Several hundred people, including me, showed up in the cold fog in Eugene. . .daughter reported that she slept in rather than show up for the SF rally.

I liked the signs. A couple of people had their marriage certificates blown up onto signs. Some had pictures of their families. Some signs said, "One of I have a dream, too." There were "No on 8" signs that followed the logo of the Love stamps. Lots of second-class citizen references. This sign was funny with Elizabeth Taylor.

Whoops -- "One of 18,000 [number of couples married since Supreme Court decision] -- I have a dream, too." Here we are walking to the protest, here I am dying in the heat.

The best sign here was a woman carrying a sign saying "I'm too old for this shit."

I'm hearing screaming and chanting out my window -- I guess you can tell your daughter she still has time to join in. :/ I'm going to bed.

Thank you claudia for showing up there. . .*hug*

Bunnies sign (cute!).

Here are some pics from Eugene someone posted on Flickr.

No on 8 Flickr pool.

I was at the LA demonstration for about 2 hours -- very lively and fun. I've heard estimates that turnout was about 12,000, which is far below the 40,000 they were initially expecting, but still a solid crowd (especially given that it was pretty brutally hot for marching today). Some great signs; "if I'm going to hell, I'm sure not going to be single!" was one that made me laugh outloud.

I heard that there's another rally scheduled for next weekend in Sacramento... I may have to do a road trip for that one! I'm thinking of making a sign along the lines of "my constitution can beat up your bible."

Oh, and one of the highlights was when we marched over the overpass for the Hollywood freeway -- we got lots of honks and folks waving and "woo!"-ing out their windows at us. The best was a mini-convoy of three or four 18-wheelers who did long pulls on their horns as they drove below.

I was at the one at City Hall in Manhattan yesterday. Large crowds (it's hard to estimate, but probably about ten to fifteen thousand?). I came up with a slogan which my friend put on poster board for us. It was a big hit, I think. It said, "Whoa! There's a Mormon in my bedroom!" Our other ones said, "Another anti-assimilationist against Prop 8," "Give us our 50% shot at happiness," and "We couldn't possibly screw up marriage more than you have." Our highlights were when the tourist buses went by -- I'd say the reaction from them was about 60% positive and 40% "Look away, son, there be gays!"

me, I think

Lassie's slogans for the win!

My partner and I were there for about an hour in SF, then melted in the heat. There were quite a lot of "I'm straight but don't h8" kinds of signs, which I found really heartening.

Actually, I've experienced a TON of support and encouragement from straight friends and coworkers. Not that I wasn't anticipating support from like-minded straight people, but the support has really, really meant a lot.

There were about 300 people in the Main St. Plaza in San Antonio, which was a pretty decent turnout (it was cold and windy). I forgot to bring my camera so I'm waiting for others to post their pictures. Ooh, here's a flickr set of photos. And you can see MuddDude in profile here, along with my right arm.

I was kind of disheartened, though, to read some commentary (from socially progressive bloggers, even) chastizing me for caring more about rich white homosexuals in california than [insert group here], as I obviously only show my interest in an issue by attending protests. I'm just trying to do what's right here, and it doesn't help to get criticised at every turn.

I was kind of disheartened, though, to read some commentary (from socially progressive bloggers, even) chastizing me for caring more about rich white homosexuals in california than [insert group here]

Don't you know that puny liberal brains can only care about ONE THING AT A TIME???

Sigh. That argument always annoys me. It's so condescending and ... dampening, I guess. It's a call for inaction and maintaining the status quo disguised as a progressive or social-activism message.

"I'm straight but don't h8" kinds of signs

[Disclaimer: I'm glad these signs work for the media and/or for some/many people who read them. And I'm thrilled that there is such a diversity of people including straight people supporting marriage equality. This is a side rant on my personal not-completely-coherent reaction.]

I don't know why, but I sorta cringe at those signs, especially if held by someone under 60 years old. (I'm straight, FWIW. And I live in a very gay world with gay colleagues, foster kids, friends.) I get these crabby thoughts like, helloo it's not about you and where you are situated and your special groovy straight self it's about justice and civil rights. Or I think, heh, is there part of you that thinks that being at a homo rights rally makes you a homo, so you need a sign to state that you are not a homo? For me I am a part of the community, I am queer in my commitment to my friends and to civil rights, I do not want to set myself apart politically or socially, and definitely not at a queer rights rally.

I've been trying to think of an analogy, ala "white people against hate," but so far none of the analogies work to shed light on my little cranky inner experience.

Claudia, I get what you're saying about the straight people whose signs identify them as such -- it does read a bit oddly, as if they're trying to distance themselves from the community.

But I suspect what's motivating them is something rather more benign: they're trying to indicate to putative simple-minded Prop 8 supporters that this is important to everyone, gay and straight. In other words, I think they're hoping that their advocacy will carry extra weight because their own personal rights aren't involved.