Yesterday was a major day for me.
Yesterday I got off the couch and decided to really DO something.
Yesterday I became an activist.

I got the invite through facebook about a meeting being held by the Chicago section of Join the Impact. They wanted to get the ball rolling on planning how we were going to get as many LGBTQ members and their allies to the National Equality March on DC. We also needed to make sure we took full advantage of the momentum that would be created before and after the MOD. We didn't want to just be on the news for a couple of days, we wanted real change.

Roughly 25-30 people showed up to the meeting. It was organized, not filled with idle chatter. We had a specific goal so we weren't going to waste any time. Concerns were brought up first. Many people were worried that people thought this march was just about marriage. It is not, not at all. It is about full civil rights for the LGBTQ community.
We are;
*marching against Don't Ask, Don't Tell
*marching for the Matthew Shepard Act to get passed (if it hasn't by October)
*marching against the Defense of Marriage Act
*marching for the federal government to make gay marriage legal in all 50 states so that the couples that get married in Iowa can still be married when they come home to Chicago.
*marching for many other issues too

We then moved on to how we were going to get people interested. There was a lot of talk about going to local venues and some internet stuff. I finally got brave and raised my hand;

"Here's the thing about getting internet support. When I talk about LGBTQ rights I get a lot of RTs/Likes/and support, but I don't get bodies. We HAVE to take the next step and get those people that support us on the internet to also support us IRL. The other thing is that we have to help out the suburbs. Chicago is the best city in the country for LGBTQ communities but the suburbs are not. When I went to the candle light vigil against Prop 8 in my area I heard the suburban stories. These kids are hurting and they live in an area that does not support them. Heck I'll drive them here if I have to, we just can't forget about them."

After that we split up into groups, fundraising, outreach and publicity, speakers, etc. I joined the outreach and publicity so that I could make sure that the suburbs were "represented". We discussed slogans and fliers. The saying "I'm going" was brought up and the idea to make car magnets with the saying, date, & website on it was born. I brought up that if someone said that they were willing to go that we needed to keep communicating with them and making them feel involved. I told the group that when 20sb.net first came up with the massive meetup everyone wanted to be a part of it....then it got quiet....and then as the date got closer the numbers of people coming dropped. I said that we needed to create a Big Brother/Sister/Gay atmosphere for people.

At the end we had a beginning of a plan. We went back to the group circle, told the rest our ideas, exchanged contact info, and we were on our way.

What else was brought up;
*trip tickets are $100 for a round trip on the bus. We leave on Saturday, drive through the night, march, and then (I think) we leave Sunday night.
*midweastequality.org is also helping us with organizing and bus planning. We want a very strong midwest showing at this march.
*organized labor is supporting us!
*Cleve Jones is coming to town to speak for us! This is HUGE! I will be posting details as I learn them.
*my favorite line from the meeting "To get people to care, you HAVE to care ten times more that the ones that care once."

Check in on this blog, my LGBTQ blog that I have with Phil, Join the Impact, my facebook page, or my Twitter for more info as the planning progresses. You can also email me at mominreallife@gmail.com if you want to join me for the next meeting or want to know what YOU can do to help!