The site Queer New York has a great posting written by Brooklyn Bill following last night’s civil disobedience training at the New York LGBT Community Center.

Here are a few short blurbs:

The training session was just that: The participants (and I count myself as one even though I’m writing up what happened there on this blog for QNY readers) weren’t planning a particular action. We chose the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell as our hypothetical cause for the purpose of learning how to prepare for a CD action and what to expect during and after the action, including the possibility of arrest.

There’s no one right way to be an activist; it depends on the situation. Sometimes the best thing to do is write a letter or march as a group. But sometimes a group of people believe that CD is necessary to draw attention to a policy or situation they feel can no longer be tolerated. Perhaps other methods of protest have failed to bring about the desired result or the group feels they need to raise the visibility of the issue. Arrests bring more media attention than a few protesters, Northrup said. (When it came to Iraq War protests, some parts of the “liberal media” didn’t even care to notice thousands of protestors.)

Protestors need supporters; those who for whatever reason may not want take the chance of being arrested can provide invaluable service as a media or police liaison, as an observer who takes notes about everything that happens during the event, or as a distributor of flyers explaining the action. And no one should ever think about risking arrest without having a lawyer ready to handle the case. Let the lawyer do the talking and always plead not guilty. Other supporters can keep a list of those who’ve been arrested or hold onto their possessions. And they can be friendly faces to greet those who were arrested when they emerge from jail.

You can read the entire posting here.