This is important work to be done in Indiana, but I’ll need a great deal of help to get started on it. I need to connect with a LGBT advocacy group in that state. Before I get into any further detail on my plans, some background...
I’ll be a guest of Indy Pop Con, Friday through Sunday, June 26-28, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. If you read this bloggy thing of mine regularly, you know I cancelled my appearance at one point in response to the so-called “Religious Freedom” bill pass by Governor Mike Pence and his fellow Republican bigots. The bill would have protected discrimination against LGBT Hoosiers. It was a vile bill, written with the assistance of “religious” groups so virulent in their hatred of gays that one of them is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. I think they all should be listed, but that’s another bloggy thing for another day.
Pence got hammered for this bill. Businesses started threatening to pull out of Indiana. His popularity rating dropped 20 or so points overnight as he vowed this law would stand. Which it did until it didn’t. Which is when Pence and his GOP goons changed the bill just enough to pass muster with those not paying close attention.
The sad fact remains that Indians still allows LGBT discrimination in a variety of areas. Many other states also allow these kinds of discrimination. So, when I changed my mind about attending Indy Pop Con, it was because I thought I could do more good traveling to the state and supporting its LGBT community.
Here’s what I posted earlier this month...
Ultimately, I decided I could do some good if I did attend Indy Pop Con. I told the promoters that I wanted to share my table with some local LGBT group or progressive organization which would inform the fans of the issues and real freedoms at stake. I would ask fans who wanted me to sign their Isabella-written items to make a donation to the fight against discrimination.
Indy Pop Con was completely cool with what I wanted to do and was already working on something similar. It’s too early for me to talk about these in-the-works ideas, but they will satisfy my desire to make my Indy Pop Con appearance a positive force, however small, in these matters.
The further details I mentioned above...
This kind of activism isn’t completely new to me, but the last time I was remotely this hands on was when I joined the fight against the Medina, Ohio branch of the Christian Coalition when it tried to impose its values on our award-winning library. We won that one at the polls. But that happened close to two decades ago and I’m not as young and feisty as I was back then.
So, as I said up top, I want to share my table with an LGBT group that can provide information for those who want to end the kind of discrimination we see in Indiana and elsewhere.
I am not bringing anything to sell at Indy Pop Con. I’ll be there to sign your Isabella-written items and answer your questions and talk about this and that. I have never charged for signing and I’m not charging at this convention either. However, if you’re inclined to donate to the cause of ending discrimination against your fellow Americans, your donation will be accepted gratefully.
Indy Pop Con may have something else in the works that will tie in to what I’m doing. If it does, I will almost certainly be a part of their effort. But the above is what I hope to do at my guest table. To accomplish what I want to accomplish, I need some LGBT advocacy group to join me.
If your group is interested, email me with whatever credentials you think would be helpful to me and a link to your website. I’d like to have a partner in place as soon as possible.
I am not looking to be confrontational here. But my firm belief is that, constitutionally and morally, the United States of America in 2015 cannot allow the kind of discrimination we see in Indiana and elsewhere. Working to end that discrimination is important and I’m happy to lend whatever small celebrity I possess to that cause.
There’s important work to be done in Indiana and I need your help to do it. Please join me.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
© 2015 Tony Isabella
I’ll be a guest of Indy Pop Con, Friday through Sunday, June 26-28, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. If you read this bloggy thing of mine regularly, you know I cancelled my appearance at one point in response to the so-called “Religious Freedom” bill pass by Governor Mike Pence and his fellow Republican bigots. The bill would have protected discrimination against LGBT Hoosiers. It was a vile bill, written with the assistance of “religious” groups so virulent in their hatred of gays that one of them is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. I think they all should be listed, but that’s another bloggy thing for another day.
Pence got hammered for this bill. Businesses started threatening to pull out of Indiana. His popularity rating dropped 20 or so points overnight as he vowed this law would stand. Which it did until it didn’t. Which is when Pence and his GOP goons changed the bill just enough to pass muster with those not paying close attention.
The sad fact remains that Indians still allows LGBT discrimination in a variety of areas. Many other states also allow these kinds of discrimination. So, when I changed my mind about attending Indy Pop Con, it was because I thought I could do more good traveling to the state and supporting its LGBT community.
Here’s what I posted earlier this month...
Ultimately, I decided I could do some good if I did attend Indy Pop Con. I told the promoters that I wanted to share my table with some local LGBT group or progressive organization which would inform the fans of the issues and real freedoms at stake. I would ask fans who wanted me to sign their Isabella-written items to make a donation to the fight against discrimination.
Indy Pop Con was completely cool with what I wanted to do and was already working on something similar. It’s too early for me to talk about these in-the-works ideas, but they will satisfy my desire to make my Indy Pop Con appearance a positive force, however small, in these matters.
The further details I mentioned above...
This kind of activism isn’t completely new to me, but the last time I was remotely this hands on was when I joined the fight against the Medina, Ohio branch of the Christian Coalition when it tried to impose its values on our award-winning library. We won that one at the polls. But that happened close to two decades ago and I’m not as young and feisty as I was back then.
So, as I said up top, I want to share my table with an LGBT group that can provide information for those who want to end the kind of discrimination we see in Indiana and elsewhere.
I am not bringing anything to sell at Indy Pop Con. I’ll be there to sign your Isabella-written items and answer your questions and talk about this and that. I have never charged for signing and I’m not charging at this convention either. However, if you’re inclined to donate to the cause of ending discrimination against your fellow Americans, your donation will be accepted gratefully.
Indy Pop Con may have something else in the works that will tie in to what I’m doing. If it does, I will almost certainly be a part of their effort. But the above is what I hope to do at my guest table. To accomplish what I want to accomplish, I need some LGBT advocacy group to join me.
If your group is interested, email me with whatever credentials you think would be helpful to me and a link to your website. I’d like to have a partner in place as soon as possible.
I am not looking to be confrontational here. But my firm belief is that, constitutionally and morally, the United States of America in 2015 cannot allow the kind of discrimination we see in Indiana and elsewhere. Working to end that discrimination is important and I’m happy to lend whatever small celebrity I possess to that cause.
There’s important work to be done in Indiana and I need your help to do it. Please join me.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
© 2015 Tony Isabella
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