A Prop 8 challenge for swankers

[innerSpaceman]

Well, I'm going to the rally ... I have a very cheeky sign that could easily be taken to be quite nasty, and also could be properly taken to be rather funny with a sardonic edge.

Sums up me quite nicely. I go over the edge far too often, and perhaps that's because I play near the edge a lot ... but likely it's because I'm a really imperfect person.



Oh, but if I took action to deny someone's civil rights ... I, as a gay man, would deserve every sneer of "Faggot" the group I acted against cared to hurl at me.

[Gemini Cricket]

Just to be a mischief maker last night, I felt like carrying a sign that said "Ban Itchy & Scratchy". I refrained from doing so.

[Ghoulish Delight]

For what it's worth, I was going to let the comment pass. I've been more angry over this than I've been over anything in a long time and I'm not even directly affected, so I can't fathom the magnitude of anger felt by someone at whom this act of bigotry has been directly leveled. So while I found it hateful, bigoted, misdirected and wrong, at least the original comment came from honest emotion.

It was the series of insincere fumbling apologies, once again, that offended me more. If you had owned your anger instead of made excuses for it, my reaction would have been different. But even having had time to cool down and think about it, the best you could come up with was, "I'm sorry I said it out loud, but I have no shame for continuing to hold these racist thoughts." It was ugly.

That's the last I'll say on the subject.

[Morrigoon]

KCAL is showing the protest. Looks like a good size crowd.

[Morrigoon]

[Gemini Cricket]

I'm watching the Live feeds of CNN and KCAL.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Oh, but if I took action to deny someone's civil rights ... I, as a gay man, would deserve every sneer of "Faggot" the group I acted against cared to hurl at me.

No one EVER deserves either of those words hurled in anger. They're insults about race or sexuality used in place of whatever you're actually angry about. You're angry because people acted in ignorance or bigotry. You're not angry that they're black. And when you use that word - even if you're spelling it wrong to avoid the full shame of the real word - it comes off as only racism, not justified anger. You are undermining this cause by using it.

[innerSpaceman]

No, I was not angry they are black. I just felt it approrpriate to hurl that word against them when they acted against my civil rights.

It was an impolitik choice. And I regret only that particular choice, but not the anger that prompted it. And it has zero to do with racism, though in this case the hypocritcal minority was a race. If the jews had voted 70% in favor of Prop 8, I would have called them ****s. If the gays had voted against black civil rights, I would call them fags.

None of this from racism or sexism (notice there's no word for the type of bigotry against homosexuality) ... but from anger at hypocricy and the feeling that a reminder of why it's hypocricy is appropriate. I could have done better expressing that reminder than to use the short-cut ephithet of nastiness. And I only regret I didn't think it through and express that less offensively.


I'm really very offended myself, though don't ask anyone to care, that my attempts to correct, apologize, explain my innermost thoughts and failings are met with dismissal and contempt by some.

And I'm very appreciative of those who've put my use of a nasty word in perspective.

And, yes, I'm appreciative of the feedback and criticism ... it's been primarily constructive.

[innerSpaceman]

ok, so on to the topic at hand and not the separate topic of steve.



The Rally at the Mormon Temple was TeH aWEsoMe!

For some reason, being in front of the Mormon Temple, at the heart of darkness, was far more fulfilling and meaningful than being in West Hollywood.

Likewise, though people driving through West Hollywood don't necessarily live there ... the constant and enthusiastic support from more "random" drivers in West L.A. was incredibly gratifying.

Though the protest was ostensibly in anger at the Mormon Church (and there were many anti-Mormon signs and chants) ... the mood was - imo - far more positive than at last night's rally. Then again, there was no "program" per se ... just protest, a jolly crowd of gays and supporters, lots of reporters, and happy motorists.


My much more professionally made sign, btw, read "One Man and One Woman OR One Man and Six? MORMONS Mind Your Own Marriage Business!"

After about half an hour, though, the crowd got a little rambunctious and again defeated their own good purpose by spilling out into Santa Monica Blvd. and totally blocking westbound traffic. Moments later, the cops - instead of breaking up the protest - just diverted all of westbound Santa Monica Blvd. traffic onto southbound Overland. Whoa. And no mayor of L.A. in attendance to encourage the police not to crack down. (The WeHo mayor was on hand at last night's event.)


This kinda wrecked it for me. There were no longer a stream of supporting motorists to express their overwhelming solidarity (if the same percentage of total Californians felt likewise, the measure would have failed in a landslide ... but the Mormons decided to build their Temple in very liberal West L.A.)


I tried to get people out of the middle of the street so the fun could continue and the cops not freak out, but there was no stopping it. And I got into a rather lively argument with a grizzled old gay who was apparently a veteran of Stonewall and who likely didn't recognize that I was old enough to have been there, too (ya know, if I knew I was gay at 9 years old and decided to sneak into Manhattan for a drink in the East Village).

He insisted the way to affect gay acceptance change is to stop the functioning of civil society, even if it meant pissing off the general populace. I vehemently disagreed with him, and pointed out that hundreds of drivers were expressing their support, and now we were getting them mad at us. But there was no brooking disagreement with this gay geezer, and he was happy as a clam that no one could drive west of Overland, mwha haha!

Someone suggested that it might be useful to stop traffic at rush hour so close to Century City, and I had to concede that would be something halfway significant.



But being so close to Century City, I'm glad I knew I couldn't very well skip this rally on an extended lunch hour. The protest was awesome. I loved a thousand gays and others shouting Shame On You while pointing their fingers at the Mormon Temple, and the vibe was just really positive and fun.


Wow, it's 4:45 p.m. right now, and from a telephone conversation I just heard, traffic may still be messed up from the protests that may still be going on!


I didn't run into anyone from the LoT ... but that gave me the space I needed to talk to strangers and have fun with random gays.


It was, quite clearly, the Best.Lunch.Hour.Ever!

[Morrigoon]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/livenow?id=6430355 <-- live feed of coverage of protest STILL going on