Folks, I'm so proud of this. Today we're releasing the final product of a totally volunteer, self-financed, zero-budget mostly netroots effort just finished today. My brother hekebolos and I wrote the script based on his original concept this week. It was produced by myself and my girlfriend theKK, with them doing the majority of the legwork to the tune of countless hours on the phone and tapping away at emails. Professional actors, crew and editors volunteered their time and talent for free, coming through in spades to support this production and very important cause. The Courage Campaign provided organizational backing, location and help with promotion.
A little background on this: the LDS Church has donated over $20 million to the hate-filled Prop. 8 campaign, but it was unwise to go after them and their involvement, as it would have caused the tenor of the campaign to degenerate into a mudfest. That changed, however, after hekebolos wrote a little-noticed diary asking for volunteers to help look into the donors to the Yes on 8 campaign. The LDS Church freaked out over the diary, and responded by trying to blackmail businesses that donated against Proposition 8--thereby earning my brother and his diary exposure in the Salt Lake Tribune and on Salt Lake's ABC affiliate.
This was a classic example of what Markos called in his excellent book Taking on the System "feeding the backlash": an old strategy hearkening back to the days of Saul Alinsky, it involves poking your opponent until he draws a sword, then fighting him toe-to-toe on more even footing. Now that the LDS Church has come out full throttle against us, we need to fight back against them with equal vigor, and inform voters of just how far this corporate organization is willing to go to impose their version of morality on our state's Constitution.
That's why it's so important to show this video to everyone you know, especially to friends outside your regular progressive circles. The sordid tale of the Mormon Church's involvement in this hate-based debacle is just beginning to trickle out to average voters, and they need to know that by casting a vote for Proposition 8, they are doing little more than doing the bidding of the Mormon Church, without whom this anti-Constitutional effort would barely have even gotten off the ground.
If you're in California and haven't been involved in the No on 8 campaign yet--or even if you have--stand up for your neighbors, family and friends, and get involved today in this fight to protect equal rights from the predations of an outside religious organization today. Californians need to know what's at stake here, and that if successful this effort will be seen not as a final victory but as a humble beginning to the LDS Church's efforts to buy their way into enshrinement in California's constitutional law.
We're ahead in the polls--but not by much. We need your help.
Send this video to friends and family in California. Don't let them get away with it. If they do, what will they ban next?
Update: Digg here. And if you have a Digg account, post some comments there as well, as it helps with the ranking.