Do you remember the line from the movie White Christmas on the Ed Harrison show when Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) was inviting all of the former military servicemen to come up to the Columbia Inn in Pine Tree Vermont? His quote on the show was: "The objective is Pine Tree, Vermont --- Synchronize watches for Operation Waverly..."
And I'm calling on each of you to synchronize your watches for Operation Portland, Oregon, to be held here in Portland on Wednesday, January 30, at 5:30pm. This will be a huge gathering in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Portland in a last-ditch effort to thwart the efforts of Judge Mosman in deterring domestic partnerships from becoming law in Oregon. I'm not sure exactly how this whole thing will come together, but it will. If you're actually able to be here in person, all the better. If it's a financial donation, great. If it's simply in spirit, very good. But I am asking you to get involved somehow in this most basic of fights for bottom line human rights.
We have just returned home from a candle lite vigil at The Q Center in downtown Portland. We were supposed to be celebrating this evening -- the state of Oregon was to have been issuing domestic partnership certificates starting this morning. But a federal court judge has placed a hold on the issuance of those very basic of rights certificates. His decision is due on Thursday, February 1, in court in Portland. The day that I'm asking for your help is the afternoon before. I'll be back with you with additional details. You'll find lots of links below to further your reading on this essential issue. The basic rights of the citizens of our nation must no longer be ignored. We're talking about civil rights, not anything special or unusual. Simply those that are afforded others already. At the vigil tonight, there were in attendance congress men and women, city commissioners, Portland City Mayor Tom Potter, former Governor Barbara Roberts, and a long list of others. They are fired up and have had it. And they ask all of us to invite every single person we know to be present here in Portland in front of the courthouse on January 30. I hope you'll give it some thought.
In the meantime, check out these sites for the complete story on this horrible issue:
Basic Rights Oregon
Gay Rights Watch
Contribute to Basic Rights Oregon Legal Defense Fund
Portland Mercury Blog
9 comments:
You know I'll be there in spirit.
I miss you...come out and play
if we can not be there; is there something else we out of towners can do?
Great blog! very informative and clever, I'm impressed with both the content and the visuals...Will definitely be checking in!
Hey Guys! I wanted to just say
I see the storm coming. I have a
feeling that things will go your
way. That judge has no right to be
that way. They should be impartal
to ALL. They may pass judgement but
they must also be fair.
Also, I'm watching the weather.
Have fun keeping each other warm :D
LOVES YA!
XOXOXOXOXOXO!!
I still can't believe how far backwards the U.S. is on gay rights whereas just norht of you, up here in Canada we have all the same rights as heterosexual couples and the uproar lasted about 5 minutes... and then we all went back to being a nice quiet polite nation. Care to come up for a visit and get married? I know a great Marriage commissioner...
Totally with you in spirit. Keep us posted.
Hey I will start emailing tomorrow! I truly will! After I read your post the other day about the judge's order I googled the whole mess! Glad to see your doing about it! I will forward it to some of my mailing list! I have about 2600 people on the list! Now you have to do something for me! Check my blog for any post's about Angela! A cool lesbain rowing across the ocean! Oh ya...she can not use her legs...she is in a wheelchair! Check it out and send her a message of support!
Post a Comment