A bill pending in Tennessee will make it illegal to mention Homosexuality in the schools. George Takei of Star Trek fame has started a campaign against this with the catch phrase "Its OK to be Takei", playing off his coming Out (quite awhile ago) as Gay, the idea its OK to be Gay and his name. He has merchandise for sale to back it, and profits go to charity - you HAVE to go look, HERE, NOW!!!
The image of the famous Star Trek logo in rainbow pride colors with the words "Its OK to be Takei" is picking up speed and going viral - I am seeing it all over FaceBook! Its already on other blogs...Rachel Maddow has talked about it!
What makes this so exciting for me is that one of my best friends here in town DESIGNED the logo (I saw several incarnations of it as she fiddled with it, until she got the one she wanted!) and then, on advice from two of her friends, she sent the logo to George Takei for the fun of it. To her shock and surprise, he wrote her back and jumped on it!!! She immediately gave him permission to use the design, on condition of remaining anonymous and that she would receive no proceeds - she designed it as an activist and chose not to profit from it! So, dang it, I can't tell you her name!
But I bring her up - and she is probably going to smack me when she reads this - I bring her up because I think she has another message to share. She pointed out that she created the design when she heard about the legislation in Tennessee, another friend posted a tweet about it and then said "make a button", and then another friend said " send it to Takei", and so she did...and now its EVERY WHERE!
So now when people say that they feel that they can't do anything to make a difference because they're just one person, she can point out that "me = one person + one of my friends who = one person + one of my other friends who = one person + George Takei = famous but still just 1 person..."
So I bring up her part in this to make a point...
One person can make a difference. And that one person can be each and every one of us!!!
I think that what my friends and George Takei have accomplished is not JUST one FANTASTIC activist movement, but also that they have a second message - that each of ONE of us CAN make a difference, and that we make that difference in community as well as individually! So as you look at all the crazy legislation and homophobic slurs and hate pickets, don't become discouraged and think that there is nothing you can do, because you are just one person....each and every one of us may be one drop of water, but oceans are filled one drop at a time as the drops all join together!
Activism works!
One by one and in community!
And all of us can spread it ever day!
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1...
Single voices join together to make a mighty chorus, single drops fill an ocean... and a few dorks add up into a world wide web activist movement.
ReplyDeleteIt works.
I think you are awesome for respecting your friend's wishes. It sounds like she wants to let her work speak for her.
I'm feeling mighty Takei about the whole thing.
Heh...only addition I have to your comment is that I think that the word "dork" is not the best descriptor of my friends (I will point out to other readers of my blog that "dork" was said lovingly - you're in the bunch of friends I have, so you know them too...). I think the best description of them is "Sci-Fi geeks with hearts of gold"...yeah, that works! :D
ReplyDeleteI personally am the Queen of Dorkness
ReplyDeleteHey, I missed this post! It didn't show up in my Blog Reader. *shakes fist at Blogger* Anyway, kudos to your activist artist friend! It's a great logo. Coincidentally, I'm doing an "It's OK to be Takei" post next week, probably on Monday, during my blog's 3rd annual Translesbigayapalooza celebration.
ReplyDelete