Yeterday I

phonebanked for Equality California (EQCA), as part of their Win Marriage Back campaign. As you've probably gathered, EQCA has already set out to make sure we win marriage equality in 2010.

I hadn't phonebanked since last November, when I was a volunteer for Obama for America. I actually started out at DPSFV (Democratic Party, San Fernando Valley), but the work was essentially the same. I remember being terrified when I first started making calls. We had our little scripts, and most people we called didn't pick up. It got easier as it went along. I got a couple of crazies-- those threw me off, since it was hard to believe that some people out there did (and do) believe that Obama was a Muslim or an Arab. In any case, the encouragement I got every once in a while from a supporter I called was more than enough to offset the callers who were hostile.

Best of all was the Get Out the Vote work. I loved making those calls during the last two days of the campaign. It was those calls that made me feel like I was making a difference in a direct way. Clarifying for people what kind of IDs they could take to the polls; giving them the right polling place address; helping them arrange transportation to the polls; all that was incredibly fulfilling.

I wasn't able to do much yesterday, since the phonebanking training got a late start, and I had to leave early to catch my bus. Incidentally, in no other area have I been on as many deserted buses as I have in the Los Feliz/Silverlake area. Creepy.

In any case, though I wasn't able to stay for long, I did speak to one woman who signed up to canvass with us two weeks from now, as well as do data entry in the offices next week. She and long-time girlfriend are California natives, but were living out of the state for the couple of months that gay marriage was legal here. They're back in the state now, but it's too late for them. And that doesn't make sense to me. That two people should not be allowed to commit to building a life together-- that others should decide their love is not worthy of the protections of the law-- that should not happen.

And I'm confident that it wont. Just like with the DREAM Act, I have to keep hope alive that some of the injustices I see every day will be corrected. It's hard to let myself hope, but I do believe that by the time I graduate with my BA, I'll be able to marry whomever I want in this state, and I'll be able to live free of the fear of deportation.