Move over Great American Smoke Out. Here comes the Great American God-Out, a day to imagine a world (or at least an America) with true separation of church and state. The brainchild of Dr. Lydia Hartunian, a professor of humanities and philosophy at a college in Iowa and the author of Godless: A Female Face for Atheism, the God-Out is being promoted as “a 24-hour respite from religion.” The first God-Out was held last year in New York City.

This year, it will take place right here in San Francisco (for info, call 319-400-5328), an appropriate location, considering the recent passage of Proposition 8, which amends the state constitution to outlaw gay marriage. That measure is currently being challenged by three lawsuits.

Funding for Prop 8 came mostly from conservative Christians (Mormons alone contributed an estimated $20 million) and their churches. Two prominent Catholic groups, the Knights of Columbus and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, gave $1,425,000 and $200,000 respectively. Christian political organizations, including Concerned Women of America, which promotes a Biblical-based ideology, also added to the Prop 8 war chest to the tune of $409,000.

Some queers have declared war on these churches. This past weekend, pro-gay marriage demonstrators in Los Angeles and Oakland marched on Mormon temples, and in San Francisco, they picketed outside the Catholic Cathedral. A petition is circulating on the internet to challenge the Mormon church’s tax-exempt status. A website called “Revoke LDS Church 501(c)(3) Status” proposes that the church has “gone too far in promoting the 2008 California Proposition 8” by “(making) a substantial part of its activities attempting to influence legislation.”

Now a group calling itself Join the Impact has called for a national LGBT day of protest on Saturday, November 15. A San Francisco rally is planned for 10:30am at City Hall. It’s the same day as the God-Out. It might be a good time for the two movements to meet each other.

Queers in America would benefit greatly from a true separation of church and state. Not only in terms of the incredible amount of political lobbying that churches and religious groups do, but also in the minds of voters when they go to the polls. If Americans truly believed in the concept, they wouldn’t vote for measures such as Prop 8, even if they have personal problems with gay marriage.

Perhaps the attendees of the God-Out need to take a mid-morning break and join queers at the protest at City Hall. And then queers can return the favor and attend the God-Out in the afternoon.

It’s a marriage made in heaven, I mean, on earth.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca is co-editor of Avanti Popolo: Italian Writers Sail Beyond Columbus, and editor of Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation, which will be published next year by City Lights Books.