Anti-Prop. 8 Protests Spring Up in California

[Hissyspit]

Source: Los Angeles Times

PROPOSITION 8

Anti-Prop. 8 protests spring up in California

Over 20,000 gather in Los Angeles, San Diego and elsewhere to oppose the gay-marriage ban. Proponents of the measure 'are mixing religion with politics,' one says. 'Everyone should have equal rights.'

By Ari B. Bloomekatz, Joanna Lin and Raja Abdulrahim
November 9, 2008
More than 20,000 protesters spilled into the streets of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and even Modesto on Saturday in mostly peaceful demonstrations over passage of Proposition 8, the statewide ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage. The unfolding street scenes underscored the racial and religious tensions that have surfaced since Tuesday's vote threw into question the legality of 18,000 marriages of gay and lesbian couples and foreclosed the option for any more.

Police estimated that 12,500 boisterous marchers converged about 6 p.m. at Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards in Silver Lake near the site of the former Black Cat bar, which the city recently designated a historic-cultural monument for its '60s role as home of the local gay rights movement. Police guided the demonstrators through the streets for more than three hours without major confrontations. No arrests were reported.

Other demonstrations, including one that attracted up to 10,000 people in San Diego, popped up across the state. At each rally, participants vented frustration and anger over the ballot item that amends the state Constitution to declare that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized" in California.

Steve Ramos, 46, of Los Angeles carried a banner through the streets of Silver Lake with the spray-painted words "Teach tolerance, not hate." Supporters of the ballot proposition, he said mixed "religion with politics" and missed the main point. "Everyone should have equal rights."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-protests9-2008nov09,0,7790800.story

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Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times
Thousands protest in hopes of overturning Proposition 8 at Sunset Junction in Silver Lake.

[Bluenorthwest]

1. Good to see we have some real Democrats

out there fighting this abomination, this crime against human equality.

[ksimons]

2. Anyone want to see who was FOR Prop 8 - database online

Oh lookie, you can search online and see folks who supported Yes on 8

http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/prop8/

even in West Hollywood - go figure - here's an actual example from the database
- all public record of course as required by law -

Contributor name Douglas Brown
Occupation Partner
Employer KWK MANAGEMENT LLC
City West Hollywood
State or country CA
ZIP 90069
Position Support
Amount $5,000.00
Payment type Monetary
Transaction date 6/16/2008
Committee name National Organization For Marriage California - Yes On 8, Sponsored By National Organization For Marriage

You can search Beverly Hills (I found someone from IMAX human resources there - I won't EVER SEE ANOTHER IMAX FILM AGAIN AFTER SEEING THAT). There are insurance companies, etc. etc.

Have a ball hunting - oh, and by the way. If you find any interesting ones that might have a skeleton or two of irony in their donation, David Aravosis at http://www.americablog.com/ would like to know about 'em from what I gather on his site.

[lelgt60]

3. $5000...to suppress others rights? Extremely depressing. n/t

[ellyguster]

6. Thanks for the donation list...

I'm from Texas so it very interesting to see a number of donors from Texas giving 10K in donations on 11/1... like an engineer with AT&T labs in Austin, TX. Didn't realize they made so much money...

If anyone has a list of businesses to boycott, please let me know. I'm in.

[Ian David]

4. The fight to stop Prop 8 in California is still going on in the courts. THEY need donations, too.

www.InvalidateProp8.org

www.eqca.org

[RedLetterRev]

5. Rec 5 and on to the Greatest

There is no excuse for bigotry being codified into law. Give the wackogelicals an inch and they'll steal 50 miles. They've done it before and they'll do it every chance they'll get.

[tdog8]

7. One of the largest contributers to prop 8

was supposedly the Mormon church.

In addition to the poor PR for all faith communities, some of which did all they could to help the NO on 8 campaign, it seems to me a strange and hypocritical thing for the Mormons to do.

The theme for those in favor of prop 8 was "Save traditional marriage" but the Mormons until not so long ago allowed men to marry as many women as they could afford. I have heard that although it's illegal now, there are some areas where that still happens.

Coming from a group that encouraged polygamy, "traditional" marriage doesn't mean much.

All people should have equal rights under the law and the constitution should not be used to write in discrimination.

[nichomachus]

8. We had a couple of thousand in Palm Springs

The local right-wing rag reported it as 500.

[dickthegrouch]

9. 400 today in San Jose

We marched round San Jose city center from Billy De Frank Center to Cesar Chavez Place and then MLK Library before returning to Billy De Frank via City Hall.

Channel 7 (ABC) was outside and did a great piece live on the 5pm news, repeated at 6 and 11.