My local freeperville newspaper here in Bakersfield rather accurately reported on an anti-gay marriage rally last Saturday by a local Rethuglican. Fully three times as many opponents showed up to laugh at the state senator and guest Rev. Lou Sheldon of the "Traditional Values" group.
Read the article below:
Rally gets upstaged
Protesters drown out speakers at Ashburn event to support ban on same-sex marriage
By STEPHANIE TAVARES, Californian staff writer
e-mail: stavares@bakersfield.com
Sen. Roy Ashburn got a little more than he bargained for at his "Traditional Family Values" rally in Patriots Park on Saturday.
The event, organized by the Bakersfield Republican's office to rally support for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, was taken over by same-sex marriage supporters, who flooded the park to protest Ashburn's support of the legislation.
"We're out here to support marriage equality," Bakersfield resident and protester Tracy Weddell said. "We think there's a misconception that Bakersfield is a place where you can come and be bigoted and have it be OK. That's not welcomed here. We want them to know this is not their home base."
Between 75 and 80 supporters of same-sex marriage circled around Ashburn's rally, holding signs, singing songs and waving flags, at times drowning out the speakers who were using microphones.
A press release from Ashburn's office Saturday claimed "hundreds gathered at Patriots Park to support traditional marriage and family values," although there were fewer than 20 supporters of a same-sex marriage ban at the rally.
The Kern County Sheriff's Department, the California Highway Patrol, the Bakersfield Police Department and the fire marshal were all called out to the rally by Ashburn's staff, but the protesters remained peaceful and no one was arrested.
The speakers appeared annoyed, often asking the protesters to quiet down so they could speak.
"Our friends and neighbors in our community are restating the obvious: that the institute of marriage is fundamental to our society," Ashburn said in a speech made while protesters booed him. "Marriage between one man and one woman is fundamental to civilization."
The Rev. Lou Sheldon, chairman of the Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition, echoed that statement, saying that America's economy will collapse if gay marriage is allowed because the population will decrease and there won't be enough people paying taxes.
Sheldon also said gay marriage laws in Scandinavia have caused a rise in wife beating because men have become bisexual, which makes them beat their wives.
The crowd of protesters laughed at him. Several said it was "absurd" and "ridiculous" to assert that being bisexual would make men want to beat their wives.
Kern High School District board member and local youth minister Chad Vegas made fun of protesters in his speech and said that limiting marriage to one man and one woman does not restrict gay people's right to marry.
"They do have the right to marry," he said before and during the rally. "We're not trying to revoke that. It's just with the opposite sex."
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The problem is that the reporter is now catching heck from the Senator's weenies, apparently, and her editor is "re-evaluating" the coverage given to the event. I believe it's the metro editor, Bob Christie mailto:bchristie@bakersfield.com
FWIW, the same reporter interviewed me and quoted me accurately in a previous story on the Bush Social Security scam. Obviously, she's got to go.