Prop 8 Protest Information Thread

[BarTopDancer]

I am. I told Greg I'd call you guys when I (or we) got in the area to figure out where people are.

[Morrigoon]

I think most of the info's already been posted, but here's the info I got re: the Saddleback protest from a facebook invite:

This peaceful protest will take place this Sunday (November 9th) at 10AM PST. Please spread the word!! Prop 8 is unfair and unconstitutional. A church's definition of marriage should not be allowed to be applied to the whole population. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church came out publicly in an email to his congregation telling them to Vote Yes on 8.

Please bring your friends - gay or straight. Christian or not. All who support marriage equality are encouraged to come show their support in front of one of the largest churches in America. Bring your signs if you have them!

Here is the website for directions:
http://saddleback8protest.blogspot.com/

edit: OMG I'm such a dork... you guys wrote this, not the other no on 8 folks I have friended *smacks forehead*

[Ghoulish Delight]

No, we didn't write it, just forwarded it on.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Have fun storming the castle!

[Gemini Cricket]

Friday Community Gatherings

11/07/08

Costa Mesa
9 p.m. | South Coast Plaza
Bristol Street & Town Center Drive

Long Beach
6:45 p.m. to 9 p.m. | Broadway and Redondo

Merced
6 p.m. | Veterans Park, M Street
Contact: Leslie or Eileen, PLFLAG Merced 209.725.1140

Mission Viejo
4 to 7 p.m. | 200 Civic Center

Palm Springs
5 p.m. | Palm Springs City Hall

Santa Barbara
5 p.m. to 6 p.m. | De La Guerra Plaza Street
700-756 De La Guerra Plaza

San Diego.
9 p.m. | Laurel and Sixth Avenue
March to City Hall (202 C)

San Francisco
5:30 p.m. | Civic Center
Market and 7th to Dolores Park

-------------------


Saturday Community Gatherings

11/08/08

Beverly Hills
6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. | LDS Temple
10777 Santa Monica Boulevard

Huntington Beach
2 p.m. Huntington Beach Pier

Laguna Beach
5:30 p.m. | City Hall
505 Forest Avenue
Marching to Main Beach

Los Angeles
6 p.m. | Sunset Junction
Silver Lake

Rancho Cucamonga
11 a.m. | Heritage Park
5546 Beryl Street
Please bring a chair with you! You may also bring a dish or desserts, drinks, cups, paper plates, etc. if you want.
RSVP: patrickmilliner@yahoo.com

Sacramento
7 p.m. | Capitol Building (west steps)
Bring Signs, Wear Protest Shirts. People from SF will be showing up at the West Steps to show support with us.

San Diego
12 Noon | Hillcrest
1st & University
Marching to 30th in North Park.

-----------------------------

11/09/08
Sunday Community Gatherings

Note: Details subject to change. Events not organized by Equality California.
Rancho Santa Margarita
5 p.m. to 8 p.m. | Lake Santa Margarita
Santa Margarita Pkwy
Please bring candles.
Contact: teenageanthem@gmail.com

Vilsalia
5 p.m. | College of the Sequoias
915 S. Mooney Boulevard
March down Mooney Boulevard to Caldwell Avenue and back.
Park in Lot 3 off Meadow Lane.
Leave signs at home and bring a candle instead.

[innerSpaceman]

Thanks for that info Brad.

What are us gayboys gonna do when you leave town???




Ok, so as of now. The weekend protest schedule for looks like this:

Tonight - Long Beach (if I don't get hopelessly lost);


Tomorrow very early - Mormon Temple (because it's my hand-down favorite protest spot and it's near where I live) - then a brief break to, believe it or not, finally finish the clean-up at the El Mio Halloween Party site ... then more protest at Sunset Junction early evening.

Sunday - GOTH DAY. Disneyland. And on the seventh day they rested.
I will instead protest August weather on Goth Day moved to November. Bah.


If anyone is going to be at any of those events (including Goth Day) and wants to hook up, Calls Me, bitches!!

[Chernabog]

Originally Posted by Lorri Jean, CEO of LA's Gay/Lesbian Center

Dear Joseph:

The last few days have been difficult ones. We've had to come to terms with the passage of Proposition 8 and all that it may mean for our community. We've also had to deal with our frustration, pain and anger. As we have often done throughout the history of our movement, we first came together at a rally on Wednesday night in West Hollywood. Afterwards, thousands of people were not ready to go home and several groups spontaneously began marching.

Yesterday we called a press conference at the Mormon Temple. In addition to over a dozen media outlets, more than 1,500 people showed up! After the press conference, we marched around the perimeter of the Temple grounds. Then, as had happened on Wednesday, people were not ready to go home after the "official" march concluded. So, they went off on marches of their own, reconvening at the Temple many hours later and staying long into the night.

The protests and rallies here are sparking actions all over the country. We are receiving calls and emails from LGBT people and our straight allies throughout the nation who are angry and want to show their support. Plus, hundreds of people are contacting us to find out what is happening next-people who want to express their feelings and take action.

Future Actions

Many events are being planned in L.A. and around Southern California. For example, some are planning a march tonight in Long Beach at 7:00 p.m. at the corner of Broadway and Redondo. Another group is planning a march tomorrow in Silverlake at 6:00 p.m., beginning at Sunset Junction. These are not Center-sponsored events, but certainly many of us will be there to show our support to make ourselves a visible part of this growing movement.

The Center is maintaining a list of actions that are being planned. To see that list, or to submit something, visit: www.lagaycenter.org/Prop8Actions.

So far, our marches have been peaceful. Only a few people have gotten carried away-and some have been the victims of Yes on 8 supporters who got carried away. We want to ensure that our actions remain peaceful. While marching, please keep in mind a couple things:

* The Mayor of Los Angeles is our friend. So are the heads of the police and sheriff's departments (and on those occasions when they don't act like that, we're the first to let them know). But over the last few days, almost to a person, police officers and sheriff's deputies have been extremely patient with protesters, and in many, many instances very supportive of our cause. They have blocked off streets and have tried to do their jobs to protect marchers and to protect the communities impacted. Please, please be respectful of them. If an individual police officer does not behave as s/he should, call our legal services department at 323-993-7670

* The media are not our enemy. I was disturbed to learn that there were verbal attacks yesterday against a reporter from KCBS/KCAL and Hal Eisner, a reporter from FOX TV. Hal has fairly and accurately covered LGBT issues for many years and is a trusted and highly regarded reporter. A few people, however, saw fit to verbally attack and confront him with vicious slurs. If you see someone confronting press, please do what you can to stop it.

Why the Mormon Church?

We rallied in front of the L.A. Mormon Temple yesterday because it is a symbol of the reprehensible role that the Church hierarchy played in directing members to fund the campaign of lies and deceit promoted by the Yes on 8 leaders. Please do not forget that there are many fair-minded Mormons who are with us - many have actually marched and rallied with us and they are appalled at the actions of their Church leadership and the Yes on 8 campaign.

Further, as I said at yesterday's gathering, the Mormons are not the only outside organization that has tried to strip us of our rights in California. While they funded the majority of the campaign, other groups also were involved, like Focus on the Family, the Knights of Columbus Headquarters, and more.

Next Steps

In addition to our rallies and protest marches, we've been taking other action. On Wednesday morning our legal groups (Lambda Legal, National Center for Lesbian Rights, the ACLU) filed suit in the California Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8 as an inappropriate revision of our state constitution. A similar action was filed by the L.A. City Attorney, San Francisco City Attorney, and others.

On Thursday, we launched www.InvalidateProp8.org. Let's show the President of the Mormon Church how many people are angry by their support of Prop. 8 and, in the process, raise money to support our community's efforts to invalidate the initiative and promote the freedom to marry in California. Please visit the site, make a donation, and encourage everyone you know to do the same.

We're also at the very early stages of planning a statewide action with colleagues from across California. We are bringing in some of the new leaders that are emerging in the aftermath of Prop 8 and inviting them to help us conceive and execute this plan. Stay tuned for more information.

The Big Picture

Finally, as badly as we all feel about the results on Tuesday, let's try to keep the big picture in mind. The LGBT community and our straight allies pulled together an amazing and powerful coalition of people to fight this initiative. We fought the most successful fight ever mustered against an anti-marriage ballot measure-we raised more money for television and radio ads, we built a larger field team, we got more mainstream support. As a result, instead of losing by 22 points as we did 8 years ago when prop 22 was passed, we lost by less than 5 points. That's enormous progress. No campaign against an anti-marriage ballot measure has ever won. We did everything we knew how to do, to be the first. But a slight majority still voted against us.

Sadly, some now want to play the blame game (usually people who did not choose to get actively involved in the No on 8 campaign but who now have a lot to say about it). They want to turn on our own community and each other rather than focusing our anger where it is deserved-the Yes on 8 campaign. What's important now is to learn what lessons we can from our efforts.

How can we ensure that other states under attack replicate the unprecedented successes we had? What lessons did we learn that could enable other states under attack to be more successful? Clearly, we all have work to do in our own communities to get our neighbors, friends and colleagues-and people who should be our allies--to support us and our full equality. That's what we must focus on now. This is a time for unity and focused action, not for division. As soon as the plan is formulated for the statewide action, we'll let you know. Until then, do not lose heart! Ultimately, the freedom to marry will be ours!

Fondly,

Lorri

I love this woman

[Isaac]

Wow! I haven't been part of a protest since high school, when a dress code (that would eliminate student's freedom to color their hair and wear ripped jeans) was proposed.

Large turn out in Long Beach:



















Some good signs:



















A few swankers:

[Gn2Dlnd]

Great to be out marching, the third day in a row. I've had a number of wonderful conversations with people out on the marches, some who were marching, some who were watching from the sidewalks. Tonight, after splitting off from the LoT lot, I had a great conversation with the girl I'd taken to calling "The Lesbian Bullhorn," and another 20 minute chat with an older woman who's a veteran of many civil disobedience arrests. One bizarre conversation I had was with a straight couple who asked, "Didn't proposition 8 pass?" I set them straight, so to speak, and then asked them if they were married. This is the same tack I took when walking through the straight crowd on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant. "Are you married? How 'bout you? You guys? That is sooo nice." I walked on the opposite side of the street a lot, on the sidewalk, specifically so I could strike up random conversations with folks. That's what's going to turn this thing around, not screaming in their faces. My Obama t-shirt and button have given me countless opportunities to respond to the joy people have to the election, with my experience of being denied this joy because of proposition 8.

My new line, when asked how I am, "I'm 92% great!"

Thanks, Bill, for making such a great sign for me to carry tonight. I think I had more pictures taken of me with that sign than I ever have for Halloween in Weho!

My legs are tired, and I'm attending an opera event tomorrow afternoon, so I'll miss the Silverlake march. Be safe and have fun (yes!), whoever ends up going. Don't forget bottled water and sunscreen.

Anyone want to go to an opera event with me? It's free.

[Tenigma]

Originally Posted by Gn2Dlnd

That's what's going to turn this thing around, not screaming in their faces.

I read the following with interest:

Four Lessons Gay Marriage Actvists Must Learn From Obama

from Huffington Post by Lee Stranahan

Barack Obama won a historic and overwhelming victory. It's too bad the proponents of gay marriage don't seem to have learned much about how and why he won.

I am in total agreement with those who want gay marriage to be legal. They are right. Being right isn't enough.

In fact, many progressives have found an odd sort of contentment in being grumbling angry losers for years because they were so damn right. Now that Obama has lit the path for being both right and effective, it's time tor the conservatives to be the grumbling losers and time for progressives to chalk up victories on issues important to them by applying the lessons of this election.

1) Anger Loses
The protests and expressions of anger on the part of the GLBT community and their friends and family have been impressive. Thousands of people have taken to the street and their anger is justified. I don't think it's smart, however. I see no evidence at all that it's going to help advance the cause of gay rights.

If anger won elections, John McCain and Sarah Palin would now be the king and queen of America. McCain was practically bursting blood vessels in the last few speeches of the election and he lost in a landslide. Anger turned off the independents at the same time it fired up the base.

Just because anger is justified doesn't mean it's wise. That's where discipline comes in. As Obama said repeatedly, "Don't boo - vote." In other words, channel your emotions into something more productive then the easy road of making loud noises.

WWOD? The McCain campaign threw a fresh pack of lies at Obama every chance they got. The number of death threats towards him increased as the angry McCain campaign cranked up the rhetoric. If anyone was justified in their anger, it would have been Barack Obama. He could have struck back in anger and fired up the Democratic base to take to the streets to protest racism and lies.

Obama could have gotten angry.. He didn't. He won. We all won.

2) Get Organized
The No On 8 people have shown they can get big numbers out to a rally. So why couldn't they run an effective ad campaign, send out a clear message or win the election?

The Yes on 8 crowd had the advantage of a built in organizing system in the churches. It's the same organizational structure that explains why Fireproof, a Christian themed, ultra low budget movie with Kirk Cameron as the lead has grossed more than Oliver Stone's 'W'. Churches are good at getting groups of people to do things en masse. That's not a bad thing; it sure helps when they do charity work.

And the ability to organize people isn't a left / right thing; black churches helped Obama. There's a similar secular power with unions or groups like the National Rifle Association. None of it was harnessed by the people in favor of gay marriage to any significant degree.

Without that structural advantage, the pro gay marriage crowd needed to work harder and not be self satisfied. The forces that defeated gay marriage in California did what Obama did; they organized a diverse group of voters and got them out to the polls.

3) Outreach Works
Barack Obama showed that reaching beyond the base can yield big results. I haven't seen much evidence that the people who support gay marriage did much more than reach out to the people who already support gay marriage. In fact, rallies that have protesters yelling 'Mormon scum!' are negative outreach.

What if the gay community reached out to the black, Latino and Mormon communities that voted against gay marriage? What if instead of merely chalking up opposition to 'fear and hate' they went in churches and communities and started engaging in conversations? Would they meet with resistance? Of course. Would they see fear and hate? Absolutely. Changing a lifetime of thoughts and feelings isn't easy but the election showed us change does happen.

But African Americans, Latinos and Mormons all know firsthand the pain and frustration of discrimination. They have all seen their share of fear and hate. They know the value of marriage and family. The way to expose the things they have in common with their gay brothers and sisters is through dialog, not demonstration.

It may seem like an unlikely alliance but it's just as unlikely as getting a white working class guy to vote for a President whose middle name is Hussein.

4) Pick Your Battles
The Obama campaign showed a lot of discipline in picking which battles to fight and which to avoid. Here's a good rule; pick battles you can win.

The current tactic of trying to fight church tax exceptions is a dead on arrival loser of a battle. It's not going to happen.

Tax free churches have a long precedent in our society. It's a fight that will result in a direct battle with every religious organization in America, not just the ones opposed to gay marriage. Further, selectively going after the Mormon or Catholic church is a slippery slope. Trying to take away the tax exempt status of churches you don't like only makes it easier to take away that status for churches with inclusive agendas, like the Unitarian Universalists. Even that doesn't matter, however, since it won't happen.

Some people don't like the idea of picking battles because they want their entire agenda enacted right now. Well, wisdom says that 'perfect' is the enemy of 'good'. Incremental steps require patience but they work.

I believe that the enactment of Proposition 8 is a delay of the inevitable as our county moves towards a more perfect union. If my comrades will take a moment and learn the lessons of this last election, I hope that delay will be short.

Lee Stranahan is a writer and filmmaker who also blogs about politics at BobCesca.com which may sound like a contradiction but it's not but it is.