Thousands Meet in Fresno for Marriage Equality Rally
(image l.a. times - gallery here)
Thousands of gays and lesbians met in Fresno, California on Saturday for "Meet in the Middle 4 Equality", a march and rally for LGBT equality in reaction to the Supreme Court's decision on Proposition 8.
The L.A. Times reports: "Aiming to reach out to conservative voters, about 3,000 gay-rights
supporters gathered Saturday in California's Central Valley in a
renewed campaign to win support for same-sex marriage. They staged the march in California's heartland to prominently
demonstrate in a socially conservative region. Also, they wanted to pay
"symbolic respect" to 1960s civil rights marches in places like Selma,
Ala."
Marchers walked 15 miles from Selma, California to Fresno and were joined by Reverend Eric Lee, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Christine Chavez, granddaughter of United Farm Workers' Union Cesar Chavez, actors Eric McCormack, Michelle Clunie, T.R. Knight, Charlize Theron, activist Cleve Jones, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, and others.
Said organizer Robin McGehee before the march: "You have got to reach into those communities that struggle to understand us."
The SF Chronicle reports: "Same-sex-marriage supporters weren't harassed or bothered Saturday
along their route, and there weren't counter-demonstrations of any
size. The stray drag queens who milled about the crowd Saturday were
anomalies; most of the crowd was dressed for the weather, sporting
nothing louder than the homemade T-shirt worn by 24-year-old Kate
Perry: 'Central Valley Grown Queer.'"
Said McCormack at the rally: "We are the gays they accepted. The straightest most conservative people in the world would come up to me in Texas or wherever and say 'I never miss 'Will and Grace.' I hope that my presence here, and the fact that I played that character for so many years, would make them realize there is a middle ground that is called humanity."
Gay marriage opponents rallied there as well, the following day: "Hundreds of people waived signs and rallied at Fresno City Hall on Sunday to show support for the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in California, a day after thousands marched in the area against the ban. People attending the rally wore T-shirts and held signs that read 'Still standing in the middle for marriage,' as area religious leaders and politicians spoke in support of Proposition 8, the voter-approved measure that restricts nuptials to a union between a man and a woman."
Speakers, like former Fresno Alan Autry, were met with cries of "shame" by counter-protesters, reports the AP, who were yelled at to go home and read the Bible.
Several videos - a fantastic montage by Sean Chapin, as well as videos of speakers Robin McGehee, Dan Choi, Eric McCormack and Cleve Jones, AFTER THE JUMP...
(MORE videos in our video widget in the right hand column of the site)
Robin McGehee and Dan Choi:
Eric McCormack interview and Cleve Jones speech:
Good showing CA! The fight continues here in IL as well. Civil Unions stalled in the House last night. Looks like we'll have to wait even longer.
Posted by: Mike | Jun 1, 2009 8:15:40 AM
I applaud their activism, but I wish the organizers had not appropriated the 1960's Civil Rights symbolism. I really don't see why they need to align the struggle for GLTB rights with the struggle for racial equality.
People get that its an issue of civil rights or they don't. But starting off the march in Selma is not going to lead to our opponents slapping their foreheads and finally understanding they've been bigots all along. So why do it at all?
Racial inequality and anti-gay inequality are both potent, emotive issues, but they're not the same, and I would counsel caution before making freewheeling comparisons that might alienate otherwise sympathetic supporters.
Posted by: FASTLAD | Jun 1, 2009 8:24:52 AM
"freewheeling comparisons that might alienate otherwise sympathetic supporters."
NONSENSE. If you need attention, try picking a fight about something real.
Making a comparison is not the same as saying "the equivalent of in every way."
"Otherwise sympathetic supporters" are not going to be alienated by the comparison which is far from "freewheeling." "Professional victims" whose claws come out at any threat to their crown as "most shat upon" might but that is NOT the average person of color.
One of MLK, Jr.'s, daughters has a broken soul and is a professional homophobe but his widow, her mother, went to her grave DEFENDING such comparisons. As does Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP, whose California chapter condemned Prop H8TE.
Note the presence in Fresno of Reverend Eric Lee, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference....the organization MLK cofounded...and Christine Chavez, granddaughter of United Farm Workers' Union Cesar Chavez.
Denial of basic civil liberties based solely upon one's "group status" is denial of basic civil liberties regardless of differences in race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity or affectional orientation, etc.
"Would you ask me how I'd dare to compare the civil rights struggle with the struggle for lesbian and gay rights? I can compare, and I do compare them. I know what it means to be called a nigger. I know what it means to be called a faggot. And I can sum up the difference in one word: none."
"Bigotry is bigotry. Discrimination is discrimination. It hurts just as much. It dishonors our way of life just as much, and it betrays a common lack of understanding, fairness and compassion...."
- Mel Boozer, President, Gay Activists Alliance of Washington, DC, to the Democratic National Convention, 1980.
Posted by: Michael Bedwell | Jun 1, 2009 9:30:31 AM
--==* Sugarbabymeet.C'om *==-- It's where Sugarbaby (women who are mature, rich and experienced) and men who like them can meet.
Posted by: sugarbaby | Jun 1, 2009 9:49:00 AM
@Fastad: I believe that the struggle for civil rights for everyone IS all "the same." Every great civil rights leader, from Nelson Mandela to Desmund Tutu to Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King and his wife, has been on board for the rights of everyone in society. It is only those with an egocentric mentality who fight for rights for themselves while not supporting rights for others.
Eric McCormack, as an example of a true supporter, is speaking in Fresno because he knows rights are being denied to someone in society. I'm sure if it were Jews or blacks or redheads or lefhanders who were being denied equal treatment by the government, he would be there for them,too.
It doesn't matter if we're talking about the right of a black person to sit next to a white person on a bus or the right of a left-handed person to write a math test with her left hand or the right of a woman to have her wife inherit her property just as a man's wife does.
Having said this, I do understand that some nitwits just don't get it and think that discrimination against themselves (whichever group they're in) is the only kind that "counts."
Posted by: GregV | Jun 1, 2009 10:31:50 AM
@ michael bedwell
to reiterate, my point, if you appropriate the symbolism of the civil rights struggle, however well intentioned (and yes i can see clear parallels myself) you still, yes, run the risk of alienating a percentage of your supporters, who may not see the link with the same glaring, unarguable certainty that you do.
that's all i'm saying. and that's saying enough.
Form yesterdays L.A. Times:
“Some African American gay activists were troubled by Saturday's march from Selma to Fresno. They suggested that organizers appeared to be trying to borrow symbolism of the civil rights movement -- the 1965 marches from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery were indelible events -- while ignoring the fact that gay activists do not suffer the same kind of oppression that blacks did in 1960s Alabama.
"One needs to be careful about appearing to appropriate the symbols of the civil rights movement without fully acknowledging the significant differences as well as the similarities between the movements," said Ron Buckmire, a gay activist who is black.”
Btw I have nothing to say about your claim I am “attention seeking.” I don’t characterize total strangers the better to handily dismiss them and I hope you’ll refrain in future.
Posted by: FASTLAD | Jun 1, 2009 11:03:54 AM
These deluded activists are going to learn the hard way that there is no "middle" when you're dealing with hard-bitten Bible bigots and macho blowhards. Somehow, we've convinced ourselves that taking our case to reactionary voters is easier than taking our case to Supreme Court justices. I think this attitude qualifies as temporary insanity.
Posted by: Stuffed Animal | Jun 1, 2009 11:22:27 AM
@fastland: way to focus on a relatively trivial aspect of the rally. i was there, and the march from selma, california to the rally location at city hall in fresno served only as an introduction to a very powerful 4 hours of speeches and solidarity amongst california's myriad gay rights organizations and advocates. stop nitpicking and for things to disagree with and find out how you can help instead.
Posted by: phazeaction | Jun 1, 2009 11:26:13 AM
That was a brilliant and inspired march- and I applaud the courage of the marchers. Gays are still being beaten and killed, so don't talk to me about oppression. What has always amazed me about America, is once someone gets theirs, they slam the door on those coming up right behind them.
Posted by: dc8stretch | Jun 1, 2009 1:06:59 PM
My God, get over the "appropriation of civil rights imagery" bullshit already. Conservatism does not advance our movement. It's not about the symbolism, folks, it's about the strategy. The African-American civil rights movement showed us (here in the US) and it showed people around the world how you fight back against overwhelming oppression, bigotry, and discrimination and WIN. When we make reference today to those movements and their symbols, it is giving reverence to an ancestor. And I hope future generations will full "appropriate" the symbols of today's movement in their struggles in the future.
Posted by: Lonnie | Jun 1, 2009 1:40:17 PM
I would say that "one needs to be careful" about ranking oppression. The fights for racial civil rights and LGBT rights have very different histories, and I don't think any logical person would deny that, but oppression is oppression, discrimination is discrimination, and civil rights are civil rights. Appropriating symbolism does not mean equalizing the histories of the two struggles; it simply symbolizes that we're all in the fight for equality and justice together.
Posted by: gc | Jun 1, 2009 1:42:49 PM
@Stuffed Animal: You assume everyone in the Central Valley is a bigot. Yes, Prop. 8 did well there, but there were still many many votes against. Prop. 8 won by 52%. If we can change minds even marginally in every district, the next election will be a win.
(And as for SCOTUS, don't hold your breath; only two justices were appointed by Democrats, and Scalia is quite the homophobe)
Posted by: Kugel | Jun 1, 2009 1:46:39 PM
I would like to address the issue regarding the "appropriation of civil rights imagery" as it relates to the march. I am one of the organizers of MITM from its inception. Initially the idea of a march was not part of our vision, it was suggested to us by a UCC minister and although we gave it some thought we eventually decided to not have a march precisely because we did not want to appear to be co-opting that language/symbolism. Later, as we reached out to LGBT and progressive groups of color the subject of the march came up again and we explained what we had thought of doing and why we had decided not to proceed. It was because of the leaders of groups like Bayard-Rustin Coalition, Liberty Hill Foundation, UFW, and CA-NAACP that the march was "re-born".
If you had been at the march, or had/have read any of the literature we have produced about the march you would see that it was intended as a tribute to the social movements that have preceded us, for racial equality, for labor, for women's rights, etc...and with a spirit of solidarity with those groups who still struggle to achieve their piece of the American dream, again including racial minorities, labor, and women, etc.... The speakers at the beginning of the march were from the NAACP, the UU Church, the Catholic Church, a local African-American Women's Studies Ph.D., a young African American activist.
Yes, of course, many of the marchers were there because of LGBT issues. But the message of the march, in fact, the message of MITM is that we are our brother's keepers and that all of our struggles belong to each other. Sadly, at the last minute both Rev. Amos Brown -- who marched with Dr. King, and Dolores Huerta, who organized alongside with Cesar Chavez were unable to participate. But Rev. Eric Lee of the SCLC was there, and spoke very passionately and eloquently about our common struggle.
I appreciate the concern with appropriating the language and symbolism of the civil rights movement. And while I wish that it was a discussion we did not need to have anymore, and that all African Americans were as progressive and open on this subject as people like Rev. Brown, Rev. Lee, etc....they are not and we are wise to keep those concerns in mind as we attempt to build bridges into those communities. I can assure you that what we did with the MITM march was significant, not because of the march itself, but because our organizers took the time to reach out to these other organizations, to pay them and their history the respect it deserves and to listen to and accept their input and direction to make the event as respectful and constructive as possible.
Posted by: Phyllis Wilson | Jun 1, 2009 5:06:42 PM