Despite threatening weather, organizers estimated that nearly 5,000 people came out to City Hall in Boston, MA to stand together as supporters of marriage equality.  Organizers, including local politicians, leaders with Mass Equality, and U.S. Congressional Representatives Rep. Nikki Tsongas and Rep. Edward Markey all spoke to the crowd.  

Massachusetts made history in 2004 when it became the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.  That thought was not lost on organizers today, many of whom traveled to California in the lead up to the vote on Proposition 8 to help with the No on 8 campaign.  State Rep. Carl Sciortino read from the Constitution of the State of California, “All people are by nature free and independent and have certain inalienable rights.”  Thus launched the demonstration.

Some quotes and highlights:

Rep. Nikki Tsongas (D-Mass.): “We are a partner with everyone across the country when it comes to bringing about marriage equality.”

State Rep. Byron Rushing: “I am here this afternoon because we are engaged in struggle.  If there is no struggle, there is no progress.  We are here to struggle.  In this democracy, marriage is a civil institution, and in a democracy, all civil institutions must be open to all who qualify.”

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass): (Reflecting on the fact that gay marriage is now illegal in California, while it is legal here in Massachusetts) “There is one thing that distinguishes Massachusetts from California on the issue of gay marriage.  We are right, and they are wrong! … Gays should have the same rights as straights.  As God’s children, they should have the same rights straights have.  Everyone is entitled to full rights under the U.S. Constitution, so now we engage in this great struggle.  … They asked the ancient Greek philosopher when we would know full and true justice.  And he answered: We would know true justice when all of those who have not been harmed are as angry as those who have!”  

Gary Daffin (LGBT political activist and Executive Director, Multicultural AIDS Coalition): “Here in Massachusetts, we wanted our brothers and sisters in California to wake up after the Election and relax and feel at home in their country.  It took Black people 400 years for us to feel at home in our own country.  It might not take the LGBT community 400 years, but we need to keep fighting.”

Heather Baker (special ed teacher and Boston LGBT rights activst): “We are the American family, we live next door to you, we teach your children, we take care of your elderly. We need equal rights across the country.”

Even though the weather wasn’t picture perfect, the scene outside of Boston City Hall was.  And yeah, that may sound cheesy, but the energy level at today’s “Join the Impact” rally in Boston gave me faith that we can build this national movement to ensure marriage equality, and work to foster LGBT rights in all 50 states.

To view a set of photos from the Boston “Join the Impact” rally, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/3…

To view a few You Tube clips from today’s event, go to:

http://gayrights.change.org  

Sorry for the short diary, but I had to interrupt my Obama canvassing here in Henderson, Nevada to bring you the big news: the No on 8 web ad written and produced by myself, hekebolos and theKK, and backed by the Courage Campaign is going on TV with a big election day ad buy in the Los Angeles and San Francisco markets.  The ad has been spreading around the blogosphere, but this is the biggest news yet.  If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the ad:

Thousands of wonderful last-minute donors to the Courage Campaign Issues Committee have helped make this ad buy possible.  I can’t tell you the numbers behind the buy, but they’re big: big enough to get us on the air on a wide array of big cable channels, including CNN, MSNBC and Comedy Central, in the San Francisco and Los Angeles markets throughout election day.  I can’t thank our donors enough for their generosity in helping the Courage Campaign make this happen.  Remember, folks: this ad was a labor of love from the beginning–a completely unfunded project dependent solely on the time, energy and out-of-pocket expense of a few netroots activists and generous volunteers from progressive actors, directors, editors and crew in L.A.  Special thanks also to Sam Rodriguez, who helped us with the last-minute ad buy. It is the first and only No on 8 ad to feature actors portraying a gay couple on screen, and to explicitly call out the LDS church on their extraordinary efforts to change California’s Constitution from the outside.

Getting this video on the air follows right on the heels of the LDS Church’s rejection of a Courage Campaign petition signed by almost 17,000 people asking them to stop the lies and blackmail on Prop 8.  Both of these efforts are featured in the Courage Campaign’s latest email and press release:

We set a mission to deliver 17,345 signatures to the Mormon Church. And we accomplished that mission. After getting the run-around from the “Yes on 8” campaign, security guards and a Mormon Church member in Los Angeles, we delivered your signatures and created a media stir in Salt Lake City. It’s all on video and we hope you watch it.

Meanwhile, two of our friends in the progressive movement — netroots activists and brothers Dante Atkins and David Atkins — produced a provocative 60-second ad for Courage that we will be airing on CNN, MSNBC and Comedy Central in select markets on Election Day. “No on Prop 8: Home Invasion,” which satirically skewers the Mormon Church’s dictation of public policy to Californians, has been featured on Daily Kos, AmericaBlog, Calitics, Wonkette and many other blogs in the last 48 hours, garnering tens of thousands of views.

The LDS Church is freaking out and is releasing a statement denouncing the ad.  In the meantime, local Salt Lake media is covering the controversy.  Is it a step too far?  Hardly.  The Mormon Church has been invading California households for months with its lies about a bigoted ballot measure that would take people’s rights away.  It’s just too bad we couldn’t have had this ad out sooner.  The ad is called “Home Invasion”, and that’s really what the LDS Church has been doing for the last several months with their deceitful and despicable lies about Proposition 8.

Remember, though, that there are a number of wonderful LDS members out there.  About 700 people, most of them LDS members, held a candlelight vigil in Salt Lake City last night in opposition to Prop 8.  This is not about religion or religious affiliation: it is about the hateful actions of the Church Leadership and some of its most hateful members.

There are so many fights tomorrow to stomp out the hate and vitriol on the Right.  Electing Barack Obama is the most important of these, but quashing the Right’s anti-gay bigotry at the polls in California would be an extraordinarily sweet victory that would have major implications for the future of this issue all across America.

GOTV GOTV GOTV!  If we get our voters out there, we win just about everywhere.  Let’s do this!  And if you want to help out with the Courage Campaign’s efforts on this, they could definitely use some donations in the final stretch…

Update: I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that the beautiful and hilarious Bridget McManus is featured as the brunette in the ad.  Big thanks to her for volunteering her time and fame to this effort!