Let's Show the World What a 21st Century Movement Looks Like

General Dan Choi needs troops for the good fight.

We will end DADT and the DOMA and get a constitutional amendment for Equal
Rights for LGBT citizens passed on Monday November 22, 2010. It will be a day
the world will remember for all time. It will be the day we decided to end hate
and stop giving power to those who would divide us.

Here's how:

First: The time has come. The American people genuinely feel bad about teen
bullying and the level of tolerance for hatred has never been lower. The country
is ready. LGBT folk are fucking pissed and tired and crushed. But the politicians
aren't being pushed hard enough. So they need some incentive.

Let's show the politicos that we are really in charge.

Second: Movements start and change happens because one person decides
enough is enough and that person has enough gumption to stay the course. Dan
Choi is doing this, and a small group of others but they can't get enough to
follow. We need to show them that we will follow General Dan Choi’s lead.

Third: Movements grow into unstoppable change when supporters know that
they can be part of something big, something bold and something that will make
history. Who would have intentionally missed the sit-ins and bus boycotts and
struggles of civil rights if they knew then that it would end up a turning point in
history. Think how proud the civil rights leaders are to talk to their children and
grand children. Everyone wants to be a part of history, so we will create history.
It is easier to do this quickly than to take our fucking precious time. It is easier to
accomplish an audacious goal than a timid one.

Leaders lead and followers follow. The best followers only follow something that
is big enough to matter. First one, then 1 thousand, then 1 million, then 100
million.

Fourth: People don't want to join a movement that is going to fizzle. So the
movement will be organized and logistically superior to anything ever seen
before. Dan Choi is from the military, he knows how to organize. We all know
this is true. When opponents know the “gay problem” won't go away until they
address it, they will capitulate because they are cowards at heart.

The battle will be over before it is fought and the fight will be quick and
bloodless. Read Sun Tzu: “For to win one hundred victories in one hundred
battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme
of skill.”

Fifth: There needs to be a reason for the change to happen right now instead of
later when we get to it. So let’s go fucking create one.
Here is the Plan:

Seven score and seven years ago, Abraham Lincoln, that great leader of civil
rights stepped onto the bloodied ground at Gettysburg and uttered these words:

“Four  score  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  on  this  continent,  a  
new  nation,  conceived  in  Liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  
are  created  equal.
Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether  that  nation,  or  any  
nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  
battle-­field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field,  as  a  
final  resting  place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation  might  
live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this.  
But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  can  not  dedicate  -­-­  we  can  not  consecrate  -­-­  we  can  
not  hallow  -­-­  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  
have  consecrated  it,  far  above  our  poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  
little  note,  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  
they  did  here.  It  is  for  us  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  
unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  
is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us  -­-­  
that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  
which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion  -­-­  that  we  here  highly  resolve  
that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain  -­-­  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom  -­-­  and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  
people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth.”  

This Friday, November 19th, 2010, marks the 77th anniversary of that great
speech. Let us honor President Lincoln by finishing the task that cost so many
lives to begin. Let us honor President Lincoln by granting equality to all our
citizens on that day. Let us honor President Lincoln by starting the movement to
bring peace and equality to the entire Earth on that day.
We will meet on the fields of Gettysburg. Hallowed by the blood of those who
fought so that all men could be free. We will honor their death by giving our lives
to the struggle they died for. Giving our lives, not in death, but in life. By
resolving then and there that from now on we will tolerate nothing less than
equality for all. All Americans, all God’s children throughout the world. All
Christians, All Muslims, All Hindus, All Buddhists, All God’s children no matter
how they choose to worship him, or indeed if they choose not to believe in him
at all.

Finally: People don't want to get behind a wimpy goal. Gays and lesbians don't
want DADT repealed, that's bullshit. They fucking want full equality and respect.
And they don't want gay and lesbian kids to be hassled for being who they are.
And they want it to happen yesterday. But November 19th will have to do.

So we have a big goal.

Luckily, an audacious goal is easier to achieve than a minor one.

But it takes commitment.

Just one voice standing up and saying enough, if that voice has a plan.

So we don't just go after DADT, we go after the whole enchilada, all at once.

Ending DADT is not enough. It is timid. It is wrong to ask only for partial equality.
We are all 100% human being. So we fucking demand to be treated as a 100%
human all the way. Every one of us. And we demand the same for everyone else.

We want the entire world behind us, not just the relatively few who are affected
by DADT.
Here is what we will do:

1) LGBT citizens and those who support equal rights for all are forming a new
worldwide non-profit foundation for human rights called: “New Birth of
Freedom” to honor Lincoln’s words.

2) The first action of this group will be attending the celebrations of the
Anniversary of Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg. We will not interrupt the
ceremony that is already planned to show respect for order and the sacred
ground where so many lives were lost. And we will imbibe the deep history of
the region and learn from the history buffs and reinactors who flock to
Gettysburg on the anniversary of Lincoln’s beautiful ode to equality and
freedom.

But we will augment those planned events with our own rally at various points
on the public grounds of Gettysburg and the surrounding fields that can hold
millions.

We will work with the authorities to maintain order and tranquility.

When our children and our grandchildren ask us what it was like in our times, we
will beam with pride and tell them that we were there, on Friday November 19th,
at Gettysburg.

The day we decided to stop the hate and change the world.

2) The second action of this group will be a National Coming Out Day celebrated
in Gettysburg, PA, U.S.A. on Monday November 22nd because, in the words of
MLK Jr., "justice too long delayed is justice denied".
Anyone who is LGBT and not yet openly so is requested to come out on the
Monday the 22nd. Anyone who is not gay but supports the rights of LGBT
individuals will create a smokescreen for those who are coming out by making
an appointment to talk with their parents on the evening of November 22nd.

That way no one will know whether or not their son or daughter is gay or lesbian
and coming out until the meeting takes place. If any parent or family member
asks: "are you gay?” the response will be: "I'll address that in Monday's
meeting." This will force parents to confront the very real possibility that their
son or daughter is gay but they don't know it, even if he or she isn't gay or
lesbian.

For all of Monday, all parents will be parents of gay, lesbian, transgender and
bisexual men and women, boys and girls. They will confront the ugliness of their
own prejudice and repent and show sorrow.

Members of the military will inform their commanding officer of their LGBT
status immediately. They will tender their resignation from the military consistent
with effects of DADT effective immediately so that they do not put the lives of
their fellow servicemen and women in jeopardy by their absence on Monday.
This will give the military sufficient time to adjust schedules and remove these
soldiers from hot zones.

3) The second action will be a national walkout starting on Monday the 22nd at
1AM. Anyone who is LGBT or a supporter of equal rights under the U.S.
Constitution is asked to support the walkout by not coming to work on Monday.
The walkout will end when the battle is won and no sooner.

Do not tell your boss that you will be walking out. Just do it.
Those with a public safety job will advise their employer on Friday the 19th so
they do not put lives in jeopardy. If arrangements cannot be made for an
adequate substitute then they will remain on their jobs putting people first. But
they will wear a rainbow armband while they work.

4) There will be a rally starting at 12:00 AM on the 22nd at every state legislature
in the Union and Washington D.C.

We will fill the whole mall.

We will fill the mall and we will fill the surrounding streets.

We will march starting Saturday from Gettysburg the less than 100 miles to the
Capital Mall in Washington DC.

We will hold Worship Service in the fields on Sunday wherever we rest our
heads.

We will walk just like the soldiers before us who walked, not 100, but thousands
of miles in far worse conditions, to fight for freedom and equality and justice for
all.

Along the way we will be peaceful and joyous knowing that we are bending the
long arc of justice for we cannot wait for it to come to us.

5) The walk-out will go on until we have repealed DADT, we have repealed the
DOMA, and we have passed an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and had it
ratified by every single state of the Union, and we have passed the, "Bully
Buster Law", a new law in every single state making it a felony assault, charging
the perpetrators as adults when a high-school student is physically assaulted by
another student on or near school property because of their sexual orientation
or for any other reason. We will have bills ready for every single state legislature
required to enact the laws required to end the walk-outs and protests for review
by legislative aids on Thursday November 18th at 10 AM.

Our Equal Rights Amendment will include women as well as LGBT rights
because women are oppressed by those in power and when we say everyone is
equal, we mean EVERYONE and we mean EQUAL.

6) There will be a support hotline, web forum, and local face-to-face meeting
groups to help people with the difficult process of coming out for every single
person who signs up to our web site which can maintain their anonymity. The
technology to deploy this exists. Already. Twitter, Meetup, Blogs, etc.

7) There will be an online volunteer web site with details to be announced

through Twitter at #Gettysburg2010

8) We will need a list of volunteers who can drive busses, organize food, supply
toilets for protest, man hotlines, handle donations, supply housing for anyone
who is forced to leave their homes because of having come out, supply housing
for volunteers, offer food and shelter to those marching from Gettysburg, supply
tents and sleeping bags where required, and offer various other specific
assistance which will be outlined via Twitter.

Follow on Twitter and offer your help where needed. Follow Andrew Sullivan’s
blog. Follow Dan Savage. Follow anyone else who leads towards equality.

This will be a epic-scale operation staffed by volunteers and organized from the
bottom up.
There is no explicit power structure. We are all equal.

The only leaders are those who others want to follow. Identify the ones that
already exist. Find new ones.

Become one.

Find someone you respect and let them know you will follow where they lead.

9) Anyone who can help will take a leave-of-absence from work as soon as they
hear of this plan to help organize.

10) We will crowd source a massively distributed organizational effort over the
next week, delegating the effort to volunteers we identify through Twitter and the
blogs.

Deep logistics is key to our strategy as it will show the opponents of freedom
and equality and justice that we are serious, demand to be taken seriously, and
we aren't going away.

11) We will organize a massive and unprecedented protest of the Westboro

Baptist church by our LGBT armed service members for Sunday morning
wherever they are and we arrange to have thousands there screaming and
yelling at them, and if they come to Washington we protest them massively at
every step of their journey calling them bigots and raising signs with scripture
and verse on it condemning them for their actions. "God Hates Fag Haters"
becomes our call.

We will stop when they promise to stop hating and repent of their sins before
God and Country and ask for the forgiveness of all they have hurt with their
hatred.

We promise to meet them this way any time they try to protest at the funerals of
American servicemen again, anywhere they go.

We will place a continuous vigil outside their homes and places of worship until
they repent for their sins.

12) We will own the news for this entire week.

We will schedule press interviews and news appearances over the next few
days by any volunteers that can schedule appearances, and speak for equal
rights.

We will orchestrate this and time it so there is always something going on

somewhere to take the news spot.

We will create an ebb and flow, and build tension and release it, just like FatBoy
Slim in a dance club.

We will create continuous victories and celebrations leading up to the main

event on Monday.

There will be no pause for the enemies of freedom and justice and equality to
spew their rancid hate and vile contempt for God’s children.
13) We offer to have an hour-long joint discussion on Fox News with Shepard
Smith, Mike Huckabee and Bill O'Reilly on Sunday afternoon under one
condition: that Fox News fires Glenn Beck for inciting hatred and bigotry. We will
not tolerate his hatred.

If they do not agree to do this, then we will boycott Fox News and all of News
Corp.’s companies and anything at all associated with Rupert Murdoch.

We will begin this boycott immediately so that they know we are serious. We will
compile a list of News Corp. subsidiaries and organize the boycott starting
today and ending when Glenn Beck is fired.

The subject of the discussion will be: "How would Jesus treat gays, lesbians,
bisexuals, and transgender persons." It will be a Christian discussion with
Christian religious leaders not demagogues.

14) We will go on The View if they come to Gettysburg.

15) We will announce on Monday morning at the rally that we have identified the
major donors for all the opponents of LGBT rights and will begin a boycott of
any associated companies starting Tuesday.

We will name all the companies and ask people to write down their stock
symbols as we list them off. After the close of the markets we suggest that
everyone sell their holdings, sell the stock short or buy put options on these
companies to make their prices go down.
16) We will announce on Monday afternoon that we have identified a large group
of hypocritical closeted gay and lesbians who are opponents of LGBT rights. We
will make this list public at 11 AM on Tuesday if the laws are not passed by the
end of the day on Monday.

Those who openly favor LGBT rights but who choose to remain closeted will be
respected. This choice must be a personal one, except for the hypocrites.

17) We will announce the name and home addresses of the officers and
directors of the corporations funding the opponents of LGBT rights. We will
forgive them but ask for their future commitment to LGBT rights on behalf of the
company and their future commitment not to donate to campaigns or outside
groups that deny LGBT rights.

18) We will organize protests at these companies just as people are leaving
work to turn them around and gain their support.

19) The officers and directors of the opponent donor companies will be met at
their houses or the entrance to their gated communities with protestors
denouncing their role in denying LGBT rights if they do not commit to support
equal rights for all Americans. They will be asked to sign pledges for
commitment to LGBT rights.

20) We will ask for a walkout of all employees of these companies if any don't
sign the pledges.

We will picket their work sites.

21) We will have some fun watching everyone squirm.

We will improvise responses to assaults on freedom and equality and justice.

We will use the internet to coordinate the efforts.

22) We will have a loud and raucous and wonderful fun time so the opponents of
freedom and equality and justice know that we can last as long as they take,
because while they may be having a fucking awful day, ours couldn't be better.

This is just the initial plan. With your help it will get much better.

And there will be surprises.

Surprises are fun.

Even children know that.

We are Dan Choi’s Army and we fight for freedom.

We are Dan Choi’s Army and we fight for equality.

We are Dan Choi’s Army and we fight for justice.

For all.

Every last one of us.

We are Dan Choi’s Army.

Reporting for duty Sir!

 
 

If you have any questions please ask away on Twitter with #Gettysburg2010