Pink flag

Tonight we attended a rally in protest of Proposition 8, which narrowly passed on Tuesday. The proposition strips the right of marriage from same-sex couples and the event took place just a half-block from our temporary home in Silver Lake.


The obvious reaction to the proposition is, why would anyone not want people in love to be able to get married? Even if you're a super straight homophobe, why would you prevent male or female couples from getting married? What does it have to do with you?


But human nature isn't like that. A lot of people are insecure, and unable to handle any way of life that isn't like theirs. They can be just plain ignorant or hateful, too. That is what most of the pro-8 advertising played up: suggesting that legalized gay marriage somehow promotes gayness in children. But if gay marriage is outlawed, will the couples suddenly turn straight?


A lot of the signage placed blame on the Mormon church's involvement in the pro-8 campaign. I can see where the anger comes from, but preferred the signs that were clever to finger-pointing. (And while we're on the subject of blame: Hey, San Francisco hipsters: what's up with a 50 percent voting rate when most cities turned out in record-breaking numbers?)


The gathering of more than 12,000 started off as a rally at Sunset Junction--one with speeches that were impossible to hear--but became a march when the crowd started moving west on Santa Monica. Although it wasn't a permitted parade, the cops treated it as such and blocked off traffic accordingly. Surprising and impressive.


The crowd moved north on Vermont and stopped at Sunset where the more boisterous protesters wanted to turn west toward Hollywood. The police helicopters told the marchers to go east, back to where the march began. I'm not sure what happened after this because Eloise was starting to fade, so we headed back with what seemed to be the majority of protesters. Even though Eloise was wearing noise-reducing headphones to mellow out the bullhorns, whistles, and chants, she was up way past her bedtime.


But we were glad to support the cause and proud to march alongside some of our friends who are targeted by the proposition for as long as we could.


Since the proposition already passed, I'm not sure what these protests will actually accomplish. Will the government design to veto it? No. It'll probably take a lawsuit to prove it unconstitutional.


Yet it is healthy to voice discontent and even better when it unfolds peacefully. The march ended without major incidents, but the struggle is not over by a long shot.