What Every Demonstrator Should Know Before Sat. the 15th

First and foremost, we are NOT a community of divisiveness—all races and religions are welcome. Mormons are NOT our enemy. Ignorance towards the Q* community is the enemy—ideas, not people. It is always the role of the informed to educate. It is always our role to persistently develop relationships and dialogue with those who are ignorant to our cause.

Tomorrow tens and tens of thousands of us will reach the city hall steps in solidarity and we will re-launch the movement of the Q community as the world looks on. Let’s do this right!

For many of you this may be your first march, rally, protest. For some pockets of America you will wish that you lived in Los Angeles or San Francisco, but please be strong, you are needed—from Alabama to Alaska, your voices, your hearts, and your truth need to be the brightest in the nation. Give your whole hearts to this.

Trust your gut.

I’ve trusted my gut in eight marches in eight days. When police tried to get us to keep moving, I sat down, and others followed. If you sit, or if you move, trust that others will follow.

I recently had an empowering experience with film producer JD Disalvatore as we marched down Beverly Blvd. and chose to sit down in the middle of the street when we came to restaurant that supported prop 8 but acted as if they were friends of the community. We sat, and others followed despite the leaders of the march urging us on. We only moved when we felt that arrest was a threat. These are the statements that ALSO need to be made. This is civil disobedience. Through our courage and conviction we will be heard.

I had the pleasure of speaking to some of the greatest activists in our generation and this is some of their wisdom for making the best out of your rally:

“Respect authority, but question it.” Haven Herrin-Soulforce Q National Director. "You do not always have to immediately do as the authorities, be it police or community leaders, say to do if you are personally convicted to make a statement."

·     To all those leading a demonstration, here is some advice from one of the major players in civil disobedience for the past two generations, ACT UP’s Ann Northrop:

“Think about the point of your demonstration. Who are you talking to? What are you trying to say? What are all your goals? Generally, the answer is that you're trying both to give the demonstrators a sense that they can work together safely and attain power, and you're trying to convince the public of the rightness of your opinion. We could all sit around forever debating how best to do any of that. I'd like to think that, instead of wasting our time on that debate, we can let those who want to get arrested, get arrested, those who want to demonstrate peacefully do that, and those who want to work in other ways do that. Let's stop criticizing each other and just get on with it.”

Police: They do NOT want to arrest anyone. Remember this. They are required by law to give a warning. For me, I will be civilly disobedient until there is a human to human confirmation, from police officer to me, that if I don’t do as they say I may be arrested.

        Media: if there are media at your rally, find the rally organizers to make initial comments. If you are asked to make statements by the media, make sure to focus on your individual experience. Stay clear of fact-giving, as this could turn against us, and feel free to decline any questions. This will prove to be most impactful and consistent with our overall statement of love and equality.

      Nonviolence:  The success of our movement depends on the idea that we must present our concerns in the same ways as Gandhi and MLK. We should never appear ill-composed, we should never aim to strike fear into the hearts of those we feel wronged us. We should always come at these situations with nonviolence of action, thought, and speech. We are on the side of goodness, let’s reflect that. Because the ultimate goal is to cause enough stir to be invited back to the negotiation table. And it is always your responsibility to remind your peers to engage non-violently.

·     Finally, we must remember that the long term success of these marches is dependent on our resilience and persistence. We MUST be out there weekly in order to keep the flame alive. Continue organizing even past the 15th, even past the overturn of Prop 8 and even past your own state’s formal recognition of same-sex marriages.

Thank you so much to all of you for getting out there. Thank you to Soulforce Q’s National Director Haven Herrin and legendary activist Ann Northrop for sharing your incredible wisdom. Be safe everyone and remember we are all in this together.

In solidarity,

Brandon Rolph Kneefel

* Note: Q represents all who do not include themselves in the constructs of a hetero-normative patriarch, i.e. lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, ally, pansexual, polyamorous, and so on.