Haters Gotta Hate... Help :-)

[cactusfractal]

Hi, DUers. I don't post a lot here, but this might be of interest. Our very good friends Sue and Kim are entered in a "Cutest Couple" contest. They really are cute, community-involved, positive people. Oh. And they're gay. Which brings me to why I'm posting this. Because at this link you'll find Sue and Kim...

http://theledger.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=33104#SD

...and at the FIRST page of the contest you'll find a straight couple that haters are voting for for no other reason but that they're easy to link to... and STRAIGHT. Voting ends tomorrow. Pick the cuter couple, and thanks :-)

[PoliticAverse]

1. Best wishes to your friends for another 15 years. n/t

[cactusfractal]

7. I'll pass it on :-)

[d_r]

2. I did vote

and they are cute, but you have to go through a bit of a hassle to register to vote.

[cactusfractal]

3. It IS a hassle. Thanx!

...and you can leave comments. Look at all the positive comments Sue & Kim have. Real support, not just a protest vote like the other guys seem to have.

[TriMera]

4. Done. Looks like their in the lead at 888 votes. n/t

[cactusfractal]

6. Thank youuuuuuu :-)

[cactusfractal]

5. BTW they track IP and made a reference to doublevotes, so one email.... one vote kthxbai

[cactusfractal]

8. One vote per person per day. You can vote tomorrow, toooooo...

[dmr]

9. K&R & Voted

:hi:

[cactusfractal]

10. Seems my direct link isn't working now....

http://theledger.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=33104&s=9066629&i=4&m=X#SD

They're couple # 11

[cactusfractal]

11. And they're only 30 votes up....

[Lyric]

12. Registered and voted :)

[cactusfractal]

13. Thanks... seems the forces of Teh Str8ne55 are closing in....

[cactusfractal]

14. shameless bump

[Aerows]

15. Best wishes to them

The most revealing part of a person's character is not the things they claim to embrace with love, it's the ideas they show to hate through their actions.

[thesue2u]

16. I'm begging now ...

I stopped by this board to ask for help. Thankfully, we have a friend who's already been here ...

An update - We are now less than 10 points away from losing our top spot which we've held since the beginning of this contest. It's hard to say how it happened or why but it's true. And I suspect within the next hour we'll be in second place. Over the last two weeks friends & family alike have worked so hard to help us get to this point, and for that we are so grateful. We realize it's easy to lose faith & confidence in what we're doing. After all, we've lost so many times before. It's just some silly contest. In the end, what does it matter anyway? Clearly, it matters. It matters to the hundreds of people who have voted day in & day out for the last two weeks and it matters to the hundreds of people who are fighting to insure we don't win. We would be naive to believe this is just about a $500 prize ... you know, we know it, & they know it. Although, I should point out that we've pledged 100% of the prize money to two worth nonprofits that serve LGBTQ youth & people with HIV/AIDS.

I read on a friend's Facebook wall where someone said "gays don't need that shallow validation." My reply: We entered this contest just to see if we could. Then we thought we'd use it as an opportunity to spread awareness & hopefully gain some understanding. Then we decided we'd give it a shot & if we win give 100% of the winnings to two wonderful nonprofits that support lgbtq youth & people with AIDS/HIV. Then it became a matter of principle. It became bigger than Kim & I. It's more than a lousy $500. It's about showing the people of this small minded, conservative, bible thumping town that WE, the gays, the progressives, the liberal elite, can stand united. It's a grassroots effort that screams, 'YES WE CAN!' For the last two weeks we have had a significant lead in votes. And until this day we thought we had this in the bag. NOW we are less than <10> votes away from losing our coveted spot & our closest competitor has had ridiculous surge in votes just today; we hear from friends that their votes aren't' being counted and we've been accused of cheating, despite having over 130 comments on the Ledger site compared to our competitor's 23 & having our message spread all over Facebook & message boards alike. So again, it's not about "cute" ... I'll admit there a few "cute" couples competing. It's so much more than that. Lakeland needs this win ... It's not about US. It's not just about the gays. It's bigger than that. We know it & THEY know it."

So, as we enter the last 24 hours of this contest, we're calling on friends, family & allies alike to vote for us & to please ask that you ask your own friends & family to vote. It may require that you step outside your comfort zone & post our contest link to your wall. It may require sending a personal message to a friend or family member. We believed in this community enough to enter this contest ... We hope you believe enough in yourselves to help us bring this home.

Thank you again, from our hearts & on behalf of our fellow gay & lesbian Lakeland residents.

All that's needed - an email address, a user name, a password ... please?
http://theledger.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=33104&s=9066629&i=4#SD

[Tresalisa]

18. Nutz, cant get any of the links to work, it says

"Not available." Best of luck to you in this contest, and in your lives together!

[okasha]

17. Voted.

n/t

[cactusfractal]

19. GOOD NEWS, DU! KIM & SUE WON!

The straight couple (#1) had a steady increase the last few hours. Not the sporadic kind of vote bumps you see from this type of thing when it really is "one person one vote". OBVIOUSLY cheating. And in the end, though the total for Couple #1 was approx. 25 higher than Sue & Kim's, the paper running the contest disqualified over 600 votes, making our heroines the winners. Cutest couple, indeed :-)

[yardwork]

20. The paper had to disqualify 600 votes? That is some systematic cheating.

Did the paper say who they thought launched this cheating campaign?

[cactusfractal]

22. No, they just killed the votes. It was obvious in the final hours...

and what's really sad is I doubt it was a supporter of the other couple; it was probably someone who couldn't stand to see these ladies take the prize.

[yardwork]

23. It was probably an organized campaign paid for by the usual suspects.

[w8liftinglady]

21. Yes!!! way to go!