miscellany

Vote NO on Prop 8

8against8 – 8 bloggers, 8 days, $8,000 – Vote No on Proposition 8!

This marks the beginning of 8 Against 8, where 8 lesbian blogs are writing for 8 days against Proposition 8 in California which would render same-sex marriage illegal and raising a goal of $8,000 to defeat the initiative.

Aside from me, the other 7 bloggers participating in this 8 Against 8 are Grace Chu and Grace Rosen at Grace The Spot, Lori Hahn at Hahn At Home, Kelly Leszczynski at The Lesbian Lifestyle, Dorothy Snarker at Dorothy Surrenders, Pam Spaulding at Pam’s House Blend, Riese at This Girl Called Automatic Win, and Renee Gannon at Lesbiatopia.

In addition to California’s Proposition 8 on the ballot in just a few weeks, Florida has Amendment 2 and Arizona has Proposition 102, both of which would amend their state constitutions to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Arkansas also has Act 1 on the ballot, which would forbid gay and lesbian parents – and any unmarried parents – from adopting children.

Every day during 8 against 8 I’ll be featuring some different things against the initiative. Donate some funds NOW, talk to everyone you know about voting in this year’s election (regardless of their location), urge your Californian friends and family and lovers to VOTE NO on Proposition 8.

8against8 – 8 blogs, 8 days, $8,000 – VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 8

Published by Sinclair Sexsmith

Sinclair Sexsmith (they/them) is "the best-known butch erotica writer whose kinky, groundbreaking stories have turned on countless queers" (AfterEllen), who "is in all the books, wins all the awards, speaks at all the panels and readings, knows all the stuff, and writes for all the places" (Autostraddle). ​Their short story collection, Sweet & Rough: Queer Kink Erotica, was a 2016 finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, and they are the current editor of the Best Lesbian Erotica series. They identify as a white non-binary butch dominant, a survivor, and an introvert, and they live outside Seattle as an uninvited settler on traditional, ancestral, & unceded Snoqualmie land.

11 thoughts on “Vote NO on Prop 8”

  1. sarcozona says:

    I voted against Prop 102 in AZ (thank goodness for early voting by mail), and I'm hopeful that most people will. The language on the ballot makes it very clear that gay marriage is already illegal here – the redundancy of amending the state constitution seems a little silly.

    Considering the resistance to passing a city ordinance protecting people from being fired/evicted because of sexual orientation/gender identity in the most "liberal" city in AZ, I doubt I'll be getting married here anytime soon.

  2. Justin says:

    If words still mean anything today then Taylor Marshall has an excellent point here on Credo at Culture11.
    http://culture11.com/blogs/credo/2008/10/20/gay-m

    [Words absolutely do still mean something – to me, anyway. But your Credo blog is merely spouting homophobic discrimination based on religious beliefs. There are plenty of couples – gay and straight – who would never use the words "holy matrimony" because their marriage ceremonies are not Christian. It's certainly possible that the etymology of the word "matrimony" is what you say it is, but just because a word once meant something does not mean it should always-and-forever mean that thing, especially when it discriminates against and removes basic civil rights from an entire class of people. Language is alive, and definitions change constantly as humans evolve. Your work, however, is the very definition of bigotry – go ahead and look that one up. – ss]

  3. Polly says:

    Thank you, thank you, SS, for this campaign. No on 8 needs every single queer person and queer ally to rally around this. We will absolutely for sure lose if we sit on our hands, and we will absolutely for sure win if we all do something.

    That simple. Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of justice.

  4. thanks so much for participating in this, best of luck

  5. Thank you for doing your (huge!) part, Sinclair.

    And thank you for dealing with Justin in a way I never could (please fuck off doesn't have the same charm). Much love.

  6. Onion says:

    Thank You Sinclair for doing your part. I live in California, and the amount of outside influence can be strong.

    I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating these last few weeks have been.

    I donated again thru your link!

  7. Firebolt says:

    Good job, Sinclair! I have put up the 8 Against 8 banner on my blog and linked to the page. Please tell me if there's any other way I could help support the drive. I wanted to donate but I don't have a credit card.

  8. Joni.T says:

    Great idea! Best wishes from lesbian activists from Germany!

    Congratulations, what a wonderful idea!

    Networking publicly makes us perfectly wonderful visible!

    We European lesbians will hopefully come to learn about such cooperation.

    Information about the campaign is provided both on my blog L-talk, and on my partner's, Konny's, site lesben.org, Germany's most popular lesbian portal in order to spread information as far as possible.

    All over the world the "NO ON 8" activism is being recognized by a lot of people, particularly by those who share your aims whole-heartedly. We, too, welcome your work directed towards lesbian political empowerment and more peaceful visibility for lesbians in our everyday lives.

    We hope you will win the voting!

    If there's anything you'd wish us to do to support 8against8, please let us know.

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