As a straight female, I'd really never given much thought about gay rights. My family is progressive and I learned at an early age to treat everyone equal but I've never really had the desire to be an activist. However, Prop 8 changed all that. I was(and still am) appalled that the citizenry can vote on whether or not a minority can have the same rights as the majority. Each time another state ballot tries to overturn rights that the legislature has confered on homosexuals, I got a little angrier. So marching in the NEM was my way of showing my solidarity. Since it was my first gay rights event, I was unsure what I'd find.
I arrived near Farraguet Square around 11.30 am. Already there was a massive crowd at least 5 blocks deep along 15th Street.Vendors were selling flags and buttons for $5. Organizations were handing out free signs, mine was "Equality for America" and a festive crowd was gathered ranging from older PFLAG moms and straight allies to high school and college LGBTs. Wondeful to see all the families and children taking part. We didn't get started marching until 12:45pm whether due to traffic or to all the people. No protesters to be seen on the route, no NOM or Operation Rescue. The crowd chanted slogans and stopped in front of the White House to get their pictures taken.
We finally reached the Capitol about 2pm and heard that there were still 7 blocks full of marchers making their way to the Capitol. The lawn and pool around the front of the building were full of people. I stayed for a few of the speeches but since I have to work on the holiday I headed back home.
My thoughts:
1)I wish that the opponents of marriage equality and equal rights could see the rally and see how "normal" everyone looked. So many times, people think of gays as "drag queens" and flamboyant, but aside from a guy in a chicken suit, nobody looked any different than most tourists on the mall. Strike one for the "gay=abnormal" folks.
2)How great to see so many young people march. It really brings home the fact that in 25 years, children are going to wonder what all the fuss was about-much like when I learned about Loving vs. Virginia back in school.
3)My twinge of disappointment that no protesters showed up. Perhaps God knocked some sense into them<j/k>.
Finally, I doubt I'd even care about this so deeply, if I didn't happen to come across a YouTube series of videos from depfox entitled "Gay Family Values". These two men(Jay and Brian) and their adorable children have made a series of videos of their daily family life-from dinnertime to Halloween costumes, plus have answered questions from viewers regarding their family in an honest and forthright manner. The love and commitment from this family surpasses even that of some "normal" families that I know. The link is here.