Minneapolis Anti-prop 8 protest: baby's first protest
Around 1,000 people gathered in Minneapolis to protest California's passage of Prop 8. This protest was organized swiftly and mostly via email. It might have seemed colder than it actually was as we gathered on the north side of the imposing Hennepin County Government Center. This was also a personal landmark ... this was this was peanut's first protest.
- SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS/AP) -- Thousands of protestors converged upon San Francisco’s City Hall Saturday morning to speak out against California’s controversial Proposition 8.
"And sometimes it feels we felt our whole lifetime digging out the lies that other people tell about us, but the truth is this: we are a movement based on love," said Reverend Dr. Penny Nickson who spoke during the rally.
The backlash over the passage of Prop 8—a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as being between a man and woman in the state of California—has been enormous across the country.
On the opposite coast, an estimated 5,000 demonstrators turned out in the rain "to express anger over the passage of Proposition 8" in DC.
Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and scores of cities in between have seen grassroots demonstrations erupt at city halls and in public spaces.
(Daily Kos)
Kelly Lewis of Outfront Minnesota emceed the event. We weren't able to stay through the whole thing, but heard speeches from Jer Hanson and Gary Schiff. Here's the transcript of Jer's speech, he's Mayor Rybak's Communications Director.
Good afternoon, Minneapolis! You look beautiful! My name is Jeremy Hanson and I have the privilege of working for Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. Though he is not able to be with us today in person, I am here to say that Mayor Rybak IS here with us today (and everyday) in spirit. As a steadfast champion of GLBT justice, Mayor Rybak stands shoulder-to-shoulder with us and with our fight for marriage equality.
In fact, it was Mayor R.T. Rybak who this week helped me get out of my post-Prop 8 funk. Although still high on the euphoria of Obama's sweet victory, as a proud gay American I, like many of you, was deeply saddened and distraught by the passing of Prop 8. I began to question our path and our ability to succeed. Altering our expectations, perhaps, was the way to go. Failed tactics, I feared, was the reason for this outcome.
But it was R.T. Rybak and his unending optimism, who got in my face and propped me back up. "You can't give up," he said. "You deserve to get married, your love deserves to be celebrated, and you will have your day of equality. Now go out there and get married and help all the gays who want to get married! Don't give up the fight for what is right. This is a fight for love because the world needs more love."
The more I thought about the mayor's words, the more emboldened I once again became. I soon began to see through the rhetoric and punditry that was dividing us and putting us down. I began to see that we must not let the pundits and the priests divide us with false divisions of black versus gay or religion versus equality.
I began to remember that the issue isn't about whether to re-define marriage. Marriage for thousands of years has undergone constant re-defining – and for darn good reason. If marriage hadn't been re-defined, as recently as 30 years ago, black people couldn't legally marry white people. As Keith Olbermann noted on MSNBC this week, if we hadn't re-defined marriage the parents of our president-elect could not have been legally married in one third of the states their son would later grow up to lead.
So I say YES, you bet gays are re-defining marriage – and once again for darn good reason. And as we re-define marriage, we are at the same time re-kindling the power of love and marriage. At a time of celebrity fly-by-night weddings and fifty percent divorce rates, I'd say marriage needs a little infusion of some good gay love. I'd say that America needs to be reminded of the Golden Rule: to do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. I'd say let there be more support for love, not less.
As Mayor Rybak reminds us, we are the warriors of love over hate. And as writer Dan Savage said on the Colbert report this week, both time and the arc of justice are on our side: "We will win the battle of Gay Survivor. We will outlive, outlast, and outsmart the bigots!" God bless you and keep up the fight for love!
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thanks for attending and yay on personal milestone
We couldn't attend the rally because, ironically, of our kids' activities. Too busy being a family. Anyway cool that your little one got a great taste of the fruits of COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Kingfield Chickadee
A good start for peanut
After more than forty years, my mother still claims that my first baby picture was taken by the FBI during an anti-war protest (circa 1963).