Please Help Donate for Pride Booth 2014

Discussion
1

Hi All! It's time for us to reserve our spot for Pride 2014. As you know, this is always our biggest outreach event of the year when hundreds of people stop by our booth during the two-day festival to obtain Libertarian literature, discuss the issues of the day, or just say hi. While the primary purpose of our booth and outreach is to nudge those with open minds closer towards libertarianism, another benefit of us being at Pride is encouragement for those who already believe as we do that they are not alone in this sea of statism in the Bay Area. Every year I always have at least a few visitors to our booth thank us just for being there.

This year we have decided to fund our participation in this event from donations rather than our general fund. The booth cost is $254, there is a $50 environmental fee, and the insurance usually runs around $50. We have a fair amount of literature on hand, so I think we can get by with around $50 for additional literature and brochures, bringing the total to around $400.00.

We will not participate in Pride this year if we don't raise the funds beforehand. I will donate the first $50.00 towards the cost of the event. Who will join me in helping to ensure our presence at Pride this year?

If you feel this is worthwhile event for the LPSF, please send your checks to The Libertarian Party of San Francisco 2261 Market Street #170A San Francisco, CA 94114 or donate through PayPal at our website. Please indicate Pride 2014 on your checks or let us know via email if you use PayPal that your contribution is for the Pride event.

Thanks!
Aubrey

2

Hi Aubrey and All,

I will deposit my $50 to the LPSF account tomorrow. Update to my LPSF Announcement List letter of yesterday: one PayPal donor for $40 a month, for which we are extremely grateful. Again, the LPSF (or any other non-profit) has no other way to do its work except through voluntary donations and membership fees.

Marcy

3

Aubrey,

  Bad news -- I just realized that Pride is the same weekend this year as the Libertarian Party national convention (happening June 27-30 in Columbus, Ohio). Personally I'll be going to the convention, and have been encouraging others to attend as well if they can. National conventions only happen once every two years and are crucial to charting the party's direction (electing leadership, voting on platform and bylaws) as well as a terrific opportunity to connect and network with other Libertarians, learn about issues, pick up literature, etc.

  Given this conflict, one idea would be for us to approach the Golden Gate Liberty R3VOLution, Pink Pistols, Restore the Fourth, or other groups about the possibility of putting some money toward a booth that they primarily staff in exchange for having some of our materials there, rather than doing our own independent booth. We may also want to think about possibilities for giving the LPSF a presence in the parade in conjunction with another group. Thoughts?

Love & Liberty,
                                ((( starchild )))

4

Hi Starchild and Aubrey,

I think the LPSF should have its own presence at the SF Pride 2014. While it's unfortunate that it conflicts with the LP national convention, I don't think every LPSF member will attend the convention, so you can have a contingent to manage your booth at SF Pride. You do have "reserve troops," don't you?

BTW, I couldn't help notice how complex the rules are for SF Pride vendors or exhibitors: https://register.sfpride.org/event/html/Exhibitor_Guidelines.pdf

Anyhow, here in The Big Apple, or "Mayor Billy's Little Red State," there will also be a NYC Pride 2014. It too will conflict with the LP national convention. NYS could send 41 delegates and I think some members from NYC will attend. We haven't had a booth at Pride for several years. Maybe we will have one this year, but I don't know if we have enough "reserves" to manage the booth. Still, the "early bird" price for our booth would be $200, which less than your booth.

BTW, whenever we have booths at fairs, we usually conduct an Operation Political Homeless gig. Do you conduct these gigs? They're fun to conduct and perfect for screening libertarian minded people, though, if I recall, most Pride attendants scored "Left Liberal" on the WSPQ. If you need an OPH kit, order at www.theadvocates.org.

Another thing, Starchild, you mentioned the "Pink Pistols," which is a gay group that advocates personal protection with firearms. They're suppose to branches in many cities, including NYC. I want to ask someone to be a featured speaker during one of MLP's monthly meeting. Unfortunately, their NYC presence is a Yahoo Group which is dead. Can you ask your contact at Pink Pistols contact me? I'd appreciate it.

Still, should it turn out you guys can't properly manage a "stand along" LPSF booth, I guess sharing a booth with another is a good idea. I suppose they won't let you display you banner at their booth, no?

Startchild, you said, "We may also want to think about possibilities for giving the LPSF a presence in the parade in conjunction with another group. "

How about if you march in the parade? But if you "share" a space with another group, it might be awkward to display an LPSF banner with the group. Indeed, it might even be against SF Pride rules. Here at NYC Pride, any group could register to march with each group participant paying $4.00. But since the parade have been drastically cut back in hours, the NYC Pride people are very picky about which group they let march. If somehow LPNY applies to march, I somehow doubt their application will be accepted. Still, if anyone wants to march in the parade as an individual, here is list of "contingent groups" he/she could ask for a place to march: http://www.nycpride.org/uploads/2013OpenGroups.pdf

That's all for now.

Thanks for reading.

Alton

5

Hi Starchild! Thanks for the update on the convention and the conflict. At this point, I'm going to put my money on having our own Pride booth and working at it myself both days because, though mixing with "our own kind" is often more fun than dealing with the left-leaning crowd that visits our booth, our work trying to pull folks more in our direction is more important than mixing with the converted. I know the National LP could use some help and attending the conventions and helping to improve our own party is useful work too, but at this point I prefer to stay "local" and be a beacon of Libertarian light right here in The City on the Pride Weekend.

Mind you, your idea of having the other liberty groups run a booth with some of our literature there is a good one, if we do not collect enough for our own booth. It's a good second course of action. The main idea is to have a Libertarian or libertarian presence rather than none at all. However, it would be a shame to lose the most visible event for the LPSF this year.

Thanks for the Thoughts!
Aubrey

Aubrey,

Bad news -- I just realized that Pride is the same weekend this year as the Libertarian Party national convention (happening June 27-30 in Columbus, Ohio). Personally I'll be going to the convention, and have been encouraging others to attend as well if they can. National conventions only happen once every two years and are crucial to charting the party's direction (electing leadership, voting on platform and bylaws) as well as a terrific opportunity to connect and network with other Libertarians, learn about issues, pick up literature, etc.

Given this conflict, one idea would be for us to approach the Golden Gate Liberty R3VOLution, Pink Pistols, Restore the Fourth, or other groups about the possibility of putting some money toward a booth that they primarily staff in exchange for having some of our materials there, rather than doing our own independent booth. We may also want to think about possibilities for giving the LPSF a presence in the parade in conjunction with another group. Thoughts?

Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))