Courage Campaign - Equality Campaigning

Equality Campaigning

Courage Campaign does extensive work on LGBT issues which span multiple venues, states, and forums.

• Camp Courage-A series of trainings for activists who wish to be more effective advocates for LGBT quality and inspired by the "Camp Obama" series of activist-training conferences during Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Approximately 2,000 activists have been trained and deployed across the country, in places like New Hampshire to protect the state’s marriage equality law in the face of right-wing attempts to repeal marriage equality in 2010/2011. On July 21, 2012, Courage Campaign held a Camp Courage reunion in Los Angeles to hear about everyone’s latest projects and to engage Camp Courage attendees in the Breakthrough Conversations project designed to test messages which move family/friends/colleagues to supporting LGBT equality.
• Courageous Conversations-During the winter holiday season of 2009, Courage Campaign partnered with Marriage Equality USA in a public education effort, asking members to have a “courageous conversation” with a loved one about marriage equality over the holiday season, when many families and friends gather together. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Eric McCormack recorded a video encouraging members to hold these conversations. Courage Campaign also offered the opportunity to send a free “e-card” on the member’s behalf to a LGBT family or friend on behalf of whom the courageous conversation was held. Nationwide, members reported approximately 1,500 conversations were recorded. In 2011, Courage Campaign asked members to submit photos of families and friends who support marriage equality, whether LGB T or straight, single or in a relationship. Approximately 1,200 photos were submitted and Courage used these in public education campaigns around marriage equality. In April 2012, Courage Campaign renewed the courageous conversation campaign and partnered with the Coalition to Protect All NC Families during the campaign to defeat Amendment 1 in a public education effort to inform North Carolina voters. Conversations were held across North Carolina.
• Don't Ask Don't Tell-In 2009, 141,262 members of Courage Campaign signed a petition to President Obama, urging him not to fire Lt. Dan Choi, discharged under the policy, and to move forward with ending the policy. Later that year, 169,537 members signed a petition to an inquiry board of colonels charged with deciding whether Choi should be discharged, urging the board not to discharge Choi. Again in 2009, 128,037 members urged then-Speaker Pelosi to move forward with legislation to end the policy. On Feb 11th, 2010, Courage convened a member conference call with Sen. Gillibrand and Choi to talk strategy and give updates on their joint efforts to end the policy. In March 2010, Courage drove just under 1,000 calls to key Senators from in-state members, asking them to co-sponsor legislation to repeal the policy. In May, with time running out to change the policy, approximately 50,000 members of Courage Campaign joined with members of Democracy for America to co-sign a letter from Gov. Dean to President Obama, urging him to use the bully pulpit to convince key members of Congress to support ending the policy. Courage members also petitioned Attorney General Holder to not defend “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in court after it was struck down by Judge Virginia Phillips.

In November, Courage Campaign worked with Rep. Patrick Murphy to collect approximately 70,000 letters of support from veterans in support of ending DADT and used them to lobby Congress. In December, Courage drove hundreds of calls to the remaining key 9 Senators undecided on repeal. 5 of them ended up supporting repeal, pushing the bill over the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, moving the bill to President Obama’s desk, which he signed into law. In January 2011, after Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr. introduced legislation to repeal the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” 27,162 members of Courage signed a letter from Sen. Feinstein telling Rep. Hunter to focus on real priorities for California. Later that year, approximately 23,000 members of Courage Campaign signed a letter to Judge Facciola in support of Dan Choi, who faced 6 months in prison of a $5,000 fine for an obscure infraction of Parks and Wildlife federal regulations due to his loss of hearing sustained during his tour of duty in Iraq. Choi ultimately avoided jail time and was required to pay a $100 fine.

• DOMA-Courage Campaign has worked extensively to end DOMA. In July 2010, nearly 35,000 Courage Campaign members petitioned President Obama to direct the Department of Justice to not appeal a ruling against the Defense of Marriage Act (the Administration agreed to stop defending DOMA altogether). In March 2011, Sen. Feinstein introduced the Respect for Marriage Act to end DOMA and asked Courage Campaign members to join her in winning votes to repeal DOMA. Approximately 60,000 members joined her campaign and over the proceeding months, Courage Campaign staff and members played the lead staff and grassroots leadership role. In July 2011, over 25,000 Courage Campaign members petitioned President Obama to formally endorse the Respect for Marriage Act. In a rare move, Press Secretary Jay Carney announced the President’s formal endorsement prior to it being passed by committee. During 2011 Courage Campaign partnered with state-based organizations such as Fair Wisconsin, Alliance for a Better Minnesota, Progress New Mexico and Equality Maryland to pressure Senators to co-sponsor the Respect for Marriage Act. The bill earned the majority of votes on the key Senate Judiciary Committee. This effort and the resulting Senate vote generated public attention for DOMA, which previously had low name recognition and less public support than marriage equality. Following the November 2012 elections in which residents of Maine, Maryland and Washington passed marriage equality, Courage Campaign renewed their campaigning to end DOMA, as the additional couples who could be married increased the number of couples impacted by DOMA.
• LGBT Immigration-In April 2011, Courage Campaign joined with AllOut to petition Homeland Security Secretary to stop the deportation of longtime New Jersey couple Josh Vandiver and Henry Velandia under the Defense of Marriage Act. Over 25,000 members joined AllOut’s members in this action. Attorney General Holder, in a rare move, vacated the decision of the federal immigration board. Josh and Henry currently live in New Jersey as a couple.
• Marriage Equality Outside California-In 2009, Courage Campaign raised $75,547 from 1,512 supporters to support efforts to win marriage equality in Maine, over $60,000 of which went directly to the No on 1 campaign. Courage Campaign also loaned staff to help win equality, including sending four staffers to Maine. Courage Campaign organized Travel for Change and Volunteer Vacation, efforts to get-out-the-vote in Maine by helping volunteers across the country get to the state. Members donated airline miles, money for gas and other forms of transportation, and opened up their cars for carpools. Courage also organized a call-out-the-vote effort from home for its members. The effort failed by a 53-47% margin. Courage credits the campaign with laying the groundwork for a successful 53-47% win in November 2012. In February 2011, amid attempts by anti-LGBT legislators to repeal marriage equality in New Hampshire, Courage Campaign worked with Granite State Progress to hold “Camp Courage” trainings around the state, giving activists training to communicate their “story of self” to friends/family/colleagues and state legislators. Courage and Granite State Progress held six trainings around the state and Courage also asked members to attend the public hearing on the topic. The law was retained. In May 2012, Courage Campaign joined the Campaign to Protect All NC Families in efforts to defeat the anti-LGBT Amendment 1. Courage Campaign raised $33,838 from 955 supporters, the overwhelming bulk of which went directly to campaign efforts, and another $16,096 to directly fund Courage member GOTV efforts; led a dozen volunteers to get-out-the-vote over the final weekend before Election Day as well as loaned two staff directly to the campaign on the ground; and Courage volunteers, along with readers at DailyKos, made over 75,000 calls from home to get out the vote. Courage Campaign also reprised their “courageous conversation” campaign, partnering with the Coalition to Protect All NC Families during the campaign to defeat Amendment 1 in a statewide public education effort to inform North Carolina voters by encouraging members to hold conversations on the dangers of Amendment 1 with friends, family and colleagues. The amendment was passed by a 61% to 39% margin, setting the stage for future marriage equality work in North Carolina. In November 2012, following a vote of the Courage Campaign membership to prioritize equality campaigning in Washington state, Courage Campaign raised $38,478 from 1,221 supporters to help approve Referendum 74; drove tens of thousands of calls from home to get-out-the-vote; and loaned two staff and a dozen volunteers to get-out-the-vote in Bellevue, Washington, a key base area of support in the Seattle suburbs. Courage Campaign partnered with Travel for Change to help members get from around the country to Bellevue and arranged housing and transportation. The result: winning marriage equality with nearly 54% of the vote, including 65% to approve Referendum 74 in King County.
• Mitt Gets Worse-In the summer of 2012, Courage Campaign SuperPAC and American Bridge 21st Century launched the Mitt Gets Worse campaign, a public education effort to inform voting Americans about Mitt Romney’s record concerning LGBT equality. Courage designed MittGetsWorse.org, a website that housed an interactive timeline, videos, historical facts and actions to take concerning Mitt’s record. A corresponding Facebook campaign was hosted at Facebook.com/MittGetsWorse, a historical Facebook “timeline” of Mitt’s record on LGBT equality since 1994, documenting his moves opposing LGBT issues from running for Senate in 1994 until 2012. Courage Campaign recruited spokespeople from Massachusetts during Romney’s tenure as governor, from Julie Goodridge, whose relationship was dismissed by Gov. Romney at a meeting over his support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage (her video currently has over 280,000 views on YouTube). Arthur Lipkin, the chair of the Massachusetts Commission on LGBT Youth who discussed Romney’s efforts to abolish the commission, Grace Sterling-Stowell, the head of Boston Area Gay and Lesbian Youth discussing Romney’s cuts to LGBT youth programs, and Representative Barney Frank who specifically asked the Log Cabin Republicans to withhold their endorsement. These videos generated national media attention.
• National Organization for Marriage-In the summer of 2010, National Organization for Marriage (NOM) announced a “Summer for Marriage” tour to 19 states where they would hold rallies against same-sex marriage. Courage Campaign sent staff to document the tour. This led to video footage such as a man attending the Indianapolis rally who believed the solution to gay marriage was lynching. He was vocal about his beliefs on tape and the local media covered the story, generating poor press for NOM. Every tour stop was blogged by a Courage staff member on NOMTourTracker.com. Courage Campaign followed up by joining the Human Rights Campaign to launch NOMExposed.com and continues to actively follow NOM on EqualityonTrial.com. In advance of the 2010 elections, NOM organized a second tour focused on California to mobilize Latinos in support of Carly Fiorina, an opponent of same-sex marriage, and her run for U.S. Senate. The tour struggled with logistical problems, was not able to find hosting locations, and was eventually disavowed by Carly Fiorina disavowed it in the Los Angeles Times. The key NOM speaker, Karyme Lozano, a Mexican telenovela actress, left the tour after it was revealed she was the “queen” in the 2008 San Francisco Pride parade. The head of the Ruth Institute (a 501c3 “public education” arm of NOM) was also caught on video using her non-partisan position to ask people to vote for Fiorina, which led Courage to file a complaint with the IRS. NOM organized a third bus tour in Iowa with Rick Santorum to defeat Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right. Courage Campaign also covered this tour.
• Orbitz-In May 2011, Courage Campaign joined with Media Matters for America, Equality Matters, CREDO Mobile and League of Conservation to lead a campaign urging Orbitz, a gay-friendly company to stop buying ads on the Fox News Channel due to Fox’s history of anti-gay commentary. After Orbitz’s initial refusal, Courage and its allies organized thousands of commenters to post directly on Orbitz’s Facebook page. Orbitz uses Facebook as a daily hub for advertising deals, which increased the reach of their pressure. Courage escalated the confrontation by releasing a video targeting Orbitz employees. After an Orbitz Vice President lashed out, blogger Perez Hilton also joined in the pressure. Orbitz agreed to meet with Courage and ultimately ceased advertising on Fox.
• Prop 8 Trial Tracker/EqualityOnTrial.com-Following the Supreme Court refusal to allow the Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Hollingsworth v Perry) case to be televised, Courage Campaign Institute launched Prop8TrialTracker.com and Courage Chair and Founder Rick Jacobs blogged the trial live from the San Francisco courthouse in January 2010 each day. Over the course of the 3-week trial the blog became a hub for coverage of the trial, including media such as USA Today, which could not send a journalist each day. Today, the blog has over 5 million views, 175,000 comments and is the #1 Google search result for “Prop 8 trial”—higher than Wikipedia, the LA Times, or The Huffington Post. Two full-time bloggers and coterie of guest bloggers cover the Prop 8 trial, and additionally all Defense of Marriage Act cases; state-level lawsuits pertaining to marriage equality in New Jersey, Illinois and elsewhere; other federal cases pertaining to marriage equality including Sevcik v. Sandoval; a lawsuit to prevent a Courage Campaign-sponsored bill—SB 1172, banning so-called “reparative therapy” to change a minor’s sexual orientation—from taking effect; and other cases wherever LGBT equality is on trial. The blog is funded by community members and supported with legal expertise from colleagues in the LGBT legal equality movement at Lambda Legal, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders and others.
• Testimony-In 2010, Courage Campaign launched Testimony, a tool enabling activists to record personal stories of support for equality and “pin” them to a US map. Videos are also sorted by issue area, creating a “hub” of videos that can be accessed by anyone the next time someone wants to find a story on bullying, discrimination, or other topics. Hundreds of videos were submitted from all areas of the U.S.
• Prop 8 Trial-Courage Campaign has a long history of working to defeat and end Prop 8. 2,351 Courage small donors contributed $128,077 to defeat Prop 8 in 2008. Approximately 300,000 members signed up to end Prop 8 immediately after it passed in 2008. When the movie Milk was released in November 2008, Courage members organized hundreds of “Milk + Love”parties, encouraging people to see the film and then hold conversations after the screenings to educate the public, in advance of a possible ballot measure repeal effort. In 2009, when a case reached the California Supreme Court supported by anti-marriage activists seeking to forcibly annul the marriages of 18,000 same-sex couples married prior to the passage of Prop 8, Courage Campaign launched “Fidelity,” a video featuring music by Regina Spektor with same-sex couples asking the California Supreme Court “please don’t divorce us.” Over 800 photos were submitted by Courage members and several were included in the video. Within three weeks of the launch in early February the video received over 1 million views and is today the most-watched web video in California political history. Regina Spektor later told the New York Times she believed opposition to same-sex marriage “as embarrassing as white-only drinking fountains” and that the video is “the nicest use of my song ever.” The California Supreme Court decided against the lawsuit, keeping same-sex marriages intact and handing the marriage equality movement a victory. In response to the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Prop 8 as a constitutional use of the ballot measure process, Courage Campaign raised $134,000 to put Fidelity on TV as a 60-second ad across the state, in order to move poll numbers in advance of a potential repeal ballot measure effort. Courage Campaign raised over $100,000 to pay for research to determine if 2010 or 2012 was an appropriate time to return to the ballot to repeal Prop 8. It was decided 2010 was not the right time. When the Perry lawsuit was filed, Courage Campaign responded to Judge Walker’s call for public comments regarding a trial project to televise the Prop 8 trial. A remarkable 108,743 members responded and Courage Campaign submitted these public comments, which were noted by Judge Walker as outnumbering the number of comments (38 total) in opposition. The number of comments were later noted by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer twice in his dissent concerning whether to televise the trial in response to Justice Scalia’s argument that the public had no time to comment. After the Supreme Court unfortunately refused to allow the landmark Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Hollingsworth v Perry) case to be televised, Courage Campaign Institute launched Prop8TrialTracker.com and Courage Chair and Founder Rick Jacobs blogged the trial live from the San Francisco courthouse in January 2010 each day. Over the course of the 3-week trial the blog became the go-to hub for coverage of the trial, even for media like USA Today which could not send a journalist each day. Today, the blog has over 5 million views, 175,000 comments and is the #1 Google search result for “Prop 8 trial”—higher than Wikipedia, the LA Times, or The Huffington Post.

After Judge Walker’s ruling, tens of thousands of Courage members signed a thank you card to Ted Olson and David Boies, the lead counsel of record for the plaintiffs, which was delivered by Courage staff to Mr. Olson in Washington, DC. After the 9th Circuit decided to certify a question to the California Supreme Court pertaining to the issue of standing and the California Supreme Court announced it would take a whole six months to convene a hearing on the matter, over 10,000 Courage members petitioned the 9th Circuit to lift the stay on Judge Walker’s ruling in the meantime. More petitioned the 9th Circuit to release the tapes of the trial for public record and Courage Campaign members donated to advertise on a billboard directly outside the San Francisco courthouse, where Judge Ware, who replaced Judge Walker, was deciding on the issue. Judge Ware ruled in favor of both lifting the stay and releasing the tapes. Courage Campaign also organized to educate the public on the damage caused by Prop 8 by telling the story of Ed and Derence, a Palm Springs same-sex couple who risked never being able to marry due to their age and Ed's advancing Alzheimer's. Their story appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. Over the week of March 24, 2013 as the Supreme Court prepared to hear the case, Courage Campaign volunteers funded and distributed hundreds of signs at rallies against Prop 8 in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. These signs made the front pages of NYTimes.com and newspapers nationwide. Courage Campaign members remain active in seeking an end to Prop 8 and to release the tapes of the trial.