m from Miami, Florida but I live in Orlando, Fl. Both Orlando and Miami are very diverse cities with much Hispanic influence. I’m Hispanic. This is my first time in Arkansas and I think it’s great. I came having few expectations of the culture. It is great to see the diversity in both Fayetteville and Little Rock, the only two places I’ve been here in Arkansas so far.
I know that Northwest Arkansas is not nearly as big as Orlando or other parts of your region, but what did you think of our Pride festivities?
Honestly, it is the smallest Pride festival that I’ve been to, but it had so much heart and pride and it is so critical to have these kinds of visible events in such a conservative region. I had great fun during pride. I loved having the opportunity to march down Dickson Street chanting at the top of my lungs ‘What do we want?’ and having people respond ‘EQUALITY.’ There is a great LGBTQ presence in Fayetteville which is grounds for progressive growth.
Why is Arkansas important in the effort to repeal DADT?
The Human Rights Campaign has deployed field staff to 10 priority states to garner support for the final Senate vote on DADT repeal which we expect to happen in the next several weeks. Arkansas is one of those states because Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor are key votes that we need to secure for repeal. It is important that their constituents let them know that they want them to support repeal by signing our petition, making phone calls to their local offices, writing letters and scheduling visits to their district offices. We need everyone’s help in this final push. To take action on line go to: www.hrc.org/repealdadt
What’s the most important reason by DADT needs to be repealed?
There are many reasons that DADT should be repealed. First of all, the current law prohibiting lesbians and gays from serving openly in the U.S. Armed Forces — is the only law in the country that requires people to be dishonest about their personal lives or face the possibility of being fired. Moreover, Americans recognize that on the battlefield, it does not matter whether a service member is lesbian, gay or straight; what matters is that a service member gets the job done. This discriminatory law hurts military readiness and national security while putting American service members fighting overseas at risk. More than 800 specialists with vital skills — Arabic linguists, for example — have been discharged from the U.S. military under DADT. In a time of war, the military should not be discharging or preventing the enlistment of well-qualified service members based on their sexual orientation.
Is this a complete repeal, or is there a catch?
Eventually DADT will be repealed completely, but there is a process that was a deal reached in the final hours before the historic May 27th and 28th votes in the House and Senate Armed Services Committee. This compromise language allows Congress to move forward with a vote to repeal the DADT law [10 U.S.C. §654] while respecting the ongoing Pentagon implementation study. Once enacted into law, the DADT repeal language would not instantly repeal the DADT law. Instead, the DADT law would be repealed 60 days after two events have occurred. First, the Secretary of Defense must receive the results of the Pentagon’s implementation study. A report on the study is due to the Secretary of Defense no later than December 1, 2010. Second, the President must transmit a written certification to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees signed by the President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certifying that: (1) all signatories have considered the recommendations contained in the Pentagon implementation study report; (2) the Department of Defense has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to implement repeal; and (3) the policies and regulations implementing repeal are consistent with military standards for readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, recruiting and retention. Thus, 60 days after the Pentagon implementation study is delivered to the Secretary of Defense and the President’s certified statement is delivered to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the DADT law would be repealed.
I have already called Senators Lincoln and Pryor; what more can I do?
Thank you! It really does make a big difference to call both your Senators. There is much more to do! Hand written letters are very affective. You can write as much or as little as you want as long as you get the point across that as their constituent you want them to vote to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Personal stories help but simple letter is fine. Volunteering with us helps us reach everyone in Arkansas. Contact me if you are interested in volunteering: Jessica.osborn@hrc.org.
Anyone can volunteer to do a phone bank, host a house party, let us come speak to their group or community, table at events and locations like Pride, nightclubs, churches, temples or farmers markets. We want everyone to contact their Senators! The more they hear from you the more they will definitely listen and we will have changed history and repealed the terrible law that is Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Also, you can take action on our website where there are sample letters and a link to help you write a letter to the editor. Check it out: www.hrc.org/repealdadt
The opinions expressed by our Contributors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NWA Center for Equality, its Members, or any employee thereof. The NWA Center for Equality is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Contributors.
“Gay” doesn’t cut it: Letter to the Editor
On Sunday June 20th, the NWA Times published an in-depth article (435 MB, PDF) about the Center’s All OUT June activities and the funding received from the Fayetteville A&P Commission. Earned (free) media is an important function of the Center in spreading awareness of our mission and is much appreciated. However, we think this is a good opportunity to start a dialogue about how the words the media uses are important. In particular, the use of the word “gay” in this article to solely describe the All OUT June festival is not a good way to include the diversity of our many members and supporters who identify in myriad ways. Read our letter to the editor below: Read more…
Action Alert: Tell Fayetteville to keep the Parade!
The Fayetteville City Council and Mayor Jordan are receiving hundreds of emails from people opposed to the City’s proclamation regarding the Pride Parade put on by NWA Pride. Our All OUT June program has worked to promote this event along with all our other events in June.
Tell Mayor Jordan and the City Council that you support the Pride Parade and the city’s effort to draw LGBT visitors with its funding of All OUT June. Title your email: YES to Parade! Read more…
Announcing LGBT Pride Month for Fayetteville, Arkansas
June 27th, 2009, was a great day for the LGBTQ population of Fayetteville. We had our parade, we had our picnic; we had had a great week of pride events. And then we had an official proclamation from the Mayor’s office that June 27th, 2009, was LGBT Pride Day in the city of Fayetteville. I recapped that moment in a blog post on the Fayetteville Flyer:
Don Marr, our city’s openly-gay chief of staff, issued an official proclamation of behalf of the Mayor (I saw the certificate; the signature was real) declaring Saturday, June 27th, as LGBT Pride day for the city of Fayetteville. I whooped, I hollered, I cried a bit. I was elated.
After the proclamation, Anthony Clark, the President of the NWA Center for Equality, introduced me to one of the leaders of Oklahomans for Equality, as I had a small part in securing the proclamation. The man, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, told me how incredible it was that we were able to get an official proclamation from a sitting mayor in this part of the country. He said that they have been trying in Oklahoma for twelve years, that they have had no breakthrough in Tulsa, and that the Mayor of Oklahoma City refuses to even acknowledge their organization’s request.
That hit home for me in a way that the proclamation didn’t. I knew that we were a bit different here in Fayetteville. I didn’t realize just how lucky we were, though.
It was a pretty great moment for me; when Act 1 passed in 2008 I felt shunned by my homeland. But when that proclamation was issued, it was like the city that raised me said “don’t listen to them—we want you here.”
I’m proud to announce that we have not only repeated that success; we have multiplied it. In conjunction with President Obama’s declaration of a Nationwide month of Pride, Mayor Jordan has declared an equal, city-wide, month of Pride.
Go out and celebrate. It’s your month.
The opinions expressed by our Contributors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NWA Center for Equality, its Members, or any employee thereof. The NWA Center for Equality is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Contributors.
Blogswarm: Revise the Blood Ban
Today I wanted to participate in a blogswarm organized by Adam Bink of OpenLeft urging you to send a message to the FDA to revise the blood ban. This is your opportunity for public comment! Learn about the ban and why it should be revised. Then email your comments!
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Today, the HHS Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability is kicking off a two-day meeting to reconsider the FDA ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with men (MSM). Read more…
