prop 8 protest in portland

[cacahuate]

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This morning Portlanders gathered at Portland State University as part of today's nationwide protest against California's Proposition 8.



These girls had my very favorite signs. In case you can't read them, the one on the left says, "PLEASE LIKE MY FAMILY," and the one on the right says, "I LIKE MY FAMILY." Amazing. If you ever wondered what message initiatives like Prop 8 send to children of gay parents, there it is, right there.

More after the cut.





































Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this sign ("Remembering Dan") refers to Dan Callaway, a gay Portlander who was shot in his home, apparently by a burglar, one year ago tomorrow.





These kids (there was a third somewhere) were adorable. Their shirts read, "I should be able to marry whoever I love!"



(Forgive the wonkiness of this image, which was quite badly overexposed before I Photoshopped it back to life.)





Quakers!







This is our mayor-elect, Sam Adams. For those who don't know, we elected him in May, making Portland the largest city in the United States to have had an openly gay mayor.

When he got up to speak, he echoed Harvey Milk, announcing, "My name is Sam Adams, and I'm here to recruit you!"











Small dogs wearing sweaters support same-sex marriage!



The only sign that pissed me off. The other side read, "STAND UP FOR OUR RIGHTS LIKE WE STOOD UP FOR YOURS." Get it? The enormous white gay support for the civil rights movement in the 1960s is the reason there's no more racism today! You totally owe us, black people.

Sadly, looking at photos from protests in other cities today, I saw a number of signs with the exact same gimmick. I guess a lot of people thought this was a really clever idea. *sigh*







Aww.

















I spotted a Reedie! (And uh, that baby is not on her head. Sorry for the photographic fail on my part.)























Another Reedie!

Comments

[city-of-dis.livejournal.com]

Ok, maybe the front of the sign could be phrased differently to clearly convey it's talking about basic legal rights, not actual implementation of full rights, but the point is valid. I agree about the back.

How is the point valid? What's to be gained by this approach? How could this sign be rephrased to make it not inane? The only way I can think of is to change it so that it in no way compares the struggle of queers to the struggles of women and blackfolks.

But also note, the increased turnout of POC (and of recent immigrants and of people with less $), in this election in particular, may well have something to do with Prop. 8 having won.

Bullshit. Prove it. And even if it did (which no reputable source is claiming), what does that have to do with insipid signs like this one? "Oh, the POC ruined this vote for us, so we get to use them on our signs!"

That's absurd.

It ain't pretty, but it's true--of course, what you make of that may depend on how you slice the numbers (POC voted for Prop 8 more than did white folks, but I suspect that recent immigrants and their children account for a big chunk of this, but those numbers I haven't seen; I haven't even seen a breakdown distinguishing between Hispanic and black folks).

The numbers you've seen about blackfolk are practically made up, anyway, based on a single exit poll, with no way to confirm or deny it. And your baseless suspicion of recent Hispanic immigrants isn't too pretty, either.

That, and for all the $ having been poured in on both sides, the failure of the gay rights side to reach out to communities of color (to the best of my knowledge; there may have been some that I didn't know about).

Now, THIS is certainly true.

Partly due to valiant efforts of an activist who is both queer and of color... I can't remember her name... she's a former Reedie, it so happens, who graduated a few decades ahead of us... anyways.

Not sure who you mean - I don't know any Reedies IRL. But she sounds cool.

[leensterama.livejournal.com]

How is the point valid?
The point is that the philosophy of giving everyone equal legal rights has been applied to increase legal rights of women and blacks, and the same philosophy applies here.

What's to be gained by this approach?
The hope is to encourage the support of people who now support women's and blacks' rights.

How could this sign be rephrased to make it not inane?
That's a difficult one... how about:
Equal in the eyes of the law:
[check] Caucasian men
[check] African-Americans
[check] women
[ ] LGBTQ

Yes, this still ignores the fact that these groups overlap, but there's something to be said for having a simple sign.


How do you feel about the comparison, often made, with the rights of a white and a black person (of opposite genders) to marry each other?

The numbers you've seen about blackfolk are practically made up, anyway, based on a single exit poll, with no way to confirm or deny it.
Ok, but you're conflating POC (what I said) and blackfolk (what apparently lots of people are saying and is apparently not a tenable assertion).
My statement was based on a discussion I heard on NPR. It seems this CNN poll (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=CAI01p1) is the poll they're all referring to, which you describe as "practically made up." Googling, most analysis (e.g. Daily Kos) notes that there just aren't enough black folks in California for them to swing the outcome, even if this poll is accurate. Which is not the same as saying there aren't enough POC. Of course, as I was trying to note earlier, there are lots of ways to slice the numbers; it seems like age and religious affiliation probably make more sense than race. Are you also going to accuse me of bias if I note that the poll below found more opposition to Prop 8 among those with a college education and those with higher incomes?
Here's (http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=860) a better poll; PPIC is quite a reputable organization in my book, more interested in truth than news or partisanship. See page 12 of the full report. They found 50% of whites, 61% of Hispanics, and 57% of Hispanics, blacks and Asians combined, voted yes on Prop 8; their sample sizes for blacks and Asians were too small to report the results separately.

And your baseless suspicion of recent Hispanic immigrants isn't too pretty, either.
A lot in this story isn't pretty. My "baseless" assumption is in fact, based on an awareness that the average immigrant is more religious than the average Californian, and personal experience with recent Asian immigrants (for them, religious means Buddhist), and the general awareness that immigrants are often coming from cultures where gayness is much more frowned on, and they often hold those views themselves at least for awhile. In Sacramento, some of the most actively anti-gay people are recent Russian immigrants (I lived in Sac for a few years) and the police have had to deal with clashes between the two. In fact, what I was trying to emphasize is that for some POC (not so much blacks, since not many of them are recent immigrants) the "POC are less supportive of gay rights" assertion may describe recent immigrants but might not describe as well people who've been here longer--i.e. it's more about where they're coming from recently, than about their race per se. I haven't seen any poll data reflecting immigrant status so I have no idea if the numbers bear up this hypothesis.
But thanks for assuming that I was only referring to Hispanic immigrants and had no basis for my assumption.

And even if it did (which no reputable source is claiming), what does that have to do with insipid signs like this one? "Oh, the POC ruined this vote for us, so we get to use them on our signs!"
I didn't mean the latter at all.
What does it have to do with these signs? Good question. Not as much as it has to do with this discussion--yes, I was making the point that there are those in communities of color, who aren't very supportive of queer rights, just as there are those in the queer community who aren't very supportive of racial equality. The street runs both ways.

[leensterama.livejournal.com]

Now, THIS is certainly true.
Interesting that you're so confident of this... and wait, from a political strategy point of view, if POC didn't swing the election, as I thought you were asserting, why should the queer community have worked harder to reach out to them? As opposed to working hard to reach out to, say, white born-again Christians?
I'm just sayin'.

And, this assertion of mine was based on less information than my other assertion which you took issue with. For instance, as much as my housemates occasionally watch "Ugly Betty," I was unaware that several actors from it had done an anti-Prop. 8 spot (http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid64555.asp) (in English and Spanish; scroll down to the YouTube insert). Maybe the efforts to reach out to the Hispanic vote, weren't as bad as I assumed. In contrast, some commentators say the efforts to reach out to the black vote, were in fact lacking. Maybe both of these are just the results of political calculations.

Sorry, that was Prop. 9 (http://superqueerpoet.multiply.com/reviews/item/91) in 2000.