Organizing and Advocacy
MEA employs a grassroots organizing strategy that is
unique to GLBT grassroots activism in several respects.
First, MEA chooses a relatively short annual target
list of Congressional districts or states whose Congressional
representatives are not yet sponsors of the MREA, but
who will likely be key players in the effort to ensure
the MREA’s passage. MEA’s strategy is to
contact and visit individuals within these districts
and states as many times as is necessary to 
(a) locate and recruit GLBT veterans and allies willing
to assist in the effort to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell;
(b) train them in lobbying, public relations and organizing
techniques and on the issue of gays in the military;
(c) guide and support them in their first few activities;
and (d) finally, give rise to a sustained grassroots
movement within that district or state that is led first
and foremost by constituents who reside in that district.
The development of the target list is based on a variety
of factors, but MEA relies heavily on input from GLBT
activist organizations such as the Servicemembers Legal
Defense Network (SLDN), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC),
Log Cabin Republicans, and other organizations with
expertise on the U.S. Congress. At the same time, MEA
believes that any key member of Congress, no matter
what the individual’s track record on GLBT issues
might be, should hear from his or her own constituents
on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
The issue of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
is one for which the GLBT community has a unique opportunity
to find common ground with so-called “red state
Americans,” and MEA is committed to devoting a
significant amount of its resources to “hard sells”
as well as likely co-sponsors of MREA.
Second, MEA believes strongly in taking grassroots
training out to the trainee, and on emphasizing in-district
meetings with member of Congress, rather than requiring
activists to travel to Washington, DC. MEA does not
conduct any “Lobby Day” events in Washington,
although it encourages its activists to attend “Lobby
Day” events of other organizations.
 MEA
trains activists in remote locations through its unique
Grassroots Workbook, which in effect functions as a
correspondence course. Activists-in-training read a
chapter of the workbook, complete the exercises at the
end of the chapter, return their answers to MEA, and
then discuss their answers over the phone with a volunteer
MEA Mentor. MEA Mentors are chosen for their experience
areas of knowledge, such as grassroots organizing, media
relations, lobbying techniques, or expertise on the
military and/or “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell.” Activists are gradually “certified”
in various techniques by completing chapters of the
Grassroots Workbook, and are given more and more responsibilities
by MEA commensurate with their expertise. For more information
on becoming an MEA Grassroots Activist, Grassroots Team
Leader, or Regional Grassroots Coordinator, click here.
Third, MEA aims to raise GLBT activists across the
country to a higher level of proficiency at advocacy
and activism. Instead of simply being provided a set
of talking points, MEA Grassroots Activists are taught,
through the Grassroots Workbook, to write talking points
and formulate “sound bites” for themselves.
Instead of being told information about their respective
members of Congress, MEA Grassroots Activists are taught
how to gather their own information about their Congressional
representatives and what motivates them, information
that can then be used as a valuable source of intelligence
by national GLBT activist organizations in Washington.
MEA’s aim is to create a nationwide network of
activists that truly leads from the grassroots level
up, with activists in the field playing a key role in
formulating national political strategy. MEA believes
that this nationwide network of activists will be a
formidable asset to the GLBT community as a whole, long
after “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
is repealed and becomes a distant, ugly memory.
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