Update with a title- Protest at the Palace of Intolerance
Oakland, California 10/26/2008
Thanks to SallyCat, I was pointed towards a protest that was to take place this morning from 9-12 in Oakland in front of a Mormon temple. I'm habitually tardy, though I tried.. I got there around 10:15. The cameramen for the Chronicle were leaving then, so not sure If I made it onto the newspaper. It was a wonderful event, put on by an East Bay Atheist group. It was a good mix, gay, lesbian, straight, mormon, libertarian all together protesting intolerance. Here's my favorite picture.
Much more info and pictures after the fold...
Here's the location of the protest, I named it the "temple of intolerance"
Got a laugh out of the policelady with that line :)
"Grandfather had how many wives... and you oppose alternative marriage?"
"Love thy neighbor" This guy and his friend were Very Nice! I can't remember if they were partners or not. My memory is not great. A lot of ppl told me their names, I only remember a few.
Very nice guy!
Everyone was nice here! We had a fantastic time, and hopefully made a difference!
Wen and Tara!! Lovely ladies that were there at 9 and stayed till 2! Will link you to their webpage if I get permission. They had a much nicer camera than I did.
This is my boy right here!! Greg the Libertarian! We had a great time talking it up and protesting. We were there for different reasons fighting the same fight. He yelled out, "Protect the Constitution" all day long and I yelled "Equality for All" He was still there at 2 when I left in a suit and tie and in the sun!
We got a lot of support from the cars driving by the temple. Much less from those that came out of the temple. A couple Yes on Prop 8 cars drove by and circled and drove by again. There are a lot of Tongan Yes on 8 supporters. I guess there are a lot of Tongan Mormons.
This is the other side of the "Latter Day Bigots" sign.
I believe this was the creator of this event. Thanks again sir! Great job!
These closed-minded teens came out of the temple to talk to us. I don't believe they were Mormon, but despite their statement that they were just gathering information, they were clearly Yes on Prop 8 people. I recorded some video of the girl asking her pathetic questions. One such question was... "Well if a man and man can now get married, can a man and a dog get married?" It was so idiotic that I'm not sure it's worth my time to repeat much more of their crap here. One of the punks laughed when a lady told him it was a Civil Rights issue. I straightened him out on that one.
This is where some of us differed. A lot of the GLBT community wanted a peaceful protest and no interaction with the few fools that decided to come straighten us out. As a DKos movement progressive, and straight man who hasn't been subject to much oppression, I'm willing to fight fire with fire. It didn't come to that.
One moron came out to us with a copy of his wedding certificate in his hand. "See this, it says Partner 1 and Partner 2, it used to say Bride and Groom" That was his big objection (stated). Wen calmly informed him that they were changing that, and he could get a copy with the words he wanted for $13. She asked him to leave and threatened to call the cops, I could have listened to his B.S. for a little while longer but it was nice to see him go as well. It's amazing how many people of faith want to argue their position logically. (Yet disregard your logic)
Please give to Equality for All if you can. Here's my donation thermometer.
Equality for All No On Prop 8.
Besides helping my Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters I have another project that is very important. So I'm sorry this is going to be a dual diary, it's crunch time!!
Joshua Segall is running for Congress in Alabama's third district and today he announced that he's raised $1,000,000!! Congratulations Josh!! And thank you to the DKos family who has given generously to him. I'd love if you could make him an O2B candidate because he truly is a progressive and he'd be replacing an anti-gay neoCon who voted for the Iraq war Mike Rogers.
Finally, Josh was given the Anniston Star endorsement today!! That might sound like nothing, but it's everything down there. The Star endorsed Mike Rogers his last three terms, and they are a Conservative paper. And from what I can tell, the largest paper in this district.
Please support Josh Segall, it's the final push and he's a great cause, much more info in my last 6 diaries. Anything helps $1, 2, 5 goes along way down in rural Alabama.
Bless you all!!
This is my thermometer for Josh Segall
UPDATED!
Here's the end of that endorsement for Josh from the Anniston star. New news, the star is printed in Mike Rogers' hometown!
This space has held out hope that Rogers would rise above the partisan chatter, to cross the aisle and form partnerships interested in smart governance. We saw a glimpse of that in the congressman's wise support of the recent bailout; Segall's stubborn opposition to the measure is wrongheaded, especially given the stakes for the economy.
While Rogers is far from the most partisan of his House colleagues, missing is the more moderate track record he compiled in the state Legislature.
If anything, Rogers has gone in the opposite direction in recent weeks of the campaign, vowing to be a "pain in Nancy Pelosi's ass."
The district's needs
Alabama's 3rd District doesn't need that. It deserves better. We need a congressman who will work for the people of the 3rd, not against the representative of California's 8th district, which is held by Speaker Pelosi.
Should he be elected, Segall likely will enjoy membership in the U.S. House's majority party. He would be wise, though, to set aside of the strict party line. Instead, we expect him to work hard on his campaign promises: to protect and promote Alabama jobs; to help grow the district's economy; to protect its military installations; to assist higher education; and to ensure U.S. trade deals are fair for all parties, including those at the bottom of the economic ladder.
That task requires imagination and vibrant energy from someone who will vote in the economic interests of the 3rd. We believe Josh Segall can deliver.
Please check my other diaries for more info on Josh Segall!
Update 2!! The SF Gate the online version of the SF Chronicle has a write up of the event. http://www.sfgate.com/... Will search the 711 comments to find some more pictures. :)
Tara from above has her picture in the Chronicle, unfortunately they snapped it when she was crying. For the most part it was an enjoyable day, there were some hurtful things said and bad looks, but on the whole we overcame.
Chronicle's sensational photograph here
Update 3!! The SF Chronicle author replaced the story about the protest with this story about the Mormon minority and how some aren't for Prop8. Unbeleiveable!! After many sites had already linked to the story they replace it with a completely different one. Wait, not completely different, they used Tara's name and picture but they told a story about a crying girl coming out of the Mormon Church who said some Morons aren't for Prop 8. And honestly SOME AREN'T. Some gave us thumbs up as they came out of the Temple and many of the kids were willing to look us in the eye, and seemed sympathetic. BUT THE PROTEST STORY GOT BURIED. I contacted the writer.. more in tomorrow's blog.