2008 Woodie Awards
Protesters rally about passing Proposition 8
By: Meghan Moriarty
Issue date: 11/12/08 Section: Online Exclusives
Nov. 15, 2008
Waves of protesters took over downtown Saturday afternoon, shouting and pumping signs in to the air to show their resentment about the passage of Proposition 8.
More than 500 people attended the nation-wide rally 11 days after the election. Several speakers rallied the crowd before it departed from City Plaza, talking about their personal experiences and calling out voters for supporting a measure that they said takes away basic civil rights.
Richard Seward, one of the organizers of the protest, said the proposition takes away Californians' rights.
"It's about civil rights," Seward said. "It's not about children, it's not about tax exemptions, it's not about anything else except the basic right to form a family and to document that with the state. That's all it's about."
Notice of the protest was sent out through email, text messaging, word of mouth and fliers that circulated on campus last week, Seward said.
The passing of Proposition 8 does not nullify current same-sex marriage licenses, but City Council Member Scott Gruendl said he thinks lawsuits aimed at voiding the licenses may begin to materialize.
"If our other legal processes fail to stop the implementation of Prop 8, I have no doubt that a lawsuit will be filed to overturn the licenses," Gruendl said.
Marriage Equality USA, a national activist group that works to end partiality in civil marriages and secure their legality, called for a nationwide protest against the proposition on its Web site.
Currently Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only states that recognize same-sex marriages.
The California Supreme Court will rule on whether to overturn the measure or not next week, according to an article by The Associated Press. There are currently about 18,000 same-sex marriages in the state.
Meghan Moriarty can be reached at
mmoriarty@theorion.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 17
shane
posted 11/15/08 @ 11:50 PM PST
They can call me out, I am proud of my vote in support of prop 8 and am extremely happy it passed. I know, I know, I am a huge bigot and unbelievably intolerent. (Continued…)
shane
posted 11/16/08 @ 5:43 PM PST
This is not a hundred years ago, and the privelage of marriage is not comparable to the black civil rights movement, not even close. Again, marriage between a man and a woman is far different than that of a same sex couple, so naturally it should be called something different. (Continued…)
Shawn
posted 11/16/08 @ 8:40 PM PST
I'm going to follow Alyssa's lead and believe that Shane's intentions are good. I'm trying.
Correct, this isn't 1900 or 1950, its 2008. However, it was the Supreme Court that decided separate is not equal and that women should have the right to choose. (Continued…)
shane
posted 11/17/08 @ 12:06 AM PST
Spare me the bleeding heart liberal bull. Not that I have to explain, but I have a lesbian aunt who is very dear to me, a friend who is gay, and an ex boss who I still talk to. (Continued…)
Darla
posted 11/17/08 @ 12:12 AM PST
Let's call a spade a spade, this isn't about equal rights, it's an assault on traditional marriage. I am all for equal rights and I find it insulting as a minority to hear the comparison to the civil rights movement being made. (Continued…)
J
posted 11/18/08 @ 10:42 AM PST
Acting like a bunch of four year olds. When you don't get your way you start flailing around, crying and whining. Same stuff happened when I was in SF last weekend. (Continued…)
Darla
posted 11/19/08 @ 11:32 PM PST
Dan,
Thank you for elucidating marriage for me. I am quite aware of the lesbian factor to my comment, and would be happy based on linguistics to grant lesbians the title of married versus homosexual males. (Continued…)
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