How to Start:
First, decide that you are sufficiently committed to Marriage Equality advocacy that you want to encourage your friends, family and acquaintances to actively support Marriage Equality.
Next, decide to host a Coffee Klatch to which you will invite a few of those who have an interest in Marriage Equality. Invite energetic, sociable people who are able to take the initiative to host their own Coffee Klatch. Make up your invitation list, set the date, time and place, and put out your invitation.
Keeping things going:
Before meeting with your Coffee Klatch group, download the Activities page and one of the Case Statement that particularly interests you. Print enough copies to distribute to each Coffee Klatch participant. As an alternative, have a lap-top or iPad available on which to display the documents from the Faith Based Movement for Marriage Equality web site.
Read the Activities document carefully so that you are well prepared to lead a discussion about the activities with your Coffee Klatch participants. Know each activity well so that you can enthusiastically encourage the Coffee Klatch participants to commit to implementing at least one (hopefully more than one) activity.
Share the sample Case Statement and instruct participants where they may read more examples. Note that each Case Statement begins with a claim that opponents of Marriage Equality use to justify their opposition. It is important to recognize how these claims are used to attack pending or existing laws that legalize same-sex marriage. Advise participants that the Case Statements are primarily for their own use to help them put issues into their own words. In some cases, a printed copy of a case statement may be strategically handed to an individual. Case Statements should not be used to be confrontational or argumentative.
At the end of the Coffee Klatch, try to solicit a commitment from each participant to involve others, perhaps by hosting their own Coffee Klatch. Of course, you want each participant to commit themselves to one or more of the activities, but for this movement to multiply, it also depends on participants who have the excitement and commitment to multiply the movement through involving others.
Also, please don’t stop hosting Coffee Klatches after your first one. Keep it going. Host one or two a month until Marriage Equality is secured.