A new Web site is trying to make it easy for citizens to launch campaigns with enough people behind them to make a difference. Put simply, the site aims to help people make a point and find others willing to do the same.

Thus the founders of the new online initiative settled on calling the site, what else, The Point. They launched it in September and hope it will catch on with local activists wanting to add some people power to their grassroots campaigns.

According to the site, The Point "is a community where people come together and take action, securing the safety in numbers necessary to make things happen. How? No one is obligated to do anything unless a campaign reaches its 'tipping point.' At the tipping point, everyone springs into action, knowing they have the numbers to make a difference."

The Chicago-based site is the brainchild of Andrew Mason , a Northwestern University graduate who enrolled last year in the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. He was given resources to develop Policy Tree, a policy debate visualization Web application, according to his bio on the site, and after receiving an "unexpected investment offer" he quit school to launch The Point.

Jeremy Pepper, The Point's director of communications who is based in San Francisco, has begun meeting with local media outlets and activist groups to acquaint them with the site and how to use it to organize campaigns around any number of issues or merely raise money for a cause.

"Nobody likes to do anything alone. There is safety in numbers," said Pepper, who is planning an event in January to help spread word about the Web site. "You can set up a campaign on The Point where if 2,500 people join us we will have a protest at the state capitol. Unless this number of people agree to do it, then people won't do it."

A search under the word "gay" on the site Friday showed few gay groups have taken advantage of it. Only the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Center had a page listed, but with very few details on it.

One person did create a thread about the anti-gay military policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to complain about how the Democratic presidential contenders have crafted their opposition to the policy.

The posting – at https://www.thepoint.com/problems/dont-ask-dont-tell – says instead of the candidates basing their opposition to the policy "on the notion that it hurts our war fighting ability by kicking out gay linguists that are critical to the War on Terror" they should discuss the "copious amounts of discrimination" LGBT service members experience.

"These repugnant occurrences need to be highlighted and scrutinized by the public and elected officials. However, they are marginalized by the current atmosphere surrounding the War on Terror," states the posting, under the name of Neal Johnson.

Mason, the site's founder, suggests people use The Point to organize "a massive 'outing' of the military? e.g. 'I will be openly gay, but only if 20,000 gay soldiers do it with me.' Use anonymity to protect people until the action tips."

At least one other user of the site supports such a campaign, but it appears not to have caught on much more than that.

The site does have one anti-gay campaign on it, which is focused on getting the Ford Motor Company to stop supporting same-sex marriage initiatives. [https://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/ford-brands-keep-out-of-the-gay-marriage-debate]

If 50,000 people sign on to it, a boycott will be launched against the company. As of last week only four people had done so.

User Peter Zelchenko, who created the campaign, says on the site that he supports gay marriage but believes Ford should stay out of the debate.

Along with upsetting anti-gay marriage proponents with their ads, Zelchenko claims that "Ford has also failed to take into account that many rational, pro-gay-marriage liberals would agree that this is an inappropriate activity for a car company."

Several users have commented that they would consider buying a Ford car in response to the boycott but complain about the company's model types.

"Ford is taking a stand for civil rights. Good for them! I'd buy a Ford in order to reward their public-spiritedness, except that their cars are crap. Even queers like me know it," wrote user Amy Zucker Morgenstern.

Some of the more popular campaigns on the site include protests against Starbucks aimed at getting the company to hand out reusable cups for in-store orders and jettisoning hormone-laced milk from its refrigerators; getting PepsiCo to use biodegradable bottles for its Aquafina water; and convincing Southwest Airlines Co. to allow families with children to pre-board flights.

Apart from campaigns that benefited the Point's employees themselves, it appears only one campaign has been achieved through the Web site to date. Musician Jenny Gillespie raised $650 to fund a day of recording at a Chicago studio for her next album.

Laird pitches prop benefiting himself

Openly gay Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) has taped several videos posted on YouTube in which he urges Californians to vote for Proposition 93 on the February ballot. The initiative would change the state's term limits laws and allow Sacramento lawmakers who otherwise face being termed out of office next year to hold on to their seats.

As it stands now, Assembly members are termed out after three two-year terms and senators are termed out after two four-year terms. The measure would allow the lawmakers to serve up to 12 years in the same chamber and then be termed out.

The five videos, posted just in the last 10 days, can be found at http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=6D1C410B6F6490AA. Called the "John Laird Prop 93 Project" the videos show Laird talking to Castro resident Brian Leubitz, the gay blogger behind the Web site www.calitics.com.

The first video, posted December 7, has only been viewed 59 times as of last week, while those posted more recently have less than 10 hits so far. Of poor production quality, Laird is show in front of bare wall and door, with a light switch hovering nearby his head and, at times, a door handle appears to be sticking out of his nose.

Laird argues in the videos that allowing senior lawmakers to remain in the legislature will help various progressive causes, such as issues pertaining to the environment, global warming and water conservation. He even argues it would aid the fight for same-sex marriage in one of the videos.

"You might not think that it is a marriage equality issue, or a health care issue or an issue on greenhouse gay emissions, but that is exactly what's at stake," says Laird in one video.

What he doesn't clearly state is that passage of the proposition would save himself. He will be termed out of the Assembly next year unless Prop 93 passes. The latest poll from the Public Policy Institute of California has the poll failing with a majority of voters.

While 69 percent of most likely voters say that the state's current system of term limits needs to be changed, only 47 percent of likely voters say they support Prop 93, according to new polling released last Wednesday.

The findings were based on a telephone survey of 2,002 California adult residents interviewed between November 27 and December 4. Interviews were conducted in English or Spanish. The sampling error for the total sample is +/- 2 percent and for the 1,015 likely voters is +/- 3 percent.

Gay Dem clubs announce Feb endorsements

Both the Alice B. Toklas and Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic clubs voted last week on which measures to support on the February ballot, and while Alice members voted to endorse Prop 93, the measure failed to get the needed 60 percent threshold among Milk Club members to earn the club's endorsement.

On the other state initiatives, Alice is opposing Props 94-97, which would overturn Indian gaming compacts with four Southern California Indian tribes, and Prop 91, which would prevent politicians from raiding transportation funds to balance the state budget. The club is not taking a position on Prop 92, which would set aside nearly $300 million from the state budget for community colleges.

The Milk Club voted to endorse the community college measure, oppose the gaming compact measures, and failed to reach consensus on Prop 91.

As for local measures, both clubs voted to endorse Prop A, a $185 million park bond for infrastructure upgrades. Alice members voted to support Prop B, a police officer retirement reform measure meant to allow veteran officers to postpone their retirements, and to oppose Prop C, a nonbinding declaration that would make it city policy to explore acquiring Alcatraz Island and setting up a global peace center in place of the prison, which is now a national park and leading tourist attraction.

The Milk Club is taking no position on Props B and C.

Neither club coalesced around a presidential candidate.

Of course, some members of the Milk Club boycotted their endorsement meeting over a fight related to an early endorsement in the race for the seat held by state Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco). The matter is expected to be addressed at the club's January meeting, though it is unclear if the endorsements will change.

Gay men win chairman positions

San Jose resident Clark Williams has been elected chair of his city's Appeals Hearing Board and will begin a two-year term in January. Williams was appointed to the board in 2005 and expects to serve until 2011. The seven member quasi-judicial body considers appeals from San Jose property owners following a building or housing code citation, handles disputes regarding garbage and recycling bills, and approves abatement actions taken by the city.

Cathedral City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Greg Pettis , who celebrated the "second anniversary" of his 50th birthday Sunday, has been re-elected as president of the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Local Officials group comprised of out politicians in the National League of Cities. The LGB group voted November 14 during its annual Congress of Cities, held in New Orleans this year.

Pettis also officially launched his bid for the open 80th District Assembly seat on November 27. Moderate Republican Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia is termed out of her seat, which covers the Palm Springs area.

Happy Holidays

Political Notes is taking a break during the holiday season and will return Monday, January 7 for a new year of Monday online columns about queer political goings on.

If you have a tip for a story Political Notes should cover in 2008, send it to m.bajko@ebar.com.

Until then, happy holidays and have a safe and fun new year.