Thousands of demonstrators marched down Market Street in San Francisco on Friday night to protest the passage earlier this week of Proposition 8, which effectively bans same-sex marriage in California.The march began around 5:30 p.m., as the group worked its way west toward its final destination of Dolores Park. A large group remained around Ninth and Market streets, holding signs, chanting and jamming traffic. About a dozen Muni buses were stuck in the traffic mess.
The social conservative minority communities, who support Dems but not gay marriage, offer much of the explanation.
"Our rights have been taken away," said Debra Walker, a lesbian who has lived in San Francisco since 1981. She is a member of the city's building inspection commission and is the past president of the Harvey Milk Club.
"I came here because of the welcoming way of San Francisco. It is so troubling that in 2008, this would pass. The fear campaign was unconscionable."
Walker stood holding a banner across Market Street and said she was prepared to be arrested.
"A little traffic stoppage is mild compared to having rights taken away from you," she said.
There were no reports of arrests in connection with the demonstration.
The crowd shouted chants such as "Our rights" and "We will not be quiet."
It's ironic that liberal minorities, who have seen fights over equal rights in the their histories, aren't buying the gay marriage is a human right argument.
One of the organizers of the demonstration, Ryan Kerian, 28, a gay lawyer and San Francisco resident, said the rally was designed to "show that we won't be silent.
"We've had rights stripped away from us," he said. "We aren't going to give up and go away."
The crowd was ethnically mixed, but two African American men infuriated many demonstrators by loudly arguing in favor of Prop. 8. They were berated repeatedly by opponents of the proposition, but spent more than 90 minutes arguing about the Bible.
"It is not discrimination," said Chauncey Killens, who said he represented a small congregation in Prunedale (Monterey County). He carried a sign reading, "Yes on Prop 8. Protect marriage."
The presence of the two men from Prunedale was deeply offensive to many of the demonstration participants, said Jeffrey Lebin, 52, of San Jose. "To have the lack of support from the black community is very painful to us. Fifty years from now, I think the black community will be ashamed that they didn't support us."
Uriah Findley, 27, who is straight and was born and raised in conservative Orange County, said he believes that Prop. 8 will be a fleeting event in California history.
"This is their last hurrah," he said. "Proposition 8 is the last gasp of a dying way of thinking."
He said religion has no place in laws.
"As far as I'm concerned, this isn't something that ever should have been voted on," he said.
2 comments:
Lets put religion aside and look at this scientifically. Genders evolved because it both accelerates evolution and makes evolution more efficient. Sexual attraction then evolved as a result to motivate us to make babies with the opposite gender in a sole effort to perpetuate our race. Homosexuality, like impotence or infertility, prevents a person (is an obstacle) from using sexual attraction to perpetuate the human race and is therefore a sexual dysfunction. Our laws shouldn't be based on religious beliefs but rather what helps progress and perpetuate our race and society. Unfortunately homosexuality hinders that. I'll explain further cuz I truely am trying to look at this objectively from an unbiased standpoint. If we all were gay and entered into monogamous gay relationships our race would cease to exist in ONE generation, the same as if we were all infertile. No argument can refute this. I know people can live satisfactory lives with this dysfunction, and its their right to choose to live with it, but it doesn't mean its any less debilitating to the true purpose of sexual attraction. Legislation protecting gay marriage and accepting it as a "norm" or "standard" would hinder us as a society from finding a future cure. Many might be happy being gay but not all people are. The ones that aren't happy being gay and recognize that its an misdirected sexual orientation aren't the ones crowding the streets yelling at everyone. You may not associate with these people that want their sexual attraction appropriately focused towards the opposite gender, but don't be so selfish as to hurt their chances for obtaining a cure. After all, no matter how prop 8 goes, gays will still have the rights to live however they want, be happy however they please! Cuz in all reality prop 8 doesn't target gays; it targets marriage which affects ALL of us!!!
Why isn't the mainstream media making more of the racist remarks on the part of the gays toward the black men who oppose gay "marriage"?
I'm not holding my breath. Ironically, the large black turnout for Obama helped pass prop 8.
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