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I'll be revising the front page and the About page. Just to keep a record of it, here are the old versions. First, here is the old version of the front page general intro: We bring together people of many different kinds that have been targeted by religion-based bigotry, including GLBT people, religious minorities, and various other nonmainstream subcultures. For a complete list of the categories of people whose rights we will aim to defend, as needs and opportunities arise, see our "About" page: http://freedomofrelig...
We aim to educate people of all these kinds about each other and about our common enemies. Our main aim is to encourage people in various traditionally demonized categories to stand together in defense of the rights of us all.
Because our agenda is so wide-ranging, it may not be possible for us to act on all parts of our agenda at once. Our priorities will be set by our members, based on current events.
We aim to make our meetings friendly and welcoming -- a great place to make friends while learning about each other and fighting for a better life for all of us. Here is the old version of the "About" page: Everything the religious right wing is against, we are for! (Well, almost everything.)
We bring together people of many different kinds that have been targeted by religion-based bigotry. Our wide-ranging agenda will include:
1) Rights of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people
2) Women's rights, including abortion rights
3) Rights of people of nonmainstream religions, especially those seen as most "demonic" by the religious right wing (e.g. Pagans, occultists, and Satanists)
4) Rights of atheists
5) Church/state separation
6) Rights of sexual minorities (e.g. BDSM) and people of nonmainstream relationship orientation (e.g. polyamory)
7) Legalization of sex work, and other concerns of sex workers
8) Rights of people in various much-demonized nonmainstream subcultures (e.g. Goth, metal, Vampire)
9) Defense of those aspects of science education and scientific research that are attacked by the religious right wing.
10) Assistance to the falsely accused in "Satanic" panics, regardless of their actual religion. (The best-publicized cases have involved ordinary mainstrem folks -- see Against Satanic Panics.)
Obviously, we can't work on all of the above all at once. Our priorities at any given time will be set by our members, as needs and opportunities arise.
We aim to educate people in all the above categories about each other and about our common enemies. Our main aim is to encourage all the many targets of religion-based bigotry to stand together in defense of our rights.
For now, we will hold a monthly dinner meeting and we will attend political rallies together. Once we have enough volunteers, we'll also hold educational public events of our own. We aim to make our dinner meetings friendly and welcoming -- a great place to make friends while learning about each other and fighting for a better life for all of us. And here is the old version of the typical meeting description: At our first few meetings our main aims will be simply to get to know each other, pool information, set priorities, discuss strategies, and decide on our first several projects.
We welcome people of many different kinds that have been targeted by religion-based bigotry, including: (1) GLBT people, (2) adherents of various nonmainstream religions (e.g. Pagans, occultists, and Satanists), (3) atheists and humanists, (4) people in various nonmainstream subcultures (e.g. Goth, metal, Vampire, BDSM, polyamory), (5) sex workers, and (6) the falsely accused in "Satanic" panics. We also welcome others, especially feminists, who support our rights and who share our opposition to the religious right wing.
Newcomers are welcome. Diane Vera, the organizer, will make a point of welcoming all who arrive.
The nearest subway stop is 23rd Street on the E and C lines. Please ask a waiter about "Nonmainsream New Yorkers United."
Note: The diner where we're meeting now charges a $5 per person mininum.
Please RSVP as soon as you can, with at least a "maybe" if you can't yet say "yes" or "no." The more people RSVP early, the bigger and better our meetups will be, because a reasonably large number of early RSVP's will let other visitors to this site know that we are indeed a live group that actually meets.
If you RSVP "maybe," we would appreciate it very much if you could then change your RSVP to a "yes" or "no" by no later than at least a few days before the event, so that we can have a better idea how big a table to reserve. DV will be calling the diner to researve a table two or three days before the event. The group, in the form described above, has been pretty much dormant for most of the past year. I hope to revive it soon in a new form. |
