Having just completed our year long journey, Gay Into Straight America, we are finally home to the Pacific Northwest in Blaine, WA. If you are interested in any of those weekly newsletters that we sent throughout our year long journey, you can click here and read!
Stay tuned for future newsletters from Stand UP Speak OUT, Inc., bringing you the latest news, as well as future events and speaking engagements! Sign up for our newsletter and you won't miss a beat! You can also go to our home page, and check out the links under TAKE ACTION!
Our goal in 2007 is to hit the road again by the summer or fall, visiting cities participating in the League of Cities program, "We are building an inclusive community." As we say, "Every journey begins with a bold move, and every bold move is a journey." Similar to our Gay Into Straight America journey, The Great American Roadcast journey will indeed be a bold one.
"We are building an inclusive community" is a fantastic program, with a partnership which includes 129 cities and towns in 38 states representing over 12.3 million peoople. When we first read about the program in the USA Today while we were on our GISA journey, there were 60+ cities signed up! Our intention is to speak to everyday people, as well as groups in government, religious institutions, corporations and schools/universities in these cities. We will do podcasts for our Great American Roadcast series. We want to remind these participating cities that we are a part of that inclusive community. We are in the middle of contacting officials with the League of Cities , such as Jim Hunt, President of the League of Cities.
In our letter to him, one paragraph says,
In the PSA "Signs That Make Everyone Welcome," we noticed the "God Hates Fags" one, and were glad that you all realize that "inclusive" means that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community also contributes to the power of "WE" and can make a difference. Below is us in front of Fred Phelps' church in Topeka, Kansas. His group has the website www.GodHatesFags.com (which is where the sign comes from). We wanted to visit his church and worship, but the doors are shut tight. 
Check out these PSA's by Comcast. Very impressive! The last one called "Signs that Make Everyone Welcome" is the one we were talking about above, showing one saying, "God Hates Fags." They then show people putting up the "We are building an inclusive community" signs. This tells us that the League of Cities program is including us! So, we want to go meet folks and get their feedback!
We are putting together corporate sponsors for this Great American Roadcast journey. If you know of corporations that might be interested, contact us!
The light in us honors the light in your!
Dotti, Roby & Rylee Joy
