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Loading ...Report from California: Meeting the (gay marriage) opposition
We moved forward into an instant bottleneck, then stretched out into a good and proper parade in the baking sun.
I know people in other cities showed some serious moxie for marching in cold and rainy weather, and I am not trying to take anything away from that. I’m just saying that downtown L.A. hit 92 degrees that afternoon. If you have a time machine and a snow cone cart, I believe I know how you can make your life’s fortune. Please, please do not sell out your stock before I get to you.In a way, even the heat worked out well. L.A.’s downtown is eerily deserted on weekends, which meant we were mostly marching for each other. The fact that people occasionally darted from the crowd in desperate attempts to find fluids meant that there were at least little pockets on the sidewalks clapping for each other.
The rally route, appropriately enough, was not straight. (Though there were, as always, plenty of very welcome straight marchers there. I am growing weary of news accounts that describe Prop 8 protest crowds as “gays and lesbians.” It could be a convenient shorthand, or it could be a tin-eared failure to understand the full spectrum of orientations in the community. Or it just might be a teeny attempt to marginalize a civil rights issue into a “special interest.”)
We horseshoed around and doubled back, allowing us to peek down the side streets at each other and see how pleasingly huge the line of marchers was.
We marched through some ohthankgod SHADE!!! and then onto a highway overpass, drawing some movingly enthusiastic supportive honking. I don’t know why the support honking lifts the spirits so much, but it truly does.
Regardless of your city, if you see protesters out there, please do honk away. It’s like a frosty snow cone of love for the ears. If you’re concerned that your beeping may be interpreted as hostile, honk out the rhythm to “Holiday.” Or have Kathy Griffin in the car. They’ll get it.
The day was a system-bracer, and a good one. Prop 8 and the similar unfair measures that passed in Arizona, Arkansas, and Florida reminded us that we have a long way to go with civil rights all over the U.S. and throughout the world, but I’m betting that a lot of people in the crowd have never felt so certain of getting there.
And so we marched exuberantly into the much-more-populated Chinatown neighborhood to finish the march and demonstrate the power of Queer Dollars. Specifically, the Power of Queer Dollars That Would Really Like Some Cold Drinks Right Now.
Cold drinks and good luck to us all.
Ali Davis is a writer and performer in Los Angeles. Her sign was much better than Randi’s.
Ali, I so very much enjoy your writing style and what your writing says. Your inclusion of humor without ever losing the focus of your point is something with which a lot of writers have trouble. You are a pleasure to read. Thank you.
“The sign that really floored me was “GOD DOES NOT LOVE YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE.” I’m no theologian, but I based on what I recall, that is a pretty bold reinterpretation of the Bible.”
OKay, as a Christian, this really irritates me. Even if one believes that homosexual behaviour is ALWAYS sinful, the Bible clearly states that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners…and that God so loved the world that He gave Jesus….so…God’s love for someone is always going to be based on who they are/the way that they are right now.
Sorry to rant about that, but as a gay Christian, I hate it when other professing Christians are so off base about this.
When I was growing up over the last 30 years. I was told that GOD loves everyone, no matter what they do, where they do it, or how it is done. All of us have sin in our lives, but most of us try to live it in a good way. This hateful, angry, & unreligious sides that we are seeing in the world today, against the GLBT community is truly SINFUL. Did god not say,”LOVE THY NEIGHBOR” but all I am seeing is dirty tricks. Mormans have gotten their beliefs from the past, and what has happened from the past in their religion is multiple wives or husbands. I know I’m not free of sin, but twisting the words around in the bible to mean what you think they mean, and want them to mean is a very wrong way to preach your religion to me, at least make some sense of what you believe. I’m seeing the evil rise up in the churches, and that’s what scares me, when your religion leads you to take the rights of others away.
I will pray for the “HOLY” christians,catholics,jewish,budhist,baptist,jehovah’s witness,the church of later day saints,and all other religion aiming to knock out the sinners on this planet. What would happen, if God were to tell you, that you were wrong, would you listen???.
I’ll pray for the people that hate me for being gay, and I’ll ask god to forgive them, for they know not what they do. PEACE
D Said: “I will pray for the “HOLY” christians,catholics,jewish,budhist,baptist,jehovah’s witness,the church of later day saints,and all other religion aiming to knock out the sinners on this planet.”
I’ve never know Buddhists to antagonize anyone. I’ve never known them to practice hate or to see anyone as less than equal. Rather Buddhism teaches a respect for all life which is why monks are often barefoot so that stepping on an insect will not injure it too severely (in theory). Buddhism also does not require you to convert others or force them to believe your way is the only way, but rather lead by example with humility.
Perhaps the gentleman with the counter protest sign describing god’s lack of love is a mormon, and therefore isn’t required to follow the precepts of the bible. I’m no expert, but perhaps this indicates that the god(s) of the book of mormon don’t provide unconditional love. That’s why mormons are such good sheeple, the consequences of disobedience are so dire indeed.
and these supposed religious people are the reason I NO LONGER am affiliated with any organized religions…my philosophy is to be a good human on the planet earth period!
Sometimes I wish there were a God and that he would come down to earth and smite all these rancid people who invoke his name against others.
I love reading your articles. They’re ALWAYS entertaining.
Ali, I agree with Neil. Every time you have something to say I enjoy it immensely. You’re quick, witty, fashionably punctual and funny to boot. Never stop!
Ali…I agree with the accolades. I get very excited when I come to this site and see that you have something new to say. By far my favorite blog writer of late.
As for the spiritual discussion of this article…I hold close to me the Psalm that says I was knitted in my mother’s womb…I am beautifully and wonderfully made. No one can touch the peace that comes from that. God knew exactly what they were doing when they made me.
Cool. It’s always refreshing to know that anyone that’s religous doesn’t hide behind God and the bible to justifly hate. That made my day more rewarding. *smile*
I am not here to preach anything; I am not going to get a toaster for spelling this out. But for those religious “people” ( and I mean the quotes) who wants to keep every one out of their camp who’s not like them, here is what your “God” said, in his own book, and for your conveyance it’s in English:
John 3:16 (New International Version)
16″For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Last time I looked up the word “Whoever”, it meant everybody.
Who knew that Jesus was inclusive! Again, I am not here to tell anybody what to believe or how to believe, I am just trying to point out these people don’t even know what they claim to believe in. Then again Christ was killed because Christ kept pointing out the religious leaders of his time were a bunch of lying snakes and hypocrites, who took pleasure in judging the poor in spirit and heart, pointing out everybody else’s sin, tooting their own horns, and padding their own pockets, all in the name of their “God”. You should have seen how Christ felt about money changers. I digress, I guess things never change. I believe what we see now is no different then when Christ was here on earth. It’s call being militantly Darwin Award ignorant- in the name of religion and self benefit. The only problem with being militantly ignorant is that it comes with militant hatred of people that are not like them. Come to thing of it, it got Christ killed.
Yes, it is true God so loved the world(that’s all of us)that he gave his only son to die on the cross for our sins past, present and future.know that God is the same yesterday,today, and forever so his word (the Bible) still stands for the truth today. He loves us just as we are but when Jesus “died for our sins” that means if you except him as your Lord you also are dead to sin and do not practice it read Romans 1:24-27 indecent acts of perversion.
EVA – The complete passage describes how a group of Christians left the church, converted to Paganism, and engaged in orgiastic, presumably heterosexual sexual activities. This type of behavior was common among Pagan fertility religions in Rome during Paul’s time. Paul writes that, later, God “gave them over” to something new: homosexual behavior. This implies that they had a heterosexual orientation and had engaged only in heterosexual sex throughout their lifetime. God influenced them in some way to engage in homosexual orgies. This was, for them, an unnatural, and thus sinful, activity.
What is is not talking about are homosexuals who by their very nature are homosexuals, or bi-sexuals, or transgender etc.
People can read the bible however they want. That is the problem. When you toss out logic and reason for some fantasy – you get people quoting a book compiled by white men with the intent of subjegating them. The bible (and god for that matter) have been used over and over again to justify hatred, slavery, murder (see Inquisitions). Furthermore, if you read further in the text you get “Judge not”!