There Comes a Time - Campaign for Southern Equality

This is a truth I would stake everything on: LGBT people are fully human and fully equal.

As LGBT people in the South, however, we are told in ways both explicit and implict that despite this, we must wait for equality. We are told to be patient. We are told to pursue our rights in the courts. We are told to pursue our rights in the legislature.

But we have gone to the courts and the NC State Supreme Court has denied that we are families, in Boseman v. Jarrell. We have gone to the legislature and the legislature, today, has voted to enshrine discrimination into our state constitution.

What are we to do when these institutions perpetuate bigotry and anti-LGBT animus rather than promoting equality? What are we to do when we live under laws that deny our basic humanity and deny us the most fundamental legal protections?

There comes a time when each of us must ask: how long am I going to take this?

There comes a time when we are called by our conscience to resist the very laws that seek to dehumanize us and that fuel the flames of bigotry.

For me, this time has arrived. Today I am writing to ask if you will join me.

On Monday, September 19, CSE will launch our “We Do” campaign, which calls for full equality under the law for LGBT people. From September 19 to October 2, this campaign will live online, and we are asking people from across the nation to send messages of support to the people who will be participating in actions that begin on October 3.

From October 3 to 13, same-sex couples will be requesting marriage licenses day after day in Asheville, NC, knowing that they will be denied because of a state law that prohibits same-sex couples from marrying. Each couple will be accompanied by a team of clergy and witnesses to support them and send a message that as we seek equality, we will never do so alone. You can follow their stories online each day at www.southernequality.org/.

On October 14, we will be holding a public interfaith blessing for all LGBT families in downtown Asheville. This will be followed by all participating couples again requesting licenses and again being denied. CSE will be providing full legal, logistical and emotional support to all participants in this action. Clergy are joining us from across North Carolina and from Boston, MA, to send a powerful, unwavering message of support for full equality under the law. A team of LGBT people and allies will be providing direct support to participating couples and coordinating the logistics of this action. You will be able to follow the events of October 14 through video, live social media updates and media coverage.

The “We Do” campaign is based upon the ethic of empathic resistance, which is the foundation of CSE’s work. Empathic resistance calls for 1) resisting persecuting systems by expressing the authentic self in persecuting environments; and 2) approaching those who oppose your rights with empathy.To express this ethic, we are in ongoing dialogue with staff at the Register of Deeds Office in Asheville (where marriage licenses are issued) and with local law enforcement. We are working to ensure the safety of all participants and to be clear that the goals of this actions are to 1) express the full humanity and equality of LGBT people in public life; and 2) to resist a discriminatory law and expose its harms.From Asheville, the “We Do” campaign will grow to other Southern communities as we tell a new story to the American public about what happens when ordinary people like you and me express our equality in public life and stand up to discriminatory laws.

We invite you to join us and we need your help. Please join us in these ways:

Starting Monday, send a message of support to participating couples and ask your friends, families and networks to join you. You can send the message here: www.southernequality.org/
If you can, join us on October 14. A full schedule will be available at www.southernequality.org/
Please donate to help fund the legal needs of participants in this action: www.southernequality.org/donate

Thank you for all that you do. Your readiness to act, your courage and the strength of your spirits fill me with great hope.

– Jasmine Beach-Ferrara