Speak up about equality at your Thanksgiving table!

I received the message below from Jamie McGonnigal who administers the "US Gay Secession 2009" group on Facebook. Please join his group here, and read his demand to speak up about equality at your Thanksgiving table, which is something we ALL should do regardless of our sexuality.

"Dear Friends,

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a 'Town Hall' meeting at the LGBT Community Center here in New York. While there was a great deal of frustration in the voices of those attending, in addition to those on the panel, one thing was clear -- we are just at the beginning of the most important Civil Rights battle of our generation.

Friends, I am so proud and motivated and excited about what we have within us. There is a passion, an anger and a new inability to take "NO" for an answer. It is now, this very moment that is one of the most crucial moments in our movement. Now is the time that we cannot afford to lie back, get tired or expect someone else to do this work for us. If we do, we will never have the Equality we deserve. Talk About Equality.

The next step may be one of the most difficult, but it is with great hope and support that I ask it of you.

Thanksgiving Day is just 2 days away. For many, it is the only day of the year where your whole family is sitting around the same table and more importantly, it is a day of giving thanks. I ask of each of you to raise the topic of Equal Rights with your family. I urge those of you who are not out to your family, to tell them who you are. I cannot tell you how important this is. Talk About Equality.

For some, there will be screaming, yelling, crying and hopefully a bit of understanding. For others, we find ourselves in families, already supportive of who we are and our struggle for Equality. For those families, your work is not done. You MUST ask your families to speak for you. To bring up Marriage Equality with their friends and loved ones, their colleagues, their classmates. This conversation cannot end just one or two degrees away from us. This is about everyone, not just us. Talk About Equality.

To prepare for your conversations with your families and friends, please study up. Go read about Proposition 8 and what happened in California. Go visit www.prideagenda.org, there's some great information there. Please do your best to keep people's religious beliefs out of the discussion. If someone brings up their religious text, let them know that we do not want religious rights, we want Civil Rights. For far too long, people have stopped this conversation by saying "I don't believe in homosexuality." That time has come to an end. This is about Equal Rights as Human beings under the laws of our Constitution. Talk About Equality.

There is a lot of work which must happen between now and the day we will all be Equal, but please join me in having this conversation with your friends and loved ones.

We have several actions, rallies, protests, etc which are being planned. Our website will be up and running in a few weeks, but in the meantime, please visit www.civilrightsfront.com or www.jointheimpact.com for more information.

This Thanksgiving, I am truly thankful for the opportunity to stand with all of you, my friends of all colors, sexualities and nationalities to demand our Equal Rights.

Talk About Equality.

Love,

Jamie"