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Top Story New Web Campaign Fights Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment DontAmend.com to be History's Largest GLBT Web Mobilization StopDrLaura.com Organizers Regrouping to Fight the New Threat Compiled by GayToday Courtesy of http://www.DontAmend.com John Aravosis, along with cofounder Robin Tyler, began DontAmend.com to thawrt a right-wing campaign to pass a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages Photo By: Rex Wockner Washington, D.C-- A new Web campaign was launched today to fight the far-right's attempt to add anti-gay language to the US Constitution. The campaign, called DontAmend.com, is promising to be the largest online gay mobilization in history. DontAmend.com is cofounded by Robin Tyler and John Aravosis, two of the founders of the successful StopDrLaura.com campaign, which ran a successful boycott of Dr. Laura Schlessinger's then-new TV show three years ago. The show was subsequently canceled after over 170 advertisers left as a result of the campaign. "The radical right is angry the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that gay and lesbian Americans shouldn't be thrown in jail simply because of who they are," said Robin Tyler, cofounder of DontAmend.com and former national protest coordinator of StopDrLaura.com. "They fear the majority of Americans may not share their intolerance, and now want a constitutional amendment using the scare tactic of 'same sex marriage' to deny civil rights and equal benefits to millions of people." While the proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution, called the Federal Marriage Amendment, has been around for several years, the possibility of it passing the Congress increased significantly two weeks ago when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) announced his support for the measure on ABC's This Week. DontAmend.com cofounder, and former StopDrLaura.com online organizer John Aravosis, says the religious right is now organizing to pass this amendment like never before. "The religious right has now made passage of an anti-gay amendment to the U.S. Constitution its number one priority," Aravosis said. "Gay Americans and their allies must make fighting this legislative bigotry our number one priority." Tyler says that DontAmend.com will use, and build on, expertise gleaned during the StopDrLaura.com battle. "StopDrLaura.com successfully melded the Internet and traditional grassroots organizing to motivate millions of people to fight prejudice," Tyler said. Andy Thayer, who worked with me on stopdrlaura.com, and I, used this organizing tool to successfully work with local activists to organize 38 cities in just 3 weeks so thousands poured into the streets from San Juan to Fairbanks to celebrate the Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court victory on the day of that decision. "We will replicate those successes and bring them to a level never before seen in history." Aravosis says that the religious right push for the amendment offers gays and their allies an unprecedented opportunity to organize. "While we would prefer not to be fighting this battle at all, we believe DontAmend.com has the potential to become the gay 'MoveOn.org'," said Aravosis, referring to the wildly successful online grassroots campaign. "Our goal is nothing less than creating the largest mobilization of gays and their allies in the history of the world."

For More ... Related Stories Bigoted Constitutional Amendment Introduced in U.S. Congress Senate Majority Leader Endorses Bigoted Constitutional Amendment Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation Related Sites DontAmend.com StopDrLaura.com Robin Tyler

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