UPDATE: Anchorage protest is Noon at the Atwood building. Fairbanks is at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall. Check the press release for details. Thanks.

Alaska is joining the national protest against Prop 8! 

Rallies are planned in Anchorage and Fairbanks on Nov. 15 at 9:30 a.m., to coincide with the 10:30 a.m. west coast/ 1:30 p.m. east coast protests.

The Alaska page is: http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Alaska

Many gay and lesbian couples from Alaska were married in California this summer, and many more want the option to marry. Alaskans held several No on Prop 8 fundraisers, wrote to friends and relatives in California urging them to vote No, and a few traveled there to work on the No on 8 campaign.

The passage of California’s anti-gay marriage amendment is also personal to gay and lesbian Alaskans because we experienced similar votes. Gay marriages were banned in Alaska by a constitutional amendment passed in 1998 after a mean-spirited campaign by our opponents, and our fellow Alaskans voted to take away our Court-granted family employment benefits in the advisory vote of April 2007. (The benefit vote was non-binding, and the benefits remain, for now.)

Twice in the last decade, we lived through months of public debate on whether we are citizens or abominations. Twice, a majority of our neighbors and coworkers voted against our humanity. We struggled to remain positive, productive residents of a state that does not consider us ‘equal under the law.’

Alaskans will protest the passage of Prop 8 on Nov. 15, in support of marriage equality and in solidarity with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities protesting at the same time all across this country. Please join us!