Courage Campaign - Notable Projects

Notable Projects

• Block Blackwater—a successful campaign against the establishment of a Blackwater mercenary base near San Diego.
• 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. Nearly 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.
• "Can’t Pray the Gay Away"-Courage organized a flash mob protest against Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Over fifty people danced to Madonna’s hit "Like a Prayer" outside of the 2011 California Republican Party convention. The protest, covered in the Los Angeles Times, called attention to Bachmann’s connections to controversial reparative therapy—which claims to make gay people straight—practiced at her husband's clinic.
• Drop Fox-With Media Matters for America, Equality Matters, CREDO Mobile and League of Conservation Voters, Courage Campaign launched a successful campaign in the summer of 2011 to persuade Orbitz, a gay-friendly company, to stop buying ads on the Fox News Channel. Nearly 200,000 individuals joined their call on Orbitz to stop funding Fox. Orbitz, in the end, stopped advertising on Fox.
• Ed and Derence—When the California Supreme Court decided it would take six months to rule on the next phase of the Prop 8 trial, Courage Campaign asked its members to tell us what six months' wait meant to them and their families. Three hundred stories came in, including one from Ed Watson and Derence Kernek in Palm Springs, a couple for over 40 years. Ed had Alzheimer’s and his health was quickly deteriorating. Courage Campaign’s field staff drove out to Palm Springs to get them on video and their story ended up being featured on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. Ed passed away in December 2011, never having the chance to marry his partner due to the long delays in the Prop 8 trial.
• No More Dirty Tricks—a successful campaign against a state-wide right-wing movement to change electoral college vote-counting in presidential elections, starting with the 2008 presidential campaign. No Dirty Tricks received nationwide coverage on CBS News, which led to the failure of the right-wing effort.
• NOM Tour Tracker—a video blog covering the National Organization for Marriage's Summer for Marriage Tour and interviews with attendees. NOM Tour Tracker received nationwide coverage when the founder of the Summer for Marriage Tour, Louis Marinelli, penned an e-mail on behalf of Courage Campaign renouncing his actions on behalf of the National Organization for Marriage and his decision to support same-sex marriage. The development was the subject of a feature segment by Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC.
• Occupy Golf Course--While he was holding a fundraiser for wealthy donors during a visit to the Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach, California, Courage confronted Republican House Speaker John Boehner with almost 30,000 signatures demanding that he hold a vote on President Obama's American Jobs Act. Courage flew a plane over his entire golf outing which said "GOP Jobs Plan = Occupy Golf Course? ~Courage Campaign" while also organizing a protest of about fifty people outside of the resort, which was covered by the LA Times and MSNBC.
• Prop 8 Trial Tracker/EqualityOnTrial.com—a blog, now renamed EqualityOnTrial.com, that covers proceedings of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case and the ongoing efforts to overturn Prop 8.
• Manny Pacquiao and anti-gay comments—After published reports attributed extreme anti-gay remarks to boxer and Filipino Congressman Manny Pacquiao, Courage Campaign demanded that Nike drop its sponsorship of him. The entertainment news program Extra subsequently canceled an interview with Pacquiao, before the boxer clarified his remarks and apologized.
• Anthem Blue Cross—Anthem Blue Cross has been a frequent target of Courage Campaign. In 2010, Courage successfully convinced Blue Cross to revise a proposed 39% increase in insurance rates after mounting a public campaign asking Gov. Schwarzenegger to intervene. In 2013 Courage mounted a successful public campaign challenging Anthem Blue Cross’ proposed cuts to the pharmaceutical benefits of HIV/AIDS patients. Anthem Blue Cross rescinded the policy change.
• Walmart: Stop Selling Assault Rifles—In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, Courage worked to pressure large retailers, including Walmart, to stop selling assault rifles, joining with SumOfUs.org, MoveOn.org and MomsRising to deliver hundreds of thousands of signatures to their store 15 minutes from Sandy Hook Elementary School in a nationwide media event. Courage members also engaged in a boycott of Walmart on Black Friday in 2012, due to Walmart’s labor practices.
• Apple and the NRA Shooting Game App—in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, Courage convinced Apple to increase the recommended age from 4 to 12 for the NRA’s new shooting app.
• 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 special 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. Over 1,500 conversations were recorded nationwide as members reported how their conversations went. In 2011, Courage Campaign asked members to submit photos of families and friends who support marriage equality, whether LGB or straight, single or in a relationship. Over 1,200 photos were submitted and Courage used these in public education campaigns around marriage equality. In April 2012, Courage Campaign again embarked on a 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 sell the LA Times to the Koch brothers—In March 2013, Courage Campaign partnered with DailyKos and MoveOn.org to deliver over 100,000 signatures to the Los Angeles Times opposing a sale of the newspaper, owned by the Tribune Company, to right-wing Koch brothers. Courage and DailyKos members also funded a newspaper ad to appear in the pages of the Times. After the advertising department rejected the ad, Courage staff revised the ad to add six footnote citations of the Times' own reporting regarding the Koch brothers' right-wing activities. Following the petition delivery, the advertising department relented and the advertisement ran on April 3, 2013.