SoCal Voice is thrilled to be reporting that Tina Reynolds, executive director of Equality Action NOW, a Northern California grassroots civil rights organization, sent out a call-to-action to its network alerting its supporters to show up for a “Peaceful Safe Ground Rally at Sacramento City Hall.” In her email to SoCal Voice, Ms. Reynolds wrote “It is time to rally our troops to help support our homeless Sacramento neighbors – Join me at a protest rally against the criminalization of being homeless and allowing them a Safe Ground!”
Organized by Loaves & Fishes, Francis House, Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee and business partner Uptown Studios, the rally will be held at Sacramento City Hall on Thursday, September 10th at 10am. The aim of a “Peaceful Safe Ground Rally” is to ask the Sacramento Mayor, City Council and City Manager to act immediately Supporters to: 1) Declare a moratorium on enforcement of the anti-camping ordinance; and, 2) Provide SafeGround, a legal campground for homeless people who have signed a pledge of no drugs, no alcohol, no violence.
Over the last two years, due to the economic slump, the number of people being forced to live on the streets has risen by 14%. Due to funding cuts, shelters are turning away hundreds of men, woman and children every night for lack of space. In order to deal with this overwhelming problem, the organizers of the rally hopes that, under their “Safe Ground” proposal, “Sacramento would become a leader in coping with the problem of housing a homeless population that now stands at over 1500 and is made more urgent by the County’s closure of the Cal Expo Overflow Shelter on July 1st. This planned closure will force 258 homeless people out of their shelter beds. Many of these are refugees from the April 2009 Tent City closure, which has left hundreds more still unable to find even temporary housing.
“Supporters are asking city officials to designate a parcel of land as “Safe Ground,” allowing homeless people then to live there without harassment from police and without risk to their health and safety. Service organizations would work with homeless leaders to provide security, sanitary facilities, clean water, and centralized access to the kinds of services that enable people to grow out of their homeless situation and improve their lives.
“Housing would be provided for as little as $2 per person per night, utilizing innovative, privately-funded and environmentally friendly “World Shelters.”
SoCal Voice applauds Equality Action NOW and Ms. Reynolds for their willingness to stand up for the more than 1,200 homeless people of Sacramento who will be sleeping outside tonight and every night. We believe that the reaching out of the LGBT community’s collective hands in support of our homeless neighbors will ultimately prove far-reaching and foster overall positive feelings toward the LGBT community as a whole. In order for people’s minds to be changed, we first have to touch their hearts. The best way to do that is through altruistic actions, and showing up at the “Peaceful Safe Ground Rally at Sacramento City Hall” is a great first start toward transforming the LGBT civil rights movement into an altruistic movement. Our compassionate deeds in good faith will do more than produce votes for marriage equality at the ballot box, we will have impacted other people’s lives for the better. In the end, we’re all connected in our mutual bond of humanity.
