The Family that Protests Together...

Has the best bellbottoms!

On Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 10:30 AM, I joined my friends and several thousand others across the United States to march for marriage equality. We were in downtown LA, the area between City Hall and the LA Times building. There were many speakers at the event. Alec Mapa was the MC. Mayor Villaraigosa gave a speech in English and Spanish. Rev. Eric Lee of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was there and have a speech. Several LA Council members, Rocky Gelgadillo, the prosecutor gave a speech. Lucy Lawless gave a speech. I saw Pauley Perrette (Abby from NCIS) making her way through the crowd.

This was an incredible event, almost too much to write about coherently. You can read more about the different rallies all over the US on Towleroad. Towleroad has a gallery as well if you want to see some of the pics from the protests around the US.

This was to be a nationwide, and even global wide, protest of Prop. 8 and other laws like it. I am proud of the Angelenos who showed their support no matter what the orientation. One woman spoke about how the proposition basically nullified her entire family - her two gay dads and lesbian mother, as well as her sister, are not considered a family. Yet, they raised her. Her mother was more worried about whether or not she’d be hurt at the protest than what the protest was about - just like any mother. Her fathers, like any parents, took she and her sister to school, gave them snacks, went to parent-teacher conferences and have raised two beautiful girls. But there are people in the world who don’t think that counts. For some reason some people fear that perfectly non-threatening family.

Ignorance leads to fear and fear to hate and discrimination. If you don’t understand why two people of the same sex fall in love and want to get married, then ask them! They will give you the same answers people of the opposite sex would give. If you don’t understand why people are so angry about not being able to marry, then ask them and they will explain it to you. And you will hear the same explanation you’d get from people who were banned from marrying from one another because they were different races or different religions.

One of the signs I liked the most (besides the one my friends had showing how they’d been together for 19 years - more than most marriages) was the socialist looking “Defend Equality Love Unites.” I think that was the best message because it’s true. All you need is love.

If you believe in marriage equality, I urge you to raise your voice and let others know. Try going to rallies and marches, it's a good bonding experience. Volunteer for phone banks. If going to protests and rallies isn't your thing, then write your congresspeople, write letters to the editor, blog about it, host open discussions where people can ask and discuss this without getting villified, talk to your neighbors and family about. As one speaker yesterday said, make this the most interesting Thanksgiving you've ever had.