Watch Out Conservative America: The Queer Base Is Getting Organized

While the rest of progressive America was cheering on last November's election night, things weren't a total celebration for many in California as gay marriage foes won the battle over Proposition 8 and the few months that same-sex marriages had been sanctioned by the state Supreme Court came to an abrupt end.

California took a step back as Iowa and much of New England is moving forward to grant equal marriage rights and both the setbacks and victories are helping to spur new waves of activism for LGBT equal rights.

The Advocate reported a meeting that just took place among 20 activists to try and set a new course:

The group, which included grassroots activists, bloggers, and donors/fund-raisers, laid out eight organizing principles that underlie their call to action, seven civil rights goals for the movement as a whole, and seven ways to get involved, all of which are included below.

Participants said the meeting was mutually driven by a sense of historic opportunity combined with some discontentment over the pace at which LGBT rights are moving forward.

Here's one important point that makes me hopeful that they'll be bringing something different to the table:

For a number of reasons, Winkleman said the group decided not to include any executive directors from big LGBT organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign or the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He said they hoped to create something fresh and aspirational that was not driven by the needs, desires, resources, or advancement of any one particular organization.

The article also lays out their principles, goals and call to action: