Minnesotans United For All Families
I just want to say that short of Obama's record-shattering 2008 primary campaign, this organization ran BY FAR the best political campaign I have ever seen. It was the odds-defying stuff of history books. The people running this deserve BIG promotions by the DNC soon and any future fights for marriage equality need to take notes. They managed to take down something with almost 60% support just six years earlier. How?
1-No holds barred truth telling and not tiptoeing around things. In most press releases and flyers I read they didn't say "anti-gay marriage" or "anti-same sex marriage" amendment they said "anti-marriage amendment".
2-Microtargeting and grassroots activism like I've never seen before. People came out HARD against this thing, it wasn't just the fundies mobilized. Amongst unlikely voters turnout was boosted, largely by the influence of peer pressure, I heard in social circles and all around Facebook things like "If you don't vote and this thing passes, people you care about WILL be hurt" knowing that most people under 40 know at least one person who is out of the closet, and can put a face on the time of discrimination being fought for. And plenty of people who'd prefer not to vote otherwise did. I've talked to more than one person who said they voted ONLY because of that.
3-A campaign in advertising and personal persuasion that wasn't afraid to avoid offending people or making them think serious considerations about their actions and voting. Too many people in the past decided to go around talking about how they don't hate gays or lesbians but will still vote the way their church or social circle tells them to. Minnesotans United's campaign shattered the misconception that one can be this way and pointed out that your vote has real consequences, it WILL deeply hurt people and in grassroots brining up the suicides of students in the Anoka-Hennepin district and the message passing this will send and how if you want to pretend there's not a connection you're just greatly lying to yourself.
I'm so impressed and proud with what these people did over the past year and what we did yesterday. After the legislature voted this on the ballot amidst massive protests in the Capitol a State Senator came over to the protesters with a rallying speech ending with "32 states so far...we're not going to be number 33. This stops right here!" to massive cheering. How right he was.
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Very proud indeed. Then again........Michelle Bachman IS still in the House. Ugh.....
