These Folks Want to Hold Your Hand for LGBT Rights

by Michael Jones · 2009-09-02 12:59:00 UTC
Topics:

Holding Hands

The Beatles wanted to 'Hold Your Hand.' Hootie and the Blowfish, too. Now a UK-based campaign for LGBT rights wants to, as well.

The group's name is "A Day in Hand," and their message is that you can promote love and equality simply by holding hands.  The premise?  Encourage same-sex partners to hold hands in public as a means of showing the power of love.

"Holding hands with your partner, where you can, is about being true to yourself and to those you love," the campaign argues.  "This is not a protest, a rally, a Pride or a march. This is about you and the life you lead every day."

The specific initiative that "A Day in Hand" has launched is called "Sshh! Saturdays," or 'same-sex hand-holding Saturday,' and encourages people to take the last Saturday of each month, grab the hand of someone of the same gender, and proudly display it as a sign of affection.  As campaign founder David Watkins put it, the campaign is meant to combat ignorance and homophobia.

"I know that homophobia exists because of ignorance. And I know that every time I hold hands with a man publicly, I am striking a blow for ignorance," said Watkins.  "Same-sex people who hold hands, inject a dose of 21st century reality into the minds of people who still believe that to exist you have to hate. And as for me, well the sight of same-sex hand holding stirs the lover and the hero in my heart. I hope it does in yours."

Whoa, now that's the type of romantic talk that gets us swooning.  And it's getting the attention of some others as well, including Boy George, LGBT Activist Peter Tatchell from OutRage!, and London Mayor Boris Johnson.

(Photo courtesy of Colum LaVelle Photography.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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