I promised to record what happened with Alexis and her stint at getting signatures for the Delaware Marriage Equality petition at the State Fair.
But first things first--I have to correct an ongoing mistake. The guy who organized this all (see last photo) is Chuck Mead-e, not Chuck Meade as I have been spelling it. See, you take Bruce Mead (no "e") and he gets married (that's what's wrong with civil unions, they don't convert into a verb) to Charles Meade (with an "e") and it comes out Richard and Charles Mead-e. Simple? I think so.
Anyway back to the narrative. . . .
Alexis worked with Wendy Jones and me for about two hours (Chuck got to take a nap) from 5-7:00pm on Saturday night. At first she was apprehensive about calling out to strangers, "Sign a petition for marriage equality!" and just handed out the secondary clipboards when somebody's spouse was already signing.
But then she got rapidly into the swing of things, waving the clipboard and encouraging people to come sign.
Wendy and I noticed immediately that even the people who weren't going to sign were a lot nicer to Alexis (that's what we get for being in our fifties, I guess). They'd just say, "No thanks" or turn away, whereas to me there would be the occasional, "F--k you, fag," under the breath. In a way she was disappointed, because she had been steeling herself for a confrontation with angry crowds and pitchforks.
When it came it was sort of anti-climactic. She got one, "I'll sign that when Hell freezes over," and another "Are you gay?" and a couple of mumbles that could have been worse. Still, I was proud to see that none of it phased her, and she told Chuck see would be taking petitions back to the Gay-Straight Alliance at Charter School of Wilmington for the 18-year-old seniors to sign this fall.
OK, I've got my clipboard, what do I do now? |
You mean I have to go out there and get people? |
Piece of cake, Dad. Who said this was hard? |
Chuck and Alexis: old pros together. |
Comments
Love this!!! :)