2012 was the first full-year of operations for the Campaign for Southern Equality and boy was it a doozy. In chronological order here are the top 10 things CSE did during 2012.
1. From Jan. 17 to 19, LGBT couples in Greenville and Charleston, South Carolina requested marriage licenses through the WE DO Campaign.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvjzOSD2E2Y[/youtube]
2. In May, just before the Amendment One vote, Rev. Beach-Ferrara was a guest on the MSNBC show “Up w/ Chris Hayes” to discuss the WE DO Campaign.
Amendment One passed and well, it was a significant step backwards for North Carolina. No way to dance around that, but you can either sit around and complain, or keep doing the work needed to win next time.
3. Starting on May, 8th the day after the Amendment One vote, for 10 days CSE raced across 10 town and cities in North Carolina and LGBT couples said “WE DO”.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r9Ob0QJ0_I[/youtube]
4. In June, CSE staffers Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara and Lindsey Simerly were invited to the White House and met President Obama. (See Jasmine below.)
5. During summer and early fall, CSE’s legal team held a series of “What Amendment One Means for You and Your Family” workshops across North Carolina. We went to Asheville, Charlotte, Asheboro, Winston-Salem and Durham. A huge thank you to attorneys Meghann Burke, Diane Walton, Bradley J. Weidemann, Connie Vetter and Sharon Thompson who generously donated their time in leading these workshops.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVrHjF8z-78&[/youtube]
6. In July, Rev. Beach-Ferrara was named a contributor to the Huffington Post.
Remember the Chik-fil-A nonsense from this summer? Read her debut piece for HuffPo, Chik-fil-A Is Not the Issue.
7. In October, thanks to more than 30 volunteer members of our legal team, CSE helped more than 60 individuals complete Health Care Power Attorney Forms during Blue Ridge Pride.
8. In November, CSE hit the road, traveling across the South to prepare for Stage 4 of WE DO. We sat in living rooms in little towns like White Pine, Tennessee and bigger cities like Mobile, Alabama as we met with LGBT people and allies and discussed our shared vision for achieving equality in the South.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1aGxe-98rQ[/youtube]
9. In November, Rev. Beach-Ferrara received a 2012 Bob Page Equality Champion Award from Equality NC.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6f9xHq_nw&list=UUudqIkK2tuf2jB8sPLy1mNQ&index=1[/youtube]
10. For all of 2012, we worked with our good friends at Gender Benders on many different projects, including a Community Law Workshop focused on the name change process for transgender folks. Gender Benders is a group for transgender, gender variant, LGBTQQI, and allied individuals in the Upstate, SC area.
Through their “Change for Change” fundraising drive they donated nearly $2,000 to CSE, funding which goes directly into the WE DO Campaign!
We’re going to hit the ground running in 2013. On New Year’s Day will load up the minivan and a rental car and head down to Petal, Mississippi where we’ll kick-off Stage 4 of the WE DO Campaign on Jan. 2nd. Thanks for supporting our work in 2012 and we hope you continue to work with us as we push for full federal equality in 2013.
Aaron, Jasmine and Lindsey
The CSE Team
P.S. You can support our work in 2013 with a tax-deductible donation. Every dollar we receive before midnight on December 31 will be matched, up to $6,000.
