Why only 9,000 people?

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Vote With Pride

In San Diego, in 2008, only 9,000 people volunteered on the “No on 8” and” Decline to Sign” campaigns that would have prevented California’s five-year constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Why do I say only 9,000? Because on election day November 4, 2008, our community lost that election by just 2.25 percentage points, yet on November 15, 2008, nearly 30,000 people came out to protest those results in the streets of San Diego, and historically, in any given year, up to 400,000 people came out to celebrate at San Diego Pride’s Festival and Parade. If each of us who came out to protest or celebrate also committed to volunteering just one shift on an issue that mattered to us or as part of a non-partisan LGBTQ “Get OUT the Vote” campaign, think of how different our world would be.

Every election has consequences from the top of the ticket to the bottom of the ballot. Yes, of course, we want you to come out to celebrate at Pride and know that if you Vote with Pride we, as a community, will Persist with Pride.

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About Fernando

Fernando Lopez is the Executive Director of San Diego Pride. Lopez’s years of LGBT advocacy, nonprofit management, public education, diversity consulting, media relations, guest lectures, and organizing have made them a consistent presence ensuring the struggles of the LGBT community are ever visible.