New Media, Used Well

I'll admit it. I love the Courage Campaign.

I love that they're good at recognizing strategic moments. I love that they've launched Camp Courage trainings that combine online organizing, offline organizing, and public narrative. I love that they're super-smart.

But, most of all, I love their rapid response. Within an hour of the CA Supreme Court announcing that they'll issue a ruling on Proposition 8 next Tuesday, the Courage Campaign sent out an email and a text message to their list, and asked folks a) to pass it along to their network, and b) to "'Meet in the Middle for Equality' to celebrate or protest the Supreme Court's ruling at Fresno City Hall."

In the wake of the Proposition 8 ballot initiative last fall, the big lessons were that the grassroots are indispensable, that personal stories cannot be removed from issue campaigns, and that quickly giving folks a way to take meaningful action is enormously powerful. I'm glad that the Courage Campaign is around and I'm glad that they're making good on their promise to use new media to push for progressive change -- and I'm glad they're doing it well.