Even if you are not from California, please take a moment to read this message from my friend Cliff, who is volunteering for the No on 8 campaign. Send a message to California and to the country that we won’t stand for writing discrimination into our state constitution.

Contrary to the poll results that have received media attention (that show us with a lead of 51-40-9), our private polling shows a different picture. Some such polls show us barely winning, others show us barely losing. The key is the approximate 20 percent of voters who are undecided about marriage equality. It is this undecided block that makes the advertisements — and the money to purchase them — so crucial. The campaign is purchasing another block of advertisements on September 18, so the need for funds is urgent.

I hate doing this sort of thing, but I am asking you to send this message on to anyone who might be willing to give money to fight Proposition 8. People who want to give may do so by going to www.noonprop8.com and donating. Because that organization likes to track how much their volunteers raise, please enter “521″ (without the quotation marks) in the referral code space.

This campaign is about more than marriage (though that would be enough). It is about equal treatment under law; it is about defeating the politics of bigotry; it is about disarming a Right Wing that uses civil liberties as a wedge issue; and it is about lgbt rights in the entire country. Never before have voters considered whether to strip marriage rights away from same-sex couples. A victory for the Right in California would greatly embolden them in every state. We have to succeed and defeat Prop 8, and we have to be sure we wake up on November 5 knowing that we did everything we could to win.