Kathy Griffin canvasses with Vote for Equality
Kathy Griffin is a true advocate for the LGBTQ community, and generally one of our favorite people… you could say she has a permanent +1 on our D, er, A-List. Kathy also has a long relationship with the LA Gay & Lesbian Center.
In July 2009, she devoted an entire episode of her multiple-Emmy-winning reality TV series on Bravo, “My Life on the D-List,” to Prop 8 and activism in California.
She visited Melissa Etheridge and her wife, who dubbed her “Norma Gay” for her courageous volunteer efforts, and met some teens residing at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, later inviting them to join her at an LGBT rights march in Sacramento.
If you were there that night back in May, or saw the news coverage, you’d remember seeing Kathy up there on the stage at the huge rally in West Hollywood on the day the California Supreme Court ruled to uphold Prop 8.
Kathy has a conversation about marriage equality with Frances, a resident of Pasadena, Calif.
But, undoubtedly the most exciting part of that episode of the D-List for us was when Kathy visited yours truly at Vote for Equality, attended one of our canvass trainings, and spent an entire day out with us in Pasadena talking to voters about the freedom to marry! (With sometimes hilarious results, of course.)
Vote for Equality Project Director Regina Clemente, along with staffer Sam Baltimore and volunteer Nick Martinez, trained Kathy and a group of volunteers on how to have persuasive conversations with voters about marriage. Kathy took the liberty of lightening up the training a bit, before getting serious and heading out to Pasadena to knock on some doors.
One of the people she spoke with was Frances, a 90-year-old lady who was knitting in her yard when Kathy came to her house. Frances said she supported Prop 8 because of her religious views, but after having a conversation with Kathy, she said she’d vote in favor of marriage for gay and lesbian couples next time!
Watch Kathy in action below!
Kathy learned that having conversations, where we come out and tell our personal stories, is the most effective way to change the hearts and minds of those who don’t support marriage equality.
