Many of you busted your butts get Obama elected. But your job did not end on November 4th. I'm here to tell you: there's much work to be done. CHANGE is about action on your part and my part. CHANGE manifests itself when people come together for a purpose.

Attend, recruit, organize, canvas online-- you know the drill.

If the rights guaranteed all Americans under the 1st and 14th Amendments to our Constitution are denied to a single person, then the rights of any American are threatened. Think about it.

This is a nationwide event guys. Do you want NC to record only 100 or so people present? I'll be there. I'd be there for anyone whose civil rights were under assault. This has nothing to do with my being gay.

Standing up for each other is as fundamental as is voting as a means of protecting our democracy.

I would greatly appreciate your support.

A bunch of the amazing young folks from the Chapel Hill High GSA are going to be there taking part in the activism. When I visited them a few weeks ago (my post w/video is here) and I told Jim that he needed to give a talk to them to meet the next generation of LGBT activists; he did so last week and he was just as impressed as I was. GSA co-sponsor Tom Greene and Will Elliot are coordinating the march (Facebook pages here and here). For more information, call 919-795-4966; email: NCAgainstH8@gmail.com.

In what is incredibly bad timing, this Prop 8 protest is on the same day as the long-scheduled 2008 EqualityNC conference, where I am serving on a panel, "Building People of Color LGBT Visibility," with Mandy Carter and Alexander Robinson. Even worse, my panel actually coincides with the time of the march -- and the panel is not slated to be videotaped for march attendees to see later if they wished to. Also, directly related to Prop 8, the ENC conference will feature Kate Kendall, one of the co-chairs of the No on 8 Campaign. Register online at: http://equalitync.org/conference/

Ian Palmquist of ENC:

The passage of Prop. 8 in California, taking away the right of same-sex couples to marry, has awakened many to the need to take action and make change. If you're like me, you couldn't fully appreciate some of the good news last week knowing that Californians had voted to deny equal rights to their fellow citizens.

We are so fortunate to have Kate Kendell, one of the co-chairs of the No on 8 Campaign and Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is leading the legal battles, as a keynote speaker at our Equality Conference & Gala this Saturday.

• Where does our movement go in the wake of Prop. 8?


• Is taking to the streets a useful strategy?


• What are the legal cases filed to stop Prop. 8 and do they have a chance?


• What's the plan to win marriage in California and beyond?

We'll be asking asking Kate all those questions and finding out what each of us can do right here in North Carolina to be a part of the movement for full equality.

It's not to late to register for the Conference & Gala. Sign up today to join us for a day of amazing conversations as we chart the path forward, and an evening of celebration of how far we've come and the people who will get us to victory. You won't want to miss it.

What to do? Well, if you don't already have tickets to attend the conference, then by all means head over to Raleigh to make your voice heard at the rally. The conference will be in Durham at Duke's Bryan Center all day, so come back from the march and tell us how it went. I don't see this as an either/or; it's just too bad that they are on the same day.

Also, I will be on WUNC's "The State of Things" on Friday at noon with Will Elliott, so we have an exceptional opportunity to get the word out about both events. We will discuss Prop 8, the resulting blame game, the EqualityNC conference, and what we can look forward to here in NC if the fundies decide to target the Tar Heel state.