HRC announces an Aggressive plan to bring LGBT Equality to the South

HRC just announced a new initiative to bring LGBT equality to the South.

It's called Project One America, and it's comprehensive campaign that will start in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. The project has a three-year budget of $8.5 million and a dedicated staff of 20

Here's more from the HRC's site:

"Right now, this country is deeply divided into two Americas—one where LGBT equality is nearly a reality and the other where LGBT people lack the most fundamental measures of equal citizenship. Project One America is an unparalleled effort to close that gap, and it opens up a bold, new chapter in the LGBT civil rights movement of this generation. In this grand struggle for equality, we can’t write off anyone, anywhere," said HRC President and Arkansas native Chad Griffin.

Project One America is the very first campaign of its kind to work exclusively on LGBT equality in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas—where there are no non-discrimination protections for LGBT people at the state or local level in employment, housing or public accommodations, and where each state’s constitution expressly prohibits marriage equality.

"Despite the legal landscape, it’s long past time that the country stopped treating the South like the ‘finish line’ for equality. HRC has more than 57,000 members and supporters in these states, and there are millions more fair-mined people ready to stand on the right side of history," Griffin said.

Griffin will be visiting Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas on May 5th-7th as part of a three-state tour of press and public events to kick off Project One America.

Project One America will focus on making progress on three fronts—changing hearts and minds, advancing enduring legal protections, and building more inclusive institutions for LGBT people from the church pew to the workplace.

HRC President Chad Griffin starts a Week-Long Tour in the Southern States

HRC President, Chad Griffin is going South.

Actually, he doing an LGBT equality tour of sorts in Southern states. His goals are to inform folks about the inequalities that beset the LGBT community in the South. And, insure those states that they are not forgotten.

Chad will engage in a week-long tour starting in Arkansas and moving along in North Carolina, Virginia, and Mississippi.

I believe this is the first step in their plan to win the Southern states.

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A LGBT Group will travel through 7 Southern States for Gay Marriage

This really made giddy this morning! A group known as the Campaign for Southern Equality are fighting for Marriage Equality in the Red States.

This group will be traveling through 7 Southern states: Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee (my homestate), South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.

Their initiative is called the WE DO Campaign!

Here's more:

The WE DO Campaign involves LGBT couples in the Southern communities where they live requesting – and being denied – marriage licenses in order to call for full equality under federal law and to resist unjust state laws.

Please watch the clip of their recent event in Mississippi and check out their site
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Down South Pics pt. 2: Union City, Tennessee... My Hometown

While I was in Murray, I drove down (36 miles) to my hometown of Union City. I have to say that it was a bittersweet trip.

I was glad to see the town still frozen in time, but it was sad to that some places were closed down or completely gone; like my friend, Jason's house and elementary school.

So to give y'all some insight, here are a few pics of home.

Vote for Confusion '08

Sometimes I get lost in the news about Clinton and Obama. It feels that they are the only two running for office with all the hype they get. But recently, I am seeing this interesting pattern about the voters and their reasoning, for a lack of a better word.

I think there's something to be said about the beliefs of the White and Latino working-class. According to AP-Yahoo poll shows less educated whites present a problem to Obama in part because of who they are. Besides being poorer, they tend to be older than white college graduates — and Clinton has done strongly with older white voters. Also in the exit polls, one in five of the white voters who haven't completed college said race was an important factor in choosing a candidate, about double the number of white college graduates who said so. Eight in 10 of them voted for Clinton over Obama, and only about half said they would vote for Obama over McCain in November.

And the same with Latino voters, however when asked about their reasons why they won't vote for Obama the answer was fascinating. They(or a good chunk of them) think he will only care about the black folks and leave them behind. I almost find that amusing since a large number of them voted for Bush and he did so much for them, and McCain is practically building a fence to keep them out.

I don't get it, I don't understand the logic. I feel that the working-class people suffer the most and yet, it seems their ignorance gets in the way of their logical thinking. I don't want to say that, but that's how it feels. I also feel classist, due to my education and my income, for believing this sometimes. But why is race such a huge factor, why do the less educated folks seem to not get it, and why does everyone suffer when they don't get it. I know I sound like a hater, but it just baffles me. They tend to hold on to issues that are very minor, like in this statement:

"It's the stuff about his preacher ... and the thing he said about Pennsylvania towns, how they turn to religion," Keith Wolfe, 41, a supermarket food stocker from Parkville, Md., said in a follow-up interview. "I don't think he'd be a really good leader."

I'm sorry Keith, those issues are nothing to be overly concern with. Rev. Wright can't do anything to this country. And he's nothing compared to the phony preachers we endured all this years, including the scandals and embezzlement. Then the statement about the guns and religion is the harsh truth. I realized that most people hate hearing the truth about themselves. My mama told me that the hardest thing to do is to look into the the mirror. That what Obama did, he just held the mirror up to the faces of the working class. Hillary did it to, only she used the truth against them.

Face it, people, it's time to challenge yourselves. Don't hate on Obama because he told you the truth. Own it, accept it. I lived in the South for most of my life, and saw how people turn to faith and guns for safety and security. My Grandmama bought my mama and my aunts guns, and she had a pistol and a rifle. It's hard to think about losing the election again, because people are too blind to face their own ignorance and fears. It's almost selfish and yet, another harsh look at our reality. Ignorance is bliss and very powerful. And it can cost us everything.