Stop ACTA

ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which has less to do with counterfeiting than protecting intellectual property rights. Negotiated in secret, mostly by unelected officials, represents a threat to freedom of information, net neutrality, and the internet as we know it. And countries like the US, Canada, and others have already ratified it. Watch a video here:

ACTA comes to a vote in the European Parliament. According to La Quadrature, this is the last opportunity to keep ACTA from coming into force.


Learn more at La Quadrature's ACTA page. 

Calling All Californians! Always Choose Love...and Help Defeat Prop 8!

Dear Friends:

Gay marriage is legal in California thanks to a recent California Supreme Court ruling.

But it might not be for long.

The Forces of Intolerance have gathered to place a measure on the November ballot – Proposition 8. Their goal: deny gays and lesbians the right to marry the person they love. Their method: amend California’s constitution to define marriage as being solely the union between a man and a woman.

This will not do. Discrimination simply has no place in California.

If you’re like me, though, you don’t have money trees growing in the backyard or 28 hours in your day. So what can we do other than fundraise? What can we do to get INVOLVED given our busy lives? Answer: the Always Choose Love Initiative.

It’s simple, really. Call it wearable activism:

1. Buy a t-shirt at cafepress.com/loveinitiative
2. Wear the t-shirt
3. Tell others
4. Stay informed at loveinitiative.blogspot.com

No complicated mass protests, no fundraisers; just people wearing t-shirts, creating awareness about a critical civil rights issue – and defeating Prop 8 on November 2^nd. When you go to cafepress.com/loveinitiative, you’ll find a choice of t-shirts at prices ranging from $9 to $20 featuring the Always Choose Love logo. No profit is being made here; this is a grassroots labor of love all the way. Just pick your favorite style and you’re set!

So please join me in campaigning against Prop 8. Buy a t-shirt. Wear it. Tell others. That’s all there is to it. Let’s make the Always Choose Love Initiative a phenomenon to be reckoned with.

Because in the end, the choice is simple: Love or Prop 8. Together, standing strong, we’ll send a message to California: Always Choose Love.

Thanks for your help and support. We can do it!

Frédérik Sisa

mormons join the fray

So the Mormons are wading into the fray surrounding gay marriage in California. They’ll join a coalition of churches and “other conservative groups” in pushing for the passage of the “California Marriage Protection Act,” which would amend California’s constitution to define marriage as being solely the union of a man and a woman.

But a group of gay and lesbian Mormons called Affirmation is rejecting the Mormon church’s political action, rightly calling it “interference.” Affirmation’s executive committee phrased it well in a statement to California Mormons:

“As Mormons, we believe that respect for civil law and acknowledgment of individual freedoms is sacred. The California law affects civil marriage; it has no effect on any religious institution or religious official. To seek to revoke these basic protections in the name of God denies the fundamental freedoms on which our country was built. Constitutional law has always been about protecting civil and religious freedoms, not the denial of those freedoms.

We urge California voters to act in favor of freedom. Vow to Vote No.”

The key word is freedom. Freedom to live. Freedom to love. Freedom to marry. With a government defined as being by the people and for the people, using government to tell individuals who they can or cannot marry is contrary to valuing freedom. And Affirmation is absolutely correct in pointing out that this is a civil matter, not about how private religious institutions handle their own affairs. No one is telling churches what to do.

This is a as good a time as any to hint at a activist project I’m hoping to launch once I know what the amendment’s proposition number is. I (tentatively) call it the Always Choose Love Initiative, and it’ll be my way of raging a guerilla campaign to let people know what’s really at stake with the so-called California Marriage Protection Act: true love and meaningful freedom. Stay tuned!

BTW, here’s the official text of the proposed amendment – a lonely line prefaced by several letters. And here is a listing of the propositions slated for November 4.