Well, it wasn't a huge crowd, 5000 people at most? The vibe was suprisingly positive: not angry, more resigned, but resilient. There were all sorts of people there, although overall the group skewed a little older. It was very well organized, as these events have been here. The crowd was polite, though noisy, and the cops were respectful and effective. We marched to the hall of justice for a short rally. We marched with the Episcopal Cathedral and wore purple Cathedral t-shirts. You can see in the picture that the Cathedral marches with a big banner that says, "love to each of you". BP is the one holding the rainbow flag behind the banner. You can't see her, but you can see the flag. (Click to enlarge).
During the march, we saw someone we know, a young man named C. who we met at party a couple of months ago. BP caught up with him to say hello. "Oh, wow, " he said. "this is so cool, is this your church? "
BP looked at me. "Why, yes," she said. "It is now."
The Cathedral is holding an interfaith service of "consolation and determination" on Monday night. Our friend C. might go.
We got a great letter from the Dean today that read in part,
This ruling creates two classes of citizens. As such, it goes against the core American values of equality and justice for all, and it violates our Christian commitment to respect the dignity of every human being. The clergy and Chapter of Saint Paul's Cathedral continue to call for one relational standard to apply to all people, a standard rooted in the core Christian values of fidelity, mutual regard, and life-long commitment.
7 comments:
Good! Fight on! Don't let go! You are almost there!
Thanks for this report.
And doesn't it feel good to hang out with Episcoplians?
[LOLOL. The word verification thingy is "flaming."!]
I attended a smaller protest (about 20 at max but people came and went) in Palo Alto at 11am (the UUs were out). Many of the potential protesters may have gone to either San Francisco or San Jose. Lots of support from passing motorists. There was another this evening at 6pm which I couldn't make.
Lansing MI had one scheduled for 7PM tonight (I was there earlier in the day, but couldn't stay).
"Oh, wow, " he said. "this is so cool, is this your church? "
BP looked at me. "Why, yes," she said. "It is now.Our clever Pisky plan has worked: Mwahahaha!
Seriously, IT: you and BP hang in there, 'kay? Those of us still on the outside, will be leaning on the strength of you 18,000. You're our HOPE of things to come . . . and come they WILL! :-D
Thank you for your posts of yesterday IT. You are the one who instilled me with hope after a very discouraging day. Your strength and endurance re-oriented me.
So, like what JCF said --hang in there. Justice and equality will overcome the law.
We shall overcome!
Welcome home, IT and BP!
Some of the march organizers told me the count was 5K to 7.5K. We ran into them at the hotel bar after the march (we heard about 30 minutes of speechifying before we gave up and went for cocktails).
Interesting, I saw some of the out gay SDPD cops working the march! Good for them.
SD has a reputation as being _extremely_ conservative (and yes, parts of it is), but it is also California's second largest city and 8th largest in the USA (pop. 1.3 million). We have an out lesbian District Attorney, multiple out gay judges, two out gay city council members (one R and one D), an out lesbian State Senator, and our Mayor made national headlines when he held a press conference to support his lesbian daughter (and he spoke at the rally after this march). Not too bad a place!
HI, Andrew
I would say "almost home"....!
make sure to click on the label under the post to see my other posts on the cathedral.
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