Month: November 2008

A reader writes:

Your reader entirely misses the point, and it’s a point too important for the future of activism to miss.  When I asked gay journalist Rex Wockner in email who was spearheading this movement, he replied, "LOL. Facebook." And he’s right.  Unlike the usual rallies organized by the usual suspects with the usual permits and the usual crowd, this rally was whipped up virally via social networks and email chains. There wasn’t time for the usual amenities available to long-range organizers.  There was a stage and a sound system, but the speeches were drowned out by all the news helicopters. It didn’t matter. Mormon moms, straight allies, gay vets, nerds from Stanford, and loving families of all ages, races, and genders showed their support for people like me and my husband.  We were very happy today.

I totally agree. DC was also unorganized, rather than disorganized. We had almost no speeches, and all the signs were hand-made. But that was the point.

Gay people and our families and friends are taking this movement out of the hands of "professionals" who, whether they’re the largely irrelevant Human Rights Campaign or the No On 8 geniuses, do not have the conviction or the skills to win. I loved the fact that today came from spontaneous viral messaging – and was immensely happy to walk at the tail-end of the crowd, rather than at the front.

We need leadership, of course, and at some point, we really do have to clean out the deadwood at HRC and elsewhere. But today was about followership. It was a Mac protest, not a Windows one; it was an Obama-style event, not a Clinton-style one. It was the future, not the past.

(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty.)

A reader writes:

Over here in the Netherlands, gays and lesbians are first class citizens with all the same rights as anyone else. Those of us from the US however, lose those rights whenever we travel home. Cross the US border and you become a second class citizen. If you have a non-US same-sex spouse or partner, it’s hard not to become bitter about our lack of rights back home.

As a US citizen (I have been legally married to a Dutch citizen for more than 7-1/2 years), I can sponsor my next of kin – parents, children, spouses of my parents – for a green card, but not my wife. I can bring my dog to the US, but not my wife.

Today we had more than 50 people at our Join the Impact protest at the historic Homomonument, the world’s first monument to gays and lesbians killed and persecuted just for being who they are. We protested the big step backward that California just took with Prop 8.

A reader writes:

The protest took place from 1:30 to 4:00, in front of City Hall. The weather was rainy and gloomy, but you could never tell by the attitude in the crowd. The feeling was not one of defeat, but of determination, of a willingness to fight. I ("Str8 against H8") stood next to a transgendered woman, a gay couple, and an elderly man and woman, all for the same cause.  There were numerous speakers – congresspeople, advocates, teachers, speaking not just of prop 8, but of trans rights, DOMA, and the change that the community has brought forth, and will do again. Even when there were counter protesters, people at the rally stood up. A group of teen boys went to CVS, made quick signs, and stood in front of the hatemongers, telling them that they "were gay, and voting will not make them go away."  In the end, it summed up the message of the rally – the fear of the oppressors will be drowned out by our determination. We won’t shut up, and we won’t give up.

A reader writes:

I am a straight woman in my 40s. My husband and I went to Madison’s Library Mall today to lend our voices in opposition to California’s Proposition 8 (and Wisconsin’s similar anti-marriage amendment passed two years ago). The crowd skewed toward younger folks and same sex couples, but we were not the oldest folks, nor the only straight folks, in the crowd.

I saw a couple of older women in electric rascal carts, one with an enlarged dry-mounted copy of a California marriage license on the back. There were a lot of home-made signs.

 

As we began our march to the State Capitol, some of the organizers (with megaphones) attempted to lead the crowd in chanting. However, they had trouble making themselves heard, and we heard different chants going on at the same time. I remember thinking (and saying to my husband): "This crowd needs more old hippies to teach these kids how to organize."

 

A reader writes:

I just returned from our Houston rally, and I have to say I am so proud of our community today. There must have been about 600 people. Gay, straight, black, white, young, old, married, single. But one community. One goal. Equal rights. The speakers were inspiring and the crowd stayed around for several hours. There were smiles everywhere, and a few tears when the mother of gay son spoke, with her son and his husband beside her. And then at the end, all the couples who had been married in California were invited to to the front. It was a unifying moment.

A reader writes:

Just came from the protest in Tallahassee, where folks marched from the Westcott fountain in front of Florida State University through downtown Tallahassee to the old state capitol building.  One official estimated the marching group at 350, which is pretty good for an uncharacteristically chilly day in FL. The state capitol sits at the intersection of two main streets in Tallahassee and as pastors and community leaders spoke from the capitol steps, marchers stood along the street with signs, enjoying the encouragement, cheers and honks of cars passing by.   One elderly African-American man stood amid the protesters holding up a sign that read "Same Sex Marriage: Evil, Unholy," but he was the only counter-protester present.

A reader writes:

Although there is an obvious lack of structure to the rally, there has to be a couple of thousand protesters at City Hall and it keeps growing.

A reader writes:

The news from Denver is that gays in Denver get it. We really get it. I just came from the "protest" rally where a crowd of 3,000 to 5,000 people gathered in support of gay marriage. Speakers stood on the same steps that Barack Obama used to address a crowd of over 100,000 people just a few weeks ago. The thing that stood out to me is how normal everyone looked. I cannot ever remember seeing that many people people who were so well groomed, polite and mainstream. I would estimate that 50% of the crowd were 20 somethings. The biggest difference I see in the 20 somethings is that they accept themselves so much more than my generation and therefore don’t feel a need to act out.

The rest of the crowd represented every age group and demographic. I walked through the entire crowd just watching the people: everyone was peaceful, laughing, enjoying a perfect autumn day. The crowd seemed very similar to the crowd that came out for Obama recently, except they were better behaved, and were having more fun.

The protest signs were void of any hateful language. Every speaker was positive. I never heard any hateful remarks by anyone on the stage on in the crowd. The few Christians who did show up were barely noticed.   A black man yelled out to the crowd as they entered the grassy front to Denver’s grand city and county building, "What about me, what if I married a Martian?  Would that be OK?  Someone talk to me. Come on, talk to me." No one yelled back, no one paid attention.