The power is in your hands. Are you ready to commit?

[and-justice-for-all]

Over the weekend, the call for repealing Prop 8 in 2010 grew louder in the grassroots. At the request of the Courage Campaign, Steve Hildebrand -- former deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama's presidential campaign -- spoke to a large gathering of marriage equality activists on Sunday in Los Angeles and said the following:

"I'd rather have your odds than the odds we had with the Obama campaign. Think about that... This community has to show the kind of courage that it has if you're going to go in 2010... If you go in 2010 -- and my outside perspective is that you should -- you've got to go in with all guns blazing."

Since we sent you the urgent message below, 1,027 members of the Courage Campaign community have raised $58,033 -- an average of $56.51 per person. And other grassroots organizations like Marriage Equality USA and Meet in the Middle have joined us as well, challenging their members to step up and help finance the research necessary to place an initiative on the 2010 ballot.

If 1,000 more people can raise $41,967 by August 13, we will meet the time-sensitive $100,000 goal we set for the Courage Campaign community -- and half of the $200,000 needed to launch this mission-critical research as soon as possible.

We have less than 60 hours to raise $41,967 from Courage members. Will you help us get over the top by donating whatever amount you can afford -- $25, $50, $100, $500 or more -- by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday? Please make a contribution before time runs out:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/2010

It's time to make a very big decision. And the power to make it is in your hands.

Right now, several organizations within the marriage equality movement are debating whether to place an initiative on the ballot to repeal Prop 8 in either 2010 or 2012.

The Courage Campaign community already spoke out in favor of 2010, quite strongly. In May, 83% of our members told us to work with our partners to place a marriage equality initiative on the ballot in 2010 -- and to help build the movement to support it.

That's why the Courage Campaign has mobilized 44 Equality Teams and trained more than 1,000 organizers across California in 2009. And it's why we have been working with the smartest, most experienced campaign professionals in America -- people who ran Barack Obama's campaign, know California and can chart a course to victory.

But the only way a 2010 campaign can be launched is if the marriage equality movement raises $200,000. That's right. $200,000. That's how much money it will take to determine -- through research, polling and focus groups -- the initiative language and messages that will move voters to support marriage equality.

We are ready to do our part but we can't do it alone. That's why we are asking the Courage Campaign community to raise $100,000 by August 13. And we are challenging our partners in the marriage equality movement to raise the remaining $100,000 as soon as possible.

Are you ready to commit? Time is running out to launch a 2010 initiative. To put marriage equality on the ballot next year, will you help us meet this $100,000 community goal by making a contribution right now? DEADLINE: August 13.

http://www.couragecampaign.org/2010

From holding multiple Camp Courage training events from the coast to the Central Valley to organizing 44 Equality Teams in 23 counties, we have mobilized our members to help build a people-powered foundation for victory in 2010. With a September deadline looming for filing an initiative, these organizers are ready to start gathering signatures.

But if the marriage equality movement is not able to raise the $200,000 necessary -- $100,000 from the Courage Campaign and $100,000 from our partners -- to pay for the research to launch an initiative campaign, then we will have to accept that our movement is not ready to repeal Prop 8 in 2010.

And we will have to wait until 2012 to bring marriage equality to the ballot again. It's as simple as that.

It's up to you. Will you help the Courage Campaign community raise $100,000 before August 13? If you want to go to the ballot in 2010, please contribute whatever amount you can afford right now:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/2010

Our people-powered organization is ready to win, but we are faced with the reality of these deadlines. If we want to convince a majority of our fellow Californians to support full civil marriage rights in 2010, the marriage equality movement has to stand up and commit to the cause now.

The power is in your hands. Are you ready to commit?

Courage Campaign Issues is part of the Courage Campaign's online organizing network that empowers more than 700,000 grassroots and netroots supporters to push for progressive change and full equality in California.

[Raffi Ella]

1. DONE!

I'm in for $25


K&R

[and-justice-for-all]

2. Kick