Going to the rallies

BP and I will be going to DC for the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rallies weekend after next. Anyone else going? Drop a note in the comments, or email or facebook me .

Meet in the middle for equality: update

On Saturday May 30,take a road trip to Fresno for Meet in the Middle: take the discussion to the heartland where the battle must be fought. Check the website for facebook and twitter connections, carpools, etc.

Faith leaders are invited to march from Selma to Fresno in honor of the great rights movements of the past. . To march, please meet at the Q Street lot, behind Fresno City Hall, at 6:30am for individual, organizational and media check-in for transportation services to the Selma to Fresno March starting point - please, RSVP for the march in advance.

California Faith for Equality (CAFFE) is sponsoring a "Faith Tent" at the Rally. They are making a broad invitation for faith communities to bring literature for the tent. Church brochures, event flyers, general info and action Items - everything welcome. Help show the media that religious people support marriage equality. To find the Tent look for the blue and orange logo for CAFFE.



Update: the long hard slog to repealing 8 begins on a march from Selma to Fresno.
Photo LA Times

Notes from the march

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.

What are you doing on Tuesday?

We went to Mass this morning and found out that the Cathedral in San Diego will be joining the Day of Decision demonstration on Tuesday. So we will march with our new friends.

The picture below is from the post I did about the march in November. The presence of the Cathedral as an affirming community at that event was one of the reasons BP decided to start attending church there. It seems only fitting for us to be part of it this time.

Demonstrations of support

There have been protests up and down the state of California since the passage of Prop8. This weekend, over 10,000 people crowded into the Silverlake district of LA. Over 10,000 in San Diego's Hillcrest district. Smaller satellite protests have occurred at the Mormon Temples and Catholic Cathedrals. The protests have for the most part been very peaceful and positive, with only a couple of altercations reported. Given the number of people involved, I think that is quite impressive.

We attended a small protest on Sunday at our local Mormon temple, with about 150 people. (Most of our group did not know that the Mormons don't have Sunday services at the temple.) There were gay couples and straight allies, and lots of middle-aged or older people. We did not block the gates, and shouted and sang protest chants for about an hour with colorful signs. The vibe was very positive and the signs generally were too (the worst was probably "A nice bigot is still a bigot"). THe police were there in force but mainly stood aside watching us.

At the end of the protest while we were breaking up, a man left the temple and walked up through the group and paused at the far side. He was dressed very nicely with a dressy vest and tie, as though for a wedding, although his tie was untied and his collar undone. One of the reporters interviewed him, and a silent crowd of protesters gathered around with their signs. "This is just about families," he said, in an interview later shown on the local TV news. "We just want what's best for our families."

"What about my family?" asked a young man's voice from the crowd, not angry, but surprisingly gently. "This is my husband. What about us?"

The Mormon man looked a bit befuddled and didn't have an answer for that.

My hope is that after this week, the protests will have done their job: showing that there are a lot of us, and we are hurt and angry. Then it's time to get to work.

Meanwhile, there is a new effort to have demonstrations around the country as well as California next Saturday so that we can come together one more time to demonstrate our strength. This is important because the pro-Prop8 forces have already announced that they intend to build their coalition to prevent marriages in New Jersey and New York. We must stop them. Go to

          Jointheimpact.com

and look up your state. Come out and join us! (You can recognize me by my sign, at left). Be patient with their site, as they are migrating to a faster server today.