Tomorrow is the big day, ladies and gentlemen. Earth Hour is almost upon us. If you’ve had your head stuck in the ground the last few days/weeks/months and missed all the talk about it on TV/Radio/Twitter/Web-Advertisements/Giant-Billboards-on-the-side-of-Freeways, then check out the website: Earth Hour.org. Tomorrow, March 28th, at 8:30pm (where ever in the world you are at), people all over the globe are going to turn off their lights and vote Earth.

What does this mean and why should we do it?

In December 2009 world leaders meet in Copenhagen to agree on a post-Kyoto policy for tackling climate change. One billion people voting with their light switch during Earth Hour will create a powerful mandate for our leaders to take strong and decisive action on climate change in Copenhagen. Vote Earth is a global call to action for every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet.

Other places you can find Earth Hour:
Official Website
YouTube Videos
MySpace
Twitter
Facebook Group
Facebook Fan Page
Bebo
FlickR Fan Page

If you twitter it, the hashtags are #earthhour and #voteearth. Spread the word and don’t forget to constantly remind people about this. Not only will this give people a wake-up call that we need to do something for the planet, but millions of people around the world turning off their lights is a huge step in conserving our energy. Just imagine what this could do if enough people flipped the switches on their lights and enjoyed the darkness. Okay, so maybe at 8:30 it won’t be that dark, but enjoy a sky without light pollution for once. Look at the stars coming out or the sun going down and just think about what it was like when all we had were candles and the natural light of the sky to live by.

I think this is going to be an extremely positive experience. So don’t forget:

Earth Hour! Vote Earth!

Thought I’d share this before I head off to bed. It’s a bit old, but definitely still worth mentioning.

The 66-year-old’s appointment as interim leader – until elections in May – is seen by many as a milestone for the gay and lesbian movement, correspondents say.

“I don’t think her sexual orientation matters. Our voters are pretty liberal, they don’t care about any of that,” Skuli Helgeson, Social Democratic Alliance’s general secretary, told the BBC.

From the article: “First Gay PM for Iceland Cabinet.” How awesome is this? It’s pretty awesome. The modern world’s first openly gay leader, they say. You know, the world just keeps getting brighter and brighter. It’s getting better, Universe. Don’t give up on Earth just yet. We’re finally starting to pull together.

Watch. Share. Sign the pledge. It’s not too late to fight. Ash and I may not be married (yet), but that doesn’t mean this doesn’t have an impact on us. It physically hurts to know that there are still so many people out there who don’t see us as equals, who don’t see as human beings who deserve the right to be happy and to be ourselves. I cannot fathom it. I cannot understand how the dark ages are still oppressing us.

It’ll change. I know it will. We won’t give up.

On the same note, it’s Blog for Freedom to Marry Week. It’s sad that it’s come to this – where we have to actually spread the word about equal rights for marriage. Shouldn’t it be common knowledge? Shouldn’t it just be a given? Hasn’t it been said over and over again that we as human beings are all equal? So why is it then that we aren’t allowed the same rights? Even though this specific week is called Blog for Freedom to Marry Week, it doesn’t start or end with this week. We have to keep talking about it and sharing our stories and refusing to hide behind the ugly plaid lumberjack shirts in the closet (doesn’t every lesbian have one?). While I’m not married now, someday Ash and I will tie the knot and I hope by that time, we’re doing it legally and with our government’s blessing (honestly, when did it become the government’s decision?).

It’s a big thing, this whole marriage deal. Should it be? For the couple yes. But it shouldn’t be a big deal, at least in the negative sense, when two men or two women say their vows to each other and kiss as husbands and wives. It should be celebrated. It’s love.

Shouldn’t love always be celebrated?

“Servicemen continue to be fierce believers in the idea that diversity equals strength, yet during the Clinton effort on gay troops most of us rejected analogies to racial integration. The homosexual threat to good order and discipline was behavioral, we argued, not physiological, and therefore unrelated.

It was a flawed argument.”

From the article “An About-Face on Gay Troups”. It is increasingly easier to see acceptance rising in the ranks of former opponents – more so now than any other time. Under the guidance of rainbow lovers recently added to the White House (including Obama himself), it looks promising that even those who were initially against gay rights and gays serving in the armed forces are starting to take another look at their original arguments. And acknowledging that perhaps gays do not join the army to check out their barrack buddies in the showers (because, you know, losing an arm or getting shot through the head is totally worth it just to get a glimpse of a man (not) in uniform).

Not that I have any plans at all on joining the troops in good ol’ Sam’s war. But it’s good to know that if I fall and break my head and suffer from amnesia and someone tells me I’m a purple heart war-hero lesbian, well, at least I can tell the world I’m a purple heart war-hero lesbian and not have to hide it.

Do you think we’re heading in the right direction?