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SAN
FRANCISCO—On May 26, a rally took place on steps of City Hall
protesting the 136-page decision by the California Supreme Court
decision to uphold the Nov. 2008 passage of Proposition 8, amending the
state constitution banning same sex marriage. Over 18,000 same-sex
marriages made prior to the passage of Prop. 8 will stand. The vote was
6-1.
About
3000 people attended. Rally speakers included Carolyn Laub, executive director of the Gay/ Straight
Alliance, and representatives of several Bay Area LGBT churches. Other
rallies and marches took place nationwide, the largest in Los Angeles, where 15,000 mobilized.
Over 3000 attended in San Diego; 1500 in Seattle; 5000 in New York;
1200 in Chicago; and 125 in Atlanta.
The
composition of the San Francisco rally was largely youthful.
A march to Yerba Buena Gardens followed. The
most prominent signs were from the main organizers, Marriage Equality
California (MEC), whose slogans read: "Liberty, Justice, and Marriage
Equality" and "We all deserve the freedom to marry."
MEC
is organizing a march and rally in downtown Fresno on May 30. Molly McKay,
press director for MEC, told Socialist Action that the Fresno rally is the kickoff for a
statewide tour to discuss with activists, organizers, and politicians
about how to "create an intersection of the grassroots to drive
the campaign."
A
major challenge for the grassroots will be to place the movement on a
course of independent political action, keeping it from being channeled
into Democratic Party politics. The main GLBT leadership has generally
put emphasis on seeking agreements with the Democrats in the struggle
for marriage equality, gaining small legal victories in scattered court
decisions but making few major steps towards complete equality.
The
leadership of the Democratic Party is largely against equal rights for
the gay and lesbian community. Democrat Bill Clinton legalized
homophobia with his "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" military policy,
and Barack Obama
made his bid for the White House with an openly anti-gay-marriage
platform. The Obama administration reportedly
has no specific time line for repealing "Don't Ask, Don't
Tell," which keeps thousands of gay and lesbian military service
men and women in the closet.
Some
emphasis was given to the need to mobilize grassroots activists in
order to effectively mount a campaign to reverse the same sex marriage
ban. However, the organizers of the San Francisco rally did not take the
opportunity to offer effective, concrete steps to the outraged LGBT
community and their allies.
Yes
on Equality is spearheading a campaign to collect 700,000 signatures by
Aug. 17 to present to the California secretary of state in order
to qualify an initiative repealing Prop. 8 for the 2010 ballot.
Campaign parameters have already been established by Yes on Equality:
volunteering to circulate the petition, help with media, making a
donation and receiving e-mail updates.
These
efforts are important to winning a reversal to Proposition 8, but like
past movements—Black civil rights, womens'
liberation, Vietnam antiwar,
and gay pride marches of the 1970s—the most powerful motor force for
struggle and the best chance for victory was out in the streets all
across the country on May 26.
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