GAY PROTEST MARCH & RALLY SAT., 11-15 @ 1 PM
PHOTO (looking west) shows the massive Nov. 8th protest march against Prop-8 on University Avenue from the Georgia Street bridge, just east of Park and University boulevards. 10,000+ participated.
San Diego -- Gays will hold another protest march tomorrow, Saturday (11/15), starting at 1 p.m. at 6th/Upas Streets at Balboa Park, It will be followed by a 1 pm rally at the County Administration Building on Harbor Drive (north of Broadway) organized by Nicholas Moede, owner of the popular Numbers and Rich's in Hillcrest.
Moede is part of a rapidly emerging, grass-roots effort to organize local participation in the nationwide protest against the passage of Proposition-8 called Join-the-Impact.
That grass-roots campaign is an attempt to "do new and different things to get more people involved who have never been part of the process before," says Moede in an interview with San Diego News Service.
Many in the Gay & Lesbian Community are very disappointed with the timid TV ad campaign developed by the gay professionals who ran the No-on-8 campaign.
The pros decided against using images of happy, successful gay-married couples for fear the straights might be offended. Actually, straights were among the biggest opposition to Prop-8. That timid action by the gay pros is reminescent of the decisions of closeted gay pros in the late 60's, when they even overwhelmingly opposed Gay Lib actions by the Committee for Homosexual Freedom in San Francisco before the Stonewall riots.
Local community professionals initially organized the 10:30 a.m. protest march to go to City Hall downtown tomorrow (Sat., 11/15). The grass-roots organizers were independently planning the 1 p.m. rally at the County Administration Building on the Embarcadero. It was decided late Thursday to combine the two big events.
The protest march will now go down Sixth Avenue to Broadway, then down Broadway to Harbor Drive, then north to the County Administration Building for the 1 p.m. rally, according to Moede. 20,000 participants are expected, double the number on Nov. 8th.
"We are currently negotiating with a pretty big speaker with national recognition for the rally," Moede said in our interview. Once confirmed, the identity of that speaker will be released to San Diego News Service.
San Diego Police will assign a special contingent of officers, mostly on motorcycles, "to protect the marchers," said a police official.
The passage of Prop-8, if it survives challenges now pending before the state's high-court, will abolish gay marriages in California. The state Supreme Court legalized those marriages in May after finding the state's marriage laws limiting marriage only to straights violated the equal-protection clause of the state Constitution.
Prop-8 changes the state Constitution to require that marriage be only between a man and a woman.
There is some question as to when Prop-8 becomes effective. County counsel reported advised the county clerk to stop issuing marriage licenses to Gays the day after the election. But, as a matter of law, the election results are not final until after they are certified by the secretary of state in Sacramento.
Three formal Petitions are now before the state's Supreme Court to overturn Prop-8 on grounds that it "revises" the state Constitution, which requires a 2/3rd vote of the state Legislature. The supporters of Prop-8, largely Mormons, argue that the initiative that passed Nov. 4th only "amends" the state Constitution, and that only requires a majority vote of the voters.
The passage of Prop-8 has energized the Gay & Lesbian Community like nothing else in recent history.
That excitement has even gone nationwide! On the east coast it has been suggested that a nationwide boycott of California be launched. That boycott was first mentioned by the highly-respected publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, Mark Segal.
"I think the national boycott idea is fantastic," said Martin Brickson, a straight retired engineer from Scripps Ranch. "It's tough!," Brickson added, and that is what is needed now, many believe.
______________________
Copyright 2008 by San Diego News Service, (619) 757-4909 leopowerhere@msn.com
Moede is part of a rapidly emerging, grass-roots effort to organize local participation in the nationwide protest against the passage of Proposition-8 called Join-the-Impact.
That grass-roots campaign is an attempt to "do new and different things to get more people involved who have never been part of the process before," says Moede in an interview with San Diego News Service.
Many in the Gay & Lesbian Community are very disappointed with the timid TV ad campaign developed by the gay professionals who ran the No-on-8 campaign.
The pros decided against using images of happy, successful gay-married couples for fear the straights might be offended. Actually, straights were among the biggest opposition to Prop-8. That timid action by the gay pros is reminescent of the decisions of closeted gay pros in the late 60's, when they even overwhelmingly opposed Gay Lib actions by the Committee for Homosexual Freedom in San Francisco before the Stonewall riots.
Local community professionals initially organized the 10:30 a.m. protest march to go to City Hall downtown tomorrow (Sat., 11/15). The grass-roots organizers were independently planning the 1 p.m. rally at the County Administration Building on the Embarcadero. It was decided late Thursday to combine the two big events.
The protest march will now go down Sixth Avenue to Broadway, then down Broadway to Harbor Drive, then north to the County Administration Building for the 1 p.m. rally, according to Moede. 20,000 participants are expected, double the number on Nov. 8th.
"We are currently negotiating with a pretty big speaker with national recognition for the rally," Moede said in our interview. Once confirmed, the identity of that speaker will be released to San Diego News Service.
San Diego Police will assign a special contingent of officers, mostly on motorcycles, "to protect the marchers," said a police official.
The passage of Prop-8, if it survives challenges now pending before the state's high-court, will abolish gay marriages in California. The state Supreme Court legalized those marriages in May after finding the state's marriage laws limiting marriage only to straights violated the equal-protection clause of the state Constitution.
Prop-8 changes the state Constitution to require that marriage be only between a man and a woman.
There is some question as to when Prop-8 becomes effective. County counsel reported advised the county clerk to stop issuing marriage licenses to Gays the day after the election. But, as a matter of law, the election results are not final until after they are certified by the secretary of state in Sacramento.
Three formal Petitions are now before the state's Supreme Court to overturn Prop-8 on grounds that it "revises" the state Constitution, which requires a 2/3rd vote of the state Legislature. The supporters of Prop-8, largely Mormons, argue that the initiative that passed Nov. 4th only "amends" the state Constitution, and that only requires a majority vote of the voters.
The passage of Prop-8 has energized the Gay & Lesbian Community like nothing else in recent history.
That excitement has even gone nationwide! On the east coast it has been suggested that a nationwide boycott of California be launched. That boycott was first mentioned by the highly-respected publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, Mark Segal.
"I think the national boycott idea is fantastic," said Martin Brickson, a straight retired engineer from Scripps Ranch. "It's tough!," Brickson added, and that is what is needed now, many believe.
______________________
Copyright 2008 by San Diego News Service, (619) 757-4909 leopowerhere@msn.com
posted by San Diego News Service @ 8:57 AM
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