Following a flurry of bad press for the people of NC, Missiongathering, an inclusive San Diego church, wants likeminded people across the United States (and elsewhere) to fund the above billboard as an expression of apology and support for NC’s LGBT community.
On their Givimo page, the church states: “We at Missiongathering Christian Church want to print and display the following Billboard in Charlotte, N.C. that offers an APOLOGY to the LGBT community who were discriminated against with the recent passing of Amendment One… We’ve launched this Givimo Campaign as a way to raise the funds for this project, as well as invite you to partner with us in sending this apology to those in N.C. who were denied rights and equality.”
Their goal is to raise $3000 for the production and posting of the billboard. As the campaign has just launched, as of this writing only $75 has been pledged.
Next June is the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. It takes place in Poland and the Ukraine. Tom wrote a lot about FEMEN, the Kiev based feminist protest group. They have experienced personally how bad the state of democracy is (read the exclusive interview with FEMEN’s founder Anna Hutsol here).
A lot is happening right now in the Ukraine. Human rights violations goes on for years. Now it is about politician and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who is currently being held in prison at Kharkiv and has been on hunger strike since 20 April 2012. The political pressure is rising because of this and the upcoming European Football Championship. And European leaders are thinking about a political boycott.
Amnesty International is not in favor of a boycott. Being in the Ukraine during the big sport event can give more pressure than a boycott they say.
“Politicians and sport functionaries that travel to Ukraine must use the opportunity to call attention to serious human rights violations and to demand that the Ukrainian government does a better job of protecting human rights,” Wolfgang Grenz, general secretary of Amnesty Germany, told the business daily Handelsblatt.
My Facebook friend and fellow blogger at work Jasper Mulder has delivered a fantastic idea.
Maybe you remember the Bavaria Dress. The Ambush Marketing stunt from the Dutch brewer during the World Championship Football in South Africa in 2010.
Jasper suggested something similar, the Yulia Tymoshenko wig that can be worn by supporters during the football matches. Because her hair is rather special, it is recognized around the world.
It can be risky for the supporters. But we also know that millions of people will see the matches on TV. It can be powerful like a Vuvuzela but without the noise.
A positive statement while having fun enjoying the football matches.
There are three possible organization who can adopt this idea: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and FEMEN.
I’m very curious what they think about this campaign strategy item.
And giving the idea more color I made three versions in a photo editor. For the Dutch, Spanish and Italian supporters:
When I visited North Carolina’s Every 1 Against 1 site, I was more than a little shocked:
Amendment One (SB514) is a proposed change to Article 14 of the North Carolina State Constitution that will appear before the voters on the May 8, 2012 primary ballot across North Carolina. Amendment One is not only an ideological assault on the civil rights of LGBT North Carolinians, it’s also a poorly written law that will have serious negative, unintended and harmful consequences on North Carolina’s children, families, seniors, women and businesses.
Stating that, “Marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State,” Amendment One aims to turn all unmarried couples — whether same-sex or opposite-sex — into second-class citizens unworthy of basic dignity and fair treatment.
The campaign does a good job of finding common ground between the interests of same-sex couples and those of a variety of “mainstream” groups such as…
Families:
Amendment One could interfere with protections for all unmarried couples: to visit one another in the hospital; to make emergency medical and financial decisions if one partner is incapacitated; wills, trusts, medical powers of attorney; private employer healthcare benefits; and domestic partnership benefits offered by many municipalities.
Seniors:
Many older people who have previously lost spouses, but find love later in life never remarry, even though they are committed to their new partner. They do this to protect the benefits their previous spouse earned including health care, pensions, and Social Security, and Amendment One may put those benefits in jeopardy.
Unmarried Women:
According to the Attorney General, leading experts at Duke and UNC law schools, and the state’s Women’s Commission, domestic violence protections for unmarried women could be declared unconstitutional because Amendment One legally recognizes only married couples as a family. A dangerous step backward for our state, unmarried women’s lives and safety would be left vulnerable to their attackers and stalkers.
And even Business Owners:
As reported by The Charlotte Observer, 75 CEOs — including the heads of several Fortune 500 companies — sent an open letter to state legislators opposing the measure because it will have numerous direct, harmful effects on their businesses and the entire state’s economy.
The site also points out that this amendment isn’t even about same-sex marriage, since Same-sex marriage is already illegal in North Carolina. Which is not exactly good news, but frames the argument apart from that issue so that even homophobic people in non-traditional families can recognize their self-interest in the issue.
As for the ads themselves, I love how they bring up the “bad old days” of racist segregation as a comparison for how this ill-conceived legislation would make many families, friends and neighbours into second-class citizens. The iconic black-and-white photos provide a stark message about the regressive nature of the proposal.
Will it work? I hope so. For the sake of all North Carolinians.
Tomorrow (May 3) is World Press Freedom Day. In advance of the observances, Osocio reader Sanjeev Saikia sent me a link to this campaign he created for the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.
[The day] serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom - a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.
It is a date to encourage and develop initiatives in favour of press freedom, and to assess the state of press freedom worldwide.
It serves as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom and is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics. Just as importantly, World Press Freedom Day is a day of support for media which are targets for the restraint, or abolition, of press freedom. It is also a day of remembrance for those journalists who lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
How about “a wonderful ad about acknowledging everyone’s right to love”?
This PSA had me in tears, and I don’t even love other men in “that” way. But that’s the whole point, isn’t it?
Just like with last year’s great campaign from Get Up! Action for Australia, the strength of this message lies in the way it portrays deep and passionate emotion that everyone can identify with.
Same-sex marriage is not yet legally recognized in the United Kingdom. Last autumn, the UK government announced its intention to introduce a same-sex civil marriage bill, but a “Christian” organization calling itself “The Coalition for Marriage” is gathering support to oppose it. The Coalition for Equal Marriage is a response to this. According to the “about” page: “It was set up by two guys, Conor and James, in response to a much-publicised campaign attempting to derail the government’s plans to move toward greater equality for LGBT couples.”
"A Day Without Dignity”, 2012 campaign held on Monday April 16th highlighted how humanitarian aid and other development interventions often do more harm than good. The campaign features the use of social media channels such as blog posts, tweets and other media to share stories of local champions making a difference.
The campaign was originally launched for the first time last year, as a counter-protest to TOMS One Day Without Shoes campaign which challenged the general public to walk barefoot for one day to raise awareness for those who do not have shoes. TOMS shoes is a social enterprise which has a buy one give one policy: for every pair of shoes that are purchased one is given to poor children in developing countries.
“A Day Without Dignity” wanted to highlight the dilemmas that are incurred when communities are inundated with humanitarian aid, such as shoes, or food, clothing- it is detrimental to the local economy as it often competes with local vendors of the same products and might drive them out of business. Further according to campaign organizers this type of aid creates dependency and can deprives populations of their dignity by giving them charity instead of empowering them to help themselves.
A male artist, in the most offensive caricature blackface imaginable, creates an anatomical nude female red velvet cake and invites Sweden’s Minister of Culture to give him/her a symbolic cliteridectomy by cutting the genital slice first. Oh, and Mr. Linde screams and moans. Then he eats the cake.
Jezebel wrote, “I hope you spent the morning warming up your What The Everloving Hell reaction muscles, because this will require you to use all of them.”
Swedish Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth denies doing anything wrong, according to the Guardian, but admits that Mr. Linde’s artistic statement about female genital mutilation in Africa may have been confusing. “He claims that it challenges a romanticised and exoticised view from the west about something that is really about violence and racism,” she said. “Art needs to be provocative.”
And this installation for Sweden’s “Art Week” certainly is… provocative:
Kirk Cameron, whose claim to fame is that he was a main child character in the 1980s American sitcom Growing Pains, is now a right-wing Christian spokesperson who opposes things like the teaching of science in classrooms and same-sex marriage.
As if that isn’t bad enough, Kirk is also making other has-been child celebrities look bad. At least, that’s the message of this tongue-in-cheek “PSA” by Child Celebrities Opposing Kirk Cameron (CCOKC):
It’s a little long, and the puns get a little old after a while, but the jab at openly-gay child (and successful adult) actor Neil Patrick Harris is pretty amusing.
April 4th commemorates the International Day for Mine Awareness. The campaign brings to light the destruction and human suffering antipersonnel landmines have caused. Often used in war antipersonnel landmines are activated when the victim steps on the explosive device, and causes great injury of even death. Often not detonated during a war they lie dormant for years and even decades under, on or near the ground until a person or animal triggers them. Antipersonnel mines are not bias and do not distinguish between a soldier or a civilian, between an adult or a child. Check out a map after the break showing where most landmines are located.
The Christian Left shared a hilarious video featuring American comic actors Michael Cornacchia and Kristina Hayes. Posted last weekend, it is a response to fellow actor Kirk Cameron, who recently made controversial remarks in an interview on CNN about homosexuality, stating, “I think that it’s - it’s - it’s unnatural. I think that it’s - it’s detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”
He also remarked:
“Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve. One man, one woman for life till death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don’t think anyone else should either.”
Mr. Cameron’s views are hardly on the fringe on United States culture. Along with access to birth control, gay equality has become one of the shibboleths dividing left from right in the rhetoric-filled ramp up to the US Presidential election. Former Republican candidate Michelle Bachmann defended the actor’s statements, saying “If anyone gets attacked in this country, it’s people who stand for traditional marriage. I mean you just brought up Kirk Cameron, right now, and his comments. He’s the one who is getting trashed right now; he’s the one who is getting called a bigot.”
Actually, I believe the term they used was “douchebag”.
Human trafficking – it is the new slave trade, an action many of us thought be extinct after the US Civil War. But it is worse than ever, not least because many of the victims hand themselves over to get out of economic and political peril. They want to…
I recently had the privilege of being invited to speak and participate in the 2012 Design Ethos Conference/Do-ference at Savannah College of Art and Design. The creator of the conference, Scott Boylston, is a longtime friend in the relatively small socially conscious design community and I was delighted that…
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Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans from around the globe.
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