Seattle has our back. Big time. This picture at right is of the huge march down Broadway in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood – the Emerald City’s version of the Castro. A friend in the crowd spoke to someone in Mayor Greg Nickels’ office who estimated over 12,000 people were in this march.

I will have more photos and information up later once my sources get their stuff uploaded and sent to me. The Stranger has some more photos of the march.

Prop 8 is catalyzing a nationwide marriage equality movement. Washington State’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s marriage ban in a shocking 2006 decision widely believed to have been motivated by 3 liberal justices facing well-funded conservative challengers that year (WA elects Supreme Court justices in contested races). But marriage equality advocates have vowed to undo this by, piece by piece, legalizing marriage.

With 2/3 majorities in both houses and Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire winning reelection last week, Democrats in Olympia are now strongly considering overturning the state’s marriage ban (which exists in the law and not the state constitution) as marriage rights activists mobilize in the Evergreen State.

Our opponents may have won the Prop 8 battle but it may prove to have been a pyrrhic victory.

“What do we want?” “Equality!” “When do we want it?” “Now!”

That has been the rallying cry the past few weeks as thousands have gathered in Sacramento, out in the streets, in the public square and in front of the State Capitol.  Today we gathered in Cesar Chavez square right in front of the Sacramento City Hall.  The police I talked to estimated the crowd between 1,000-2,000 people.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be outside with our community, in joint action, to speak out against the rights that were taken away from so many Californians on election day.

The rally was one of hundreds of Join the Impact protests planned for today in small towns and big cities across the country.  It was the brainchild of an ordinary activist who thought big, built a platform and watched it explode.

The main organizer of this event was a new local group called Equality Action Now.  They have put together a website and an email list, were selling t-shirts, gathering donations, got the permits and loudspeakers, and coordinated a list of speakers to address the thousands of gay people and their allies.  It is truly incredible to see the work people are putting into organizing in their own communities.  They are not the traditional standard bearers of the equality movement or the large organizations.  These are few people who stood up and decided to be leaders.  They are the strength of this new movement for equality.

These local, impassioned and empowered new organizers and leaders are the reason why the next time marriage equality is on the ballot we will win.  We have all felt the taste of defeat and the pain of having our rights taken away.  All of us can and must do more than we did this past time.

For those who haven’t been to one of these rallies, I will try and explain the emotions being there, especially as a gay woman.  At first it is a thrill to see so many people, people you didn’t know existed, gathering today for the same purpose.  Then you feel a sense of power being amongst the crowds, the unity of purpose, the strength in numbers.  But then sadness starts to creep in and the pain of realizing what transpired to make this happen.  It is emotional and tough to stand there and chant for rights you once had and chant against your fellow Californians who voted to take away those rights from you.

Today, I ended up leaving before the march around the Capitol, because it was too hard on my girlfriend to be there, sharing an intimate pain in such a public manner.  This is still raw, still painful.  It will always be emotional, but the anguish should fade.  Hopefully, the energy will not.  We need all of the people rallying together across the state and country to put in the hard work to repeal Prop 8.

More about the rally on the flip, including pictures…

Freddie Oakley, the Yolo County Registrar, was a bit nervous addressing the crowd.  It was the largest one she had ever addressed, but she did a great job.  She delighted in telling us the story of her getting kicked out of her church.  You see for the past few Valentines days, same-sex couples have come into her office requesting marriage licenses.  While she could not grant them, she would issue a statement regretting the lack of equality.  Evidently, this motivated a few people to protest in front of her church.  Her pastor eventually asked her to resign, which she was more than happy to do.  Why would she want to be affiliated with a church that so sharply conflicted with her own values?

My favorite sign was held by a soldier in desert cammos: “I fought for EVERYBODY’S Freedom and Happiness!!!”.

Unfortunately, there were a few people across the street with very large signs telling us “A Moral Wrong Cannot Be a Civil Right”.  Anybody with an opposing view who wants to chime in below?  The detractors had a few kids holding up signs.  There were perhaps a dozen people over there, and it was about half black and half white.

The local Fox and NBC affiliates had cameras wandering around, and I saw a few other print media interviewing rally attendees, so there is bound to be some press coverage.

I have a few more pictures from today up on my flickr No on 8 photoset.

full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign

Police expected 5,000 people today for San Diego’s Join the Impact march against Prop 8. Police are currently estimating 20,000 marchers turned out in support of equality (link will also lead to some cool pics and video). Organizers upped their estimate early this morning to 25,000 and they’re sticking with that number. Either way, it doubles last week’s 10K strong San Diego march.

I arrived at the jumping off point at the appointed 10am hour. There were thousands of people spread throughout Balboa Park- old and young, gay and straight, male and female, all races and ethnicities. Some were alone, some came with families, some with groups of friends. It took about 30 minutes to get things organized, in part probably because of people like me who were working the crowd as much as possible. And I’ll tell you how I knew right away that this was a really big deal: While I’m sure many were there, I didn’t see a single person I know from political activism. But I saw people I knew from my neighborhood, from bars, from sports, from music, from church. In other words, this wasn’t the same old political demonstration with the same old faces. This was everyone who normally don’t obsess about politics. People who normally may not even be out of bed at 10am on a Saturday much less marching for miles in the 85 degree heat. This wasn’t politics, this was a movement.

I was very careful to pack my trusty Flip Video, and I got some shaky clips of the beginning of the march (above) and the pivot from 6th Avenue to Broadway (right). The march ran a three mile course south on 6th Avenue along Balboa Park, west through downtown on Broadway, and up Pacific Highway past the Star of India before culminating at the County Administration Building (where marriage licenses are issued). Gloria Allred, city councilman-elect Todd Gloria and reps from the ACLU, Equality California and the Human Rights campaign were on the docket for the rally between the building and the bay.

Chant sheets were everywhere and the chants rarely stopped. The homemade signs were plentiful and ran the gamut from Lincoln to Hitler and Chickens to Satan. I was pleasantly impressed though by the VAST majority of people embracing the positive messaging. People get that this is about love, acceptance and equality. And that abandoning that is to let agents of intolerance win.

The only arrest reported at this point was a member of the Minutemen. Which is a nice juxtaposition to the experience of marching through downtown. Cars honked in solidarity, people cheered from balconies and streamed out of offices and hotels to root us on and give high-fives. In the course of 3 downtown miles, I spotted maybe 7 Yes on 8 folks. Organizers kept people reasonably well behaved, and nothing advanced beyond an occasionally aggressive air horn. Heck, the handful of unattended Yes signs we passed had police attendants.

This is just one of the first reports to come today. There are more than 300 events scheduled throughout the state and across the country. And I said to a friend who marched with me, “You will not be able to stay home brother.

…

Because…people will be in the street looking for a brighter day.

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The revolution will be live.”

(wow, 2500 people… – promoted by David Dayen)

My better half and I joined at least 2500 other Sonoma County citizens standing against bigotry and hate today, at the Santa Rosa Join the Impact event.  A peaceful crowd filled at least seven blocks, and threaded its way to City Hall, where drummers beat out a tattoo, a brass band played and passing cars honked out support.  The just-married and the long-married, families of all sizes, kinds and ages, a small herd of Australian shepherds and a basset announcing his opposition to h8 joined together on this beautiful day to re-affirm our commitment to social equality.  A good day.  

(cross-posted at JustPeaceNow