Hello again, Kossacks! Once again, I'm Bill Humphrey, statewide director of Delaware Right to Marry PAC. If you didn't get a chance to read our first diary here, which explains what we're working on in the First State this coming year, feel free to check it out: "Help us bring marriage equality to Delaware."
I'm back again this week to ask you a simple (or complex, if it is for you) question: Why does marriage equality matter to you? We're collecting Delaware stories right now elsewhere, but we wanted to tap into this much broader community for stories and responses to that question, whether you are gay, straight, or something else. With the Delaware stories, we're going to show legislators why this is so important in Delaware, but we also want to be able to make comparisons and contrasts with experiences in other states. Details below the fold.
What's we're looking for... If you live in a state with marriage equality, let us know before/after stories. If you live in a state with civil unions, explain why you believe is that not enough. If you live in a state with neither, tell us what that's like (and why it matters to you). If you're gay or lesbian, how does lack of marriage equality affect you? If you're not, how does it affect friends or family who are?
We'll be reading all the comments (of course!), but if you don't feel comfortable talking about this in this space, there's an email address in our profile, and we will keep your information totally protected. We will also make an effort to let anybody know if we plan to use their stories/responses in some manner.
And for those who'd like something a bit less text-heavy, we just released our first online video (not for airing anywhere). It's a perky clip with photos of some of the beautiful communities around our little state!
We're going to be rolling out more soon, but we put it together for our current fundraising drive. Per the previous diary...
There has not been any public opinion poll on any LGBT issues for several years now in the state of Delaware, so this is a critical tool that everyone has been lacking in recent legislative battles on these issues.
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We need your help raising the money to pay for this poll. Because we have received some donations already offline our online target right now is to raise $2,350 by January 1st, so we can have the poll completed before the legislative session begins.
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I know money is tight for many people right now, especially in the midst of the holiday season, but if you can spare just $25, we can put it to good use. As I said, we are all-volunteer and very low-budget, so we ration all the money carefully!
Thanks so much in advance for your support and your stories. We really appreciate it, and our treasurer was even more thrilled to read the comments on last week's diary than to see the donations, so I think I'm spreading the community spirit here beyond the virtual walls of Daily Kos!
Sincerely,
Bill Humphrey
Statewide Director
Delaware Right to Marry