COSMO GAL: Helen Briley with one of the “pink drinks” she served at her fairness party. Credit: Shanna Gillette

If the holiday season is about generosity and families and blessings to all, then here’s a gift idea that should fit right into the spirit of things:

Turn your holiday party into a “fairness” party.

Don’t worry, this isn’t about political correctness. A fairness party can be as sanctified, Santa-fied or unabashedly Grinch-y as the hosts want it to be. (You don’t even have to have it during the holidays!) The only requirement is that guests make a donation in the name of a common cause: equality. Or, to be more specific, marriage equality.

The anti-gay marriage amendment will likely show up on Florida’s November 2008 ballot, if its supporters get the required 611,000 signatures by Feb. 1. The proposed amendment should be a matter of concern for everyone, not just gay and lesbian couples; its language would ban any legal union “that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof.” Domestic partner benefits for all couples, gay or straight, would be threatened. And given that gay marriage is already illegal in Florida, this measure would take the unnecessary step of codifying discrimination in the state Constitution.

That’s why Fairness for All Families — a diverse statewide coalition committed to fighting the amendment — is offering up all kinds of volunteer opportunities, including fairness parties, to those interested in joining the fight.

Buoyed by the defeat of a similar amendment in Arizona, Fairness is confident that Florida’s is beatable, too. But the organization is estimating that the campaign will cost $7 million, much of which is still to be raised. One plus for the coalition is that it’s truly broad-based: the LGBT rights organization Equality Florida is taking part, but so are groups not directly connected with the gay community — major players like the NAACP of Florida, the Florida Education Association and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, responding to concerns that the amendment would jeopardize elderly couples’ living arrangements. According to Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith, the fairness parties have so far reflected the same range of interests, with hosts both straight and gay, festivities both casual and fancy.

Helen and Arlin Briley of St. Petersburg were among the first to host a party. Fairness for All Families provided the invitations, sign-up lists and educational materials; Helen and Arlin provided the cosmopolitans, the lobby of their 4th St. condo and about 35 of their friends. The total raised was $1,500, and everyone had a good time.

“It was fun,” says Helen, a retired apartment manager and “full-time Democrat.” (Her husband, who works for Verizon, is vice-chair of the Pinellas Democratic Party.) She was hardly the only full-time Pinellas Dem at the party; the guest list included State Rep. Bill Heller, School Board member Linda Lerner and Stonewall Democrats president Rick Boylan. But there were other people in attendance, she said, who didn’t know anything about the amendment. “Several of our older friends told me, ‘We would have voted against it anyway,’ but they understand it better now.”

And what prompted Helen to serve pink drinks in defense of fairness?

“I don’t have a gay brother or gay sister,” she says. “It’s about a moral conscience.”

And then she adds, “What can I tell you? I was an old hippie!”

Hippies or no, everyone with a moral conscience is invited to the Fairness party — and with any luck, we’ll have lots more to celebrate come Election Day 2008.