Prop 8 'Eve of Justice' Vigils Held Across California: Round-Up
Vigils were held across California on Wednesday night in anticipation of the Supreme Court arguments on the constitutionality of the voter-passed Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state and revoked the marriage rights of millions of people. It's likely to be the most watched hearing in the state's history, and you can watch it too if the servers are not overwhelmed, right here.
We'll have news on the hearings as it comes in. Top photo from our reader Joe Rodriguez.
Here are some updates and news links about last night's vigils:
SF Chronicle: "Supporters of same-sex marriage marched from the Castro district to the
state Supreme Court on the eve of a hearing to decide the fate of
Proposition 8 - the controversial amendment to the state Constitution
that bans marriages of two men or two women."
San Francisco: Sean Chapin sent us some GREAT video coverage from the event, which you can watch, AFTER THE JUMP. In one video, longtime activist and friend of Milk Cleve Jones speaks to the crowd. In the second, Chapin reports, "An 11-year-old boy named Sam who has two mothers and wrote a letter to Assemblyman Michael Duvall who opposed gay marriage telling him to support the CA legislative resolutions to oppose Prop 8. He really wowed the crowd, and Mark Leno shook his hand right after his speech." In the third, "James Brosnaham, (I believe) a senior partner at a prominent law firm in San Francisco. His speech was incredibly eloquent and ended on such a poignant, emotional note that it electrified the crowd."
Los Angeles L.A. Times: "As rain fell and the song 'Fidelity' blasted through the sound system,
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presided Wednesday night over
the "recommitment ceremonies" of half a dozen gay couples who married
during the five-month period that such weddings were legal in
California...Many of the 200 or so people who attended Los Angeles' vigil said they
did not expect their demonstration to influence the justices who will
decide whether Proposition 8 is valid."
Mercury News, San Jose: "As similar scenes played
out across the state, San Jose gay-rights activists marched tonight in
quiet solidarity on the eve of legal arguments before the California
Supreme Court about the validity of Proposition 8, which banned
same-sex marriage. 'This is about equality. We should get the
same rights as everybody. We pay taxes just like straight people, we
have families and we're even in the armed forces,' said Arlene Jimenez,
of San Jose who married her longtime partner last October. Wednesday
night, Jimenez held a makeshift candle and joined about 150 others who
ringed the intersection at Winchester and Stevens Creek boulevards near
Santana Row. There, groups holding huge banners supporting gay
marriage, walked each corner, occasionally chanting, 'Gay straight,
black, white, marriage is our civil right.' As they did so, cars passing by honked in support."
KMPH Fresno: "On a drizzly day in downtown Fresno, dozens marched in the cold to put heat on the Supreme Court. 'We ought to be treated like equal citizens,' Proposition 8 opponent, Ellis Vance, said. Vance
and Robin Greiner have been together for almost 43 years, and just
before their 42nd anniversary last October, they legally became husband
and husband. 'We never thought we would get to the point where we would really be able do that in our lifetime,' Vance said."
The Mercury Newstoday also profiles the Pope family, a Santa Cruz couple who crusaded for passage of Proposition 8 while their daughter fought against it with her lesbian partner and daughter from their home in Salt Lake City, Utah.
I think it's interesting that a 4-3 vote by the CA Supreme Court overruling Prop 8 would actually be a higher winning margin than the 52% that passed it statewide...
Posted by: Greg | Mar 5, 2009 8:38:01 AM
This is wonderful; great job everyone! We will be watching from Kentucky.
It's a disgrace that in 2009 ,in America Equality should even have to be fought for,...? Shame..Shame on America!
Posted by: Disgusted American | Mar 5, 2009 9:32:47 AM
While everyone is waiting for the decision. All I can think of is something one of the Yes on 8 people said in an interview recently. About how the kindergarten class going to witness the lesbian wedding was a gift for them. They were down in the polls until this winning argument was laid in their laps.
Posted by: ggreen | Mar 5, 2009 9:35:47 AM
I have been very impressed with the bold, swift action by President Obama on this and other issues that are important to our community: I can feel the *change* already. I don't know what I love most about our new President: his impassioned plea for equality for us, or his denunciation of all the hate crime against us. I knew that the Prez was on our side when he so boldy stated that DADT must be repealed, and that there was no need to further kick the can down the road by engaging in yet another *study* to determine whether discrimination actually is wrong. Prez Obama knows that discrimination is wrong, and he don't need no study to show him that. Perhaps I really knew we had a friend in the White House when Michelle hired a gay interior designer to do the Obama redecorations. We are very lucky to have such a forceful advocate in the White House, and I can't wait to hear his next eloquent speach condemning the hate crimes against us or the discriminatory laws against us which seem to be in the news every few days or so. I'm glad he's taking such bold and swift action on our behalf because it shows he cares. He really, really cares.
Thank you, IMPEACH THE PREZ. Without your helpful commentary, I wouldn't have known that Obama is on the CA Supreme Court, the subject of this thread. Oh, wait, he's not (though he did oppose Prop 8), and somehow you never have anything to say beyond one-note Obama bashing. News flash: the election is over. The better candidate won. Impeachment is not an effective strategy for holding our president to his promises, despite what the other trolls under the bridge might be telling you.
Meanwhile, wishing for wisdom from the Supreme Court and sending best wishes to our CA brothers and sisters.
That's right, Rob. I was there in LA last night, too, and there were far more than 200. But that is par for the course. The media undercounted every rally that we had last November as well, sometimes by thousands.
Posted by: Jeffrey | Mar 5, 2009 11:01:26 AM
I'm glad to see someone speaking about the L.A. Times article. I wasn't able to go to the rally last night but I was on the subway heading downtown around 6:30. I saw over a dozen people with signs on my train and more when I got out at Union Station.
I also have a problem with the headline of the article by Jessica Garrison: "Gay Couples hold vigils..." At least four of the people I know who went to last night's vigil are straight. Also, I'm not super-political. And yet, in the circle of people who travel within and on the edges of my life I can count over twenty straight people who stridently fought against the passage of Prop 8. It's frustrating that the LAT would print a headline that marginalizes Prop 8.
Posted by: hank h | Mar 5, 2009 11:39:47 AM
I think all this is fantastic. However, I can't help but wonder where we'd be if all this energy was expended before the election.
Posted by: Michael | Mar 5, 2009 12:37:47 PM
I wish that someone would post the transcript and/or video of Obama's speech during which he came out so passionately against Prop 8; it brought tears to my eyes with its passion in our quest for equality, and I was surprised that it was not enough to carry us to victory. No one campaigned against Prop 8 more tirelessly than our dear Obama, and we really should assemble a collection of all the ads and speeches he made on our behalf in recognizing our struggle. Obama is so committed to our cause that he does not need a *study* to show him that discrimination is wrong. I am sure that within only a matter of weeks DOMA will be repealed, DADT will be reversed and ENDA will be enacted because our civil rights is a priority for the new administration. He likes us: he really, really likes us.
By the way: Will the Obama Administration be defending the constitutionality of DOMA in the new suit brought by gay married couples from MA or will it concedes its unconstitutionality as the suit correctly alleges? This suit should tells us a lot about where the Obama Administration really stands on gay rights.
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The videos were amazing.
Posted by: Ryan | Mar 5, 2009 8:20:35 AM
I think it's interesting that a 4-3 vote by the CA Supreme Court overruling Prop 8 would actually be a higher winning margin than the 52% that passed it statewide...
Posted by: Greg | Mar 5, 2009 8:38:01 AM
This is wonderful; great job everyone! We will be watching from Kentucky.
Posted by: Jordan Palmer | Mar 5, 2009 9:13:43 AM
It's a disgrace that in 2009 ,in America Equality should even have to be fought for,...? Shame..Shame on America!
Posted by: Disgusted American | Mar 5, 2009 9:32:47 AM
While everyone is waiting for the decision. All I can think of is something one of the Yes on 8 people said in an interview recently. About how the kindergarten class going to witness the lesbian wedding was a gift for them. They were down in the polls until this winning argument was laid in their laps.
Posted by: ggreen | Mar 5, 2009 9:35:47 AM
I have been very impressed with the bold, swift action by President Obama on this and other issues that are important to our community: I can feel the *change* already. I don't know what I love most about our new President: his impassioned plea for equality for us, or his denunciation of all the hate crime against us. I knew that the Prez was on our side when he so boldy stated that DADT must be repealed, and that there was no need to further kick the can down the road by engaging in yet another *study* to determine whether discrimination actually is wrong. Prez Obama knows that discrimination is wrong, and he don't need no study to show him that. Perhaps I really knew we had a friend in the White House when Michelle hired a gay interior designer to do the Obama redecorations. We are very lucky to have such a forceful advocate in the White House, and I can't wait to hear his next eloquent speach condemning the hate crimes against us or the discriminatory laws against us which seem to be in the news every few days or so. I'm glad he's taking such bold and swift action on our behalf because it shows he cares. He really, really cares.
Posted by: Impeach The Prez | Mar 5, 2009 9:41:13 AM
Oh looky our little ditto head is back. Fuck off.
Posted by: Tralfaz | Mar 5, 2009 9:52:15 AM
Thank you, IMPEACH THE PREZ. Without your helpful commentary, I wouldn't have known that Obama is on the CA Supreme Court, the subject of this thread. Oh, wait, he's not (though he did oppose Prop 8), and somehow you never have anything to say beyond one-note Obama bashing. News flash: the election is over. The better candidate won. Impeachment is not an effective strategy for holding our president to his promises, despite what the other trolls under the bridge might be telling you.
Meanwhile, wishing for wisdom from the Supreme Court and sending best wishes to our CA brothers and sisters.
Posted by: Ernie | Mar 5, 2009 10:15:07 AM
Having attended the LA rally, I can say the 200-person attendance figure is a joke. The real figure has to be closer to 1000.
Posted by: Rob Tisinai | Mar 5, 2009 10:45:22 AM
That's right, Rob. I was there in LA last night, too, and there were far more than 200. But that is par for the course. The media undercounted every rally that we had last November as well, sometimes by thousands.
Posted by: Jeffrey | Mar 5, 2009 11:01:26 AM
I'm glad to see someone speaking about the L.A. Times article. I wasn't able to go to the rally last night but I was on the subway heading downtown around 6:30. I saw over a dozen people with signs on my train and more when I got out at Union Station.
I also have a problem with the headline of the article by Jessica Garrison: "Gay Couples hold vigils..." At least four of the people I know who went to last night's vigil are straight. Also, I'm not super-political. And yet, in the circle of people who travel within and on the edges of my life I can count over twenty straight people who stridently fought against the passage of Prop 8. It's frustrating that the LAT would print a headline that marginalizes Prop 8.
Posted by: hank h | Mar 5, 2009 11:39:47 AM
I think all this is fantastic. However, I can't help but wonder where we'd be if all this energy was expended before the election.
Posted by: Michael | Mar 5, 2009 12:37:47 PM
I wish that someone would post the transcript and/or video of Obama's speech during which he came out so passionately against Prop 8; it brought tears to my eyes with its passion in our quest for equality, and I was surprised that it was not enough to carry us to victory. No one campaigned against Prop 8 more tirelessly than our dear Obama, and we really should assemble a collection of all the ads and speeches he made on our behalf in recognizing our struggle. Obama is so committed to our cause that he does not need a *study* to show him that discrimination is wrong. I am sure that within only a matter of weeks DOMA will be repealed, DADT will be reversed and ENDA will be enacted because our civil rights is a priority for the new administration. He likes us: he really, really likes us.
Posted by: Impeach The Prez | Mar 5, 2009 3:11:38 PM
By the way: Will the Obama Administration be defending the constitutionality of DOMA in the new suit brought by gay married couples from MA or will it concedes its unconstitutionality as the suit correctly alleges? This suit should tells us a lot about where the Obama Administration really stands on gay rights.
Posted by: Impeach The Prez | Mar 5, 2009 3:14:11 PM