Wayne, you are right about putting our families, our couples, ourselves out in front of voters. It has already been done and successfully! In Massachusetts, when we faced repeated attempts to put an amendment banning same-sex marriage before the voters, MassEquality ran ads featuring--guess who?--us! MassEquality also organized us to visit our legislators to tell them our stories; to write letters to our local newspapers to tell our stories; and to speak directly to neighbors, other family members, and co-workers, again to tell our stories. The result? A pro-equality majority in the Massachusetts legislature defeated the proposed constitutional amendment for the last time on June 14 2007, after a fierce three and a half year battle. It's important to note that in Massachusetts, we never faced a statewide vote on our right to marry because we forestalled it in the Legislature. This is a significant difference from campaigns in California and elsewhere. But, we did face the same opposition messages: same-sex marriages would destroy opposite-sex marriages; we are not fit parents and endanger all children with our (subversive) sexuality. Many of these messages were delivered at weekly religious gatherings and our Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry greatly blunted the power of an anti-gay religious movement by speaking out consistently for our freedom to marry.

Thanks for a thoughtful look at the state of things today. I think you have expressed great ideas here, and have finally expressed some long ignored truths about how the real world will/does work.

Excellent Wayne. We must all strive to be the master of our own image rather than letting others (the meek turn the other cheek) define it for us. Through direct action our power will be enhanced and our LGBT movement will seem larger than life in our democracy claiming our power as first class citizens.

Wayne,
On #2, We don't have very many states left to "test" in. We should have learned from our mistakes in 2004. Apparently, we didn't.

Monica is right concerning the diminishing number of states to "test" in. That number includes those states which have no sembelence of marriage equality measures on the books, but which also have resisted anti-equality amendments to their constitutions. In those states, and in the states which would have to undo their own amendments, a daunting task, questions as to the pros and cons of civil unions versus full marriage by that name are remain largely academic exercises unlike on the East Coast, for example. I fear that the overdeamonization of civil unions as intrinsic evil per se in some quarters may actually work against efforts in those states to simply preserve at least some modicum of legislative/judicial ability to leave open any options at all, imperfect as some of them might be.

Now I need to go back into my 1950's fallout shelter and wait for the rocks to come flying.

Evidence based activism, it's about time. It is a great strategy. Let's get to work.

I like the idea of doing a "try out" in a "polar opposite" state. See http://www.iandrinstitute.org/statewide_i&r.htm -- North Dakota seems to have particular accessible requirements for the Initiative process.

I should add again, ND did pass a measure against same-sex marriage in 2004. However, it only requires a little more than 25,000 signatures to put a measure on the ballot again. As a "small market" it's less expensive to run a campaign there and perhaps easier to reach people one-on-one, assuming that LGBT people come out.

I think that the narrow margin of victory for Prop 8, compared to the ballot measure in 2000, shows also that people's minds do change. It's worth a try. Please don't write off states which have passed anti-LGBT measures in the past.

Definitely a "YES" to including all pro-gay religious groups. My undocumented/illegal husband is Christian, and his church is "open and affirming" in theory (but still evolving in practice). As a pianist I've played for many, many churches that are queer-positive in WA. I really do not know of other parts of the US, but here in Western WA (esp. Seattle) there are many churches that welcome us. Believers-of-Christ really aren't that scary once they wash the HATE off of them!

We need our allies. ALL of them. A-L-L of them.

Given the number of marriage certificates DOLED OUT LIKE CANDY to some VERY anti-religious folks, HOW IN THE WORLD can our government maintain a "religion-only" policy when it comes to marriage? Have they not been paying attention?!

Wayne,

Nobody has said this better!

It is great having people in suits talking to people in suits. But until there are some people in the streets providing a sense of urgency the talking (along with the ignoring and inaction) will go on forever!