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During the rally, I thought I heard some counter-protesters chanting, but I didn't see them.
From what I could see, it was a good event, though the march was pretty long. (I needed the exercise, so I can't complain.)
My guess there were about 1200 people there on this picture perfect day. Mid-eighties and sunny.
The crowd fired up and full of energy. But they were once again anesthetized by the group running it who chose speakers who basically said don't boycott anyone, don't offend anyone, be nice.
Oh, and for an issue that is all about trying to separate church from state, why do we feel the need to trot out every gay clergy person we can find?
We are in the process of trying to have the Mormon Church's tax exempt status revoked for becoming involved in politics, and we get up and proudly proclaim we did the same.
We are even going after Mormons for not reporting the use of church facilities as campaign contributions, and then the guy from MCC gets up and proclaims proudly how the No on 8 people were given full use of their church offices and phones.
We keep saying it's a civil rights issue and not a religious issue--and then we drag religion back into it.
Left hand, please learn what the right hand is doing for a change.
I did like that the local paper and press were called out for their one sided coverage of the last two rallys especially the ridiculous coverage of the non-event of the crazy lady having the cross pulled from her hands. "See those people with the cameras?" one speaker said. "They are NOT our friends!" The crowd went wild.
That was my experience. The only protestors were that crazy lady who made all the news last week. She was soundly ignored. There was also a lady in a wheelchair with the sign saying "Stop Spreading Aids. Use a Buttplug" Hint from Heloise I guess.
The crowd was lively, very mixed men/women, white/black/hispanic, gay/straight/bi.
Linda Saulsena, a Tampa city councilwoman, gave a moving and rousing speech.
Some of our people were on the street corners where they were getting tons of honks and thumbs up.
There were no Yes on 2 protesters to be seen even though they sent out a press release calling for a counter protest.
The weather was beautiful, sunny, mid 80’s until right after the rally when it started to rain. As we drove away a BIG, BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW formed in the sky. I kid you not. I snapped a picture of it.
Only approximately 200 in pouring rain and freezing cold temperatures, but peaceful, vocal and determined. A march up Woodward Avenue to Campus Martius and then to the Coleman Young City - County Building for a rally. Many passersby honked horns in agreement. Heard no opposing chants or protests. A very moving speech by a lesbian mother whose children urged her to come out and march drew huge cheers from the crowd. LGBT film festival this weekend to boot.
We had gorgeous, though very cool and windy, weather. About 90 people gathered in front of the State Capitol, held up signs to be seen by the (very light) passing traffic, then we marched around the block. Then we went (by car) to a close-in neighborhood that's our "hippest" one and stood at a very busy intersection, waving our signs some more. We got what I thought was a surprising level of support from passing drivers, a number of whom honked at us, signaled thumbs-up, etc. It's too bad there weren't more of us, but that was a really good turnout for here.
http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/34215584.html
"just me wrote ...
The people has spoken..personally, I don't care if you're gay or bi and you wanted to get marry, as long as it is not teach to my child that being gay is ok. Right now, just let it go because it will not happen here.?"
I don't know if I should laugh or cry.
...and if they oppose it
We will fight and we will WIN because we are on the RIGHT!
A lively, peaceful group.
Hear, hear!
OVER THREE HUNDRED... I was really impressed, but I understand the response because this IS ground zero for intolerance towards our struggle for equal rights. Our LGBT community, friends and family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, responded in the way in which I think Martin Luther King and Ghandi would be proud.
http://dekerivers.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/pict...
Cold winds whipped downtown Madison on Saturday afternoon, but there was no diminishing the heated feelings that nearly 500 citizens felt over the recently passed anti-gay Proposition 8 in California that struck down gay marriage. With homemade signs, and loud chants the assembled marched from the UW-Madison to the State Capitol. At both of the major intersections on State Street where traffic needed to stop, there was strong support from the drivers as they clapped, gave the thumbs up, and honked their horns. As one observer noted it was nice to see young and old show up in such numbers that the marchers filled more than one city block as they made their protest. Throughout the march I was struck by the underlying tone of strangers who commented that this moment will pass, and the progress that has been made over the past few years will pick up steam again. It needs to be remembered that Prop 8 was only a battle, it was not the war. History is turning a page, and the marchers knew they were on the right side of the battle lines.
"History is turning a page, and the marchers knew they were on the right side of the battle lines.
Some of the speakers were great: Mark Leno, one of our State Assembly members gave an informative speech about how in the past 2 centuries, the religious right has been wrong on just about every social issue in the country.
One surprising speaker (to me) was Reverend Amos Brown. Reverend Brown was a member of the Board of Supervisors a while back. Conservative, a pastor at the Third Baptist Church that does not perform same-sex weddings, he said "though I'm a Baptist, I refuse to be a bigot." He characterized the quest the rights for same-sex couples to marry as a quest for civil rights. He told the story of seeing a photo in Jet Magazine of the body of 14 year-old Emmett Till (killed by whites in the South in 1955 for talking to a white woman) and how when he saw that photo, he swore to God that he would always fight discrimination. I have always disliked this man, but I have newly-found respect and not just because he is on 'my side' in this.
There were some other speakers, including one of my co-workers, a Palestinian woman married to another very colorful and unapologetic Palestinian woman ("I'm fat, I'm Palestinian, I'm lesbian and I've got hairy legs - deal with it") who said that we must not hide or eliminate people in our struggle because others may be 'offended' by them.
Anyway, I heard a rumor that the group was heading to the Scientology headquarters here, but I was to hungry and cranky to continue.
I shot some interesting video, and I hope to post it sometime this weekend.
OT: Last night, as every Friday night, there is a group of Christians that set up shop in the Castro, praying and hoping to convert gays to straights. To those of you who do not know, the Castro is 'ground zero' for all things gay. What they are doing would be equal to me and my partner going to a Sunday Mass at Saint Mary's and kissing with tongues during the mass. Back to the Christians - they are usually tolerated by people in the Castro. Well, last night, the gay community was less tolerant due to the election results. Below is a link to a video report from our local Fox affiliate. This so reminds me of Stonewall: The police used to routinely harass people, mostly gay men of color and drag queens in the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in NYC. But one time, they picked the wrong night: Judy Garland's funeral had just taken place that very same day. We ended up with the Stonewall riots as gays fought back and won. While I do wince a little at what happened, I feel no sympathy for the Christian provocateurs.
Let this be the beginning of a new age of activism.
http://www.ktvu.com/video/17987132/index.html
--Gary
Those wacky xtians got run out of the neighborhood pretty good. You know they'll be back. They always come back. Probably in bigger numbers next time so it could get interesting.
One interesting note about that video, did you notice the location where everybody is at the very beginning of that video, the gay historical significance? That's Harvey's old camera shop.
I brought along my little flip video just because it's so easy to carry around and I'll posting some footage from the event tomorrow.
We had a great group of over 1,000 people gather in front of Orlando City Hall today! I was hoping that with the late notice we would have 2 or 3 hundred but I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout. There were plenty of signs and flags to go around and there were a number of really witty homemade signs being displayed. "I can see gay marriage from my house" with a cartoon of Sarah Palin on it was one of my favorites.
I was surprised by the number of speakers and the quality of their messages with such short notice. We had a lovely woman from PFLAG speak who who although she said she was very nervous did a wonderful job. Surely her son in California could not have a better advocate.
We had two ministers who spoke and a number more who were there in solidarity with us who came to the stage for the closing prayer. Supposedly there were some Yes on 2 counter protesters there but if they were we didn't see them. Our City Hall sits on a corner and our people covered all four corners and chanted and waved signs to drown out anything the counter protesters could do. We got LOTS of honks from passing vehicles.
We also had two wonderful singers offer their talents with the National Anthem and an inspirational song. Fantastic voices ladies! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
County Commission Patty Sheehan gave a rousing speech and call to arms - we have lost this battle but we will win the war! By the way Ms. Sheehan - you look great in those glasses! HRC also had a number of representatives and we had a lovely lady from the ACLU who had recently relocated here from Connecticut speak as well.
The speakers were on the steps of City Hall and used an official City of Orlando podium for their speeches. I should point out that Mayor Buddy Dyer and our Commissioners recently unanimously passed a domestic partner benefit for Orlando. Yes, it's 2008 and we're behind a lot of other cities but it's a fairly red city in a pretty red state so its not the easiest thing to get done. I'm embarassed to say that the bigots who wrote Prop 2 both live in my city. Our community greatly appreciates the support of the Mayor, Commissioners and our City Police!
We had more speakers from The Center and No on 2 as well. A great program and a great turnout.
After the protest a good number of the crowd headed over to Hamburger Mary's to celebrate. Way to support our Gay businesses folks! I've lived in this city my entire life and I can tell you that I've never been more proud of my hometown than I was today. Let's keep the pressure on the bigots who would take our constitutional rights from us with our boycotts and lawsuits and make sure we support our allies and advocates!
We shall overcome!!
There were persons of all ages and we had many speakers giving great oratory. This crowd was ready for equal rights and not the crumbs that have been handed out to us instead of the real deal.
It was cool but a bright, sunny day perfect for a rally. One person mentioned that no matter how much the Jerry Falwells and Robertson's tried to blame nature's storms and wrath on us, today was an example that the faux christians did not control the weather or their god for that matter. It was great being among the crowd and experiencing the solidarity.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/169157
Those of you who were old enough to have been around during that period it will bring back tons of nostalgia and even a tear or two. Also, the similarity of what transpired then with what is happening today is fascinating.
It opens on November 28th and I highly recommend that you see this film. I almost never recommend any film so this is an exception.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20081115/N...
It was a great turnout for deep in the heart of Texas...lots of signs...impassioned speakers...songs and chants...beautiful weather...beautiful people out demanding justice for all!
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,...
Makes no mention of the fact that the Yes on 8 campaign tried to extort money from businesses that were against it.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-10-2...
Time had last week another sensationalist and homophobic article about what they called "Gay Mafia", I don't understand why people don't protest these biased articles! My English is bad, sorry.
One stating that a marriage was between a man and a woman, then the alternate saying things would stay the same but gay marriage was still not legal. If you had not been keeping track and just went to vote-that could confuse people.
Especially enjoyed the impassioned speech by Rev. Amos Brown. Keep the activism ALIVE!
Expected 1,000... police estimated 6,000 showed up. We marched through the gay-friendly area first and then headed right into the "straighter" part of downtown. Streets were closed for us. The march ended in the shopping/touristy area and a rally followed. The mayor declared November 15 "Marriage Equality Day in Seattle" .
The energy was fired up but the protest remained peaceful. There was lots of police visibility but I don't think it was needed. There were only a few "god hates fags" kinds of folks and even with their trusty bullhorns their voices were drowned out completely.
Some creative signs seen:
Can we vote on your marriage now?
2nd class citizenship is sooo gay
Who would Jesus hate?
I'm Bruce the printer and I endorse gay marriage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oCTkUCtfkw
We had it right in front of the Courthouse Square where John McCain held his last rally before election day.
(this is also where Goldwater had his department store and announced his run for the office)
We had a beautiful sunny day, three great dogs, and many people honked in support or stopped by to chat. A few sour old people walked by in silence with no acknowledgment, but they did read the signs......
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=bobm...
Photos on Flickr
http://flickr.com/photos/polizeros/sets/7215760...