Gay Activisim

[bbg_1980]

Does anyone here belong to a gay activist group such as the Human Rights Campaign or any other organization?

[Eevie]

*waves rainbow flag* I'm part of the AIDS Community Services GLBT branch (activism)... and we're sort of part of HRC- we just haven't officially joined yet, though we (my sweetheart and I) receive all of their material and act on it.

[Kat]

I belong to HRC but haven't done anything more active then sign petitions and write or email my reps

[Artemis_NYC]

Like Kat, I belong to HRC, but I don't know how to become more involved, besides the petitions and donations. I give to a lot of groups, but besides signing a check, I'm not sure what else to do. I always hear others saying "Write your Congress person on such-and-such issue", but I never know quite how to go about that. How do I find out who my local representatives are? Is there a listing somewhere? What is the difference between Assembly person, Congress person, Senator, etc.? Is there a suggested format to the letter? What can I say in the letter that will make it different than all the others that are read by some secretary and then thrown in the trash? I'm glad you brought this up.

[Adiana]

I belong to HRC.

Adiana

[DemonicPsychosis]

I belong to my area's GLBT and GSA.

[Era-Venia]

We don't have anything like that in my town T.T and when I tried to start up a GSA in my highschool, the teachers, of all people, shot me down!

And our local P-FLAG was recently closed down due to a lack of community support. xP darn small towns.

[DemonicPsychosis]

You must really live in a small town. O_o

I live in a town of 970, and there's still a semi-active GLBT and GSA here.

The teachers can't stop you from creating a GSA at your school; it's discrimination and you can take them to court over it (or at least threaten to).

If they allow other clubs (eg Chess Club), they have to allow yours, that is, unless you're going to a private school.

[Era-Venia]

It wasn't that the teachers flat-out denied me. I know about the whole discrimination shebang. But in our school system, all in-school clubs must be supported by at least three teachers. I had the support of one teacher and all the rest said they were too busy to take on the responsibilities of another club. My choir teacher, Mr Wolfe, was the only teacher to support the club because he was the president of his highschool's GSA when he was a teenager.

And I'm in an Inco-supported town. We have about 20,000 people, last census, but really, nobody gives a flying rat's tail about supporting our gay teens, or even our gay adults. I meet with them on a regular basis, the few that we are, but other than that, it's all public silence about what we are and how we live.

[DemonicPsychosis]

XD put up flyers and make a non-school organization.

That always works.