All the families

Hey.

I wouldn't normally do this here, but this is really important.

I just took the time to go to http://www.protectallncfamilies.org/ and contributed to fight against Amendment One on May 8th.

I know here I'm preaching to the choir, and a lot of my friends are amazing advocates for social justice, more so than I am, but I also know that there are a lot of people that are just apathetic. And apathy was cool until we all turned 18 and were able to vote. And then apathy stops being cool.

I think right now a lot of people get that. And that's resulting in this great movement, and I'm so thankful to be part of a community that is intelligent and realizes that there is no reason not to deny basic rights to anyone based on something like race, or sexual orientation, or marital status. But at the same time, I'm still worried about the overwhelming apathy that still exists among some of my friends and some of this community.

I think the statement "don't judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes" is really true. And there are things that we take for granted or don't think about because we just are who we are. As a heterosexual female, I never once imagined that there would be a law preventing me from marrying the person I loved.

But as a heterosexual male, maybe you've never had to imagine paying for birth control every month, or never realized the implications that that has on health insurance.

The political atmosphere--as naive and optimistic I might be (Obama loves the Tar Heels!)--is really scary. It's scary because the far right is trying to make a lot of people second class citizens. And sure, I'm heterosexual, so I'll be able to get married, so whether this amendment passes or not on May 8th won't directly affect me, but I'm going to stand up to protect the rights of all North Carolina families. Because when someone comes threatening my rights, as a woman, as a single mother, I'm going to want someone standing up for me.

And if you're not registered to vote, or you've moved and you're not sure where you're registered, or you just don't even know how, please, ask me. Or ask someone else. I will help you figure out what you need to know to vote on or before May 8th. It will only take a few minutes. And it may not mean anything to you, but it will mean a lot to a lot of different people and a lot of different families. And I cannot stress how important that is.