Protests this weekend were in over 300 cities. We went with a lot of friends, I'll be posting photos today, and after some reflection, my thoughts later this week.
For now, here are some roundups:
Andrew Sullivan
Towleroad
Citizen Crane
99% of this protest and reaction is exactly what we need, civil, loud and to the point. Those that oppose us hate it, they think they are being 'persecuted' (a richly ironic claim), but that tells me we are on the right track. I am not sure where we go from here, I'm still considering my own future actions, and there will be some now that I'm inspired even more to do even more.
Sadly, there are reactions and actions I really hope die a quick death...
I have to say, John Aravosis, as much as I like his energy and work, has descended into anti-Mormon bigotry and ignorance in many of his posts, and his calls for the boycott of the entire state of Utah are misguided at best, and smack of prejudice at worse. The Mormon church and many Mormons deserve a hell of a lot of criticism concerning their much worse (actually eliminated our rights and not just demonizing us) descent into bigotry, and in NO WAY do I think John Aravosis' is in any way shape or form equivalent to that which the Church has done (and continues to do). Yet, I'd hope he and others would be a bit more smart and less ignorant in their opposition.
Also, I've seen that some anti-gay 'prayer' vigil ended badly at the Castro Friday night.
First, I'm sure the anti-gay instigators HAD to know that going into the heart of a gay neighborhood to spread their hateful lies wasn't going to get a response of sweetness and light considering that it was they themselves that just eliminated standing rights from the people they were "preaching" to. They've done this many weeks before, with nothing more than a few arguments. But to do this in front of a memorial to a dead hero, within a short time after they just took our rights away, well.. they were inciting violence. The KKK going into a black neighborhood in front of a rights activists memorial a week after say.. a law that took away the right to ride public transportation, well.. what response does one expect.
They got it. But from their telling, they were beaten senseless and sexually abused (of course, what else would they say). The videos of the incident show a lot of yelling, threats and cursing, but no 'violence'. Also, as far as I can tell, there was _no_ charges filed or police arrests but one against a man who spit at a woman (and he was pointed out BY THE gay neighbors). So, loud and angry, yes... but of course the Christian right will (and are) making this out to be "oh whoa is me" persecution and show the hatred of the gay community.
The hypocritical irony is thick.
Still, anger is one thing, we need some constructive anger, not just screaming against the hate-mongers anger.
