News :: GLBT
Thousands gather in Boston to protest Prop 8 by Johanna King
Contributing WriterMonday Nov 17, 2008 The threat of rain couldn’t keep people from coming out on the afternoon of Nov. 15 as gay, straight, young, old, babies, toddlers, and even a few dogs gathered in City Hall Plaza in downtown Boston to protest the passage of Proposition 8 in California.
The rally, one of hundreds organized by the grassroots, web-based group Join the Impact that took place in cities across the country to denounce the recently passed same-sex marriage ban in California, drew thousands of supporters from all over Massachusetts. The protest celebrated the rights allowed here as much as it condemned the states that passed anti-gay legislation on Nov. 4, including constitutional bans on same-sex marriage in Arizona, and Florida and a law preventing gay and lesbian couples from adopting children in Arkansas.
Because it rolled back existing civil marriage rights for same-sex couples, Proposition 8, as California’s anti-gay marriage ballot initiative is known, has received most of the attention and provoked a national outcry among the LGBT community and its supporters, including the filing of a lawsuit by LGBT legal advocates seeking to have the amendment invalidated.
"Yes we did!" chanted the crowed in recognition of the many strides the Bay State has taken over the years to advance gay rights, echoing Barack Obama’s "Yes we can" campaign slogan while waving homemade signs and rainbow flags.
"WTF, California?" "When do we get to vote on your marriage?" and a sign held by a little boy sitting on his father’s shoulders that read "toddlers for equality" were just some of the many colorful declarations dotting the landscape of the crowd.
One man, 30-year old Nathan Johnson of Dorchester, held a sign that read "Maverick Mormon 4 marriage equality"
"I am a Mormon, but being gay means I can’t have membership in the church," Johnson, a Salt Lake City native and former Mormon missionary, said.
Another couple, Beatrice Hernandez and her wife Melba Abreu, of Brighton, who consider themselves to have been married for the last 21 years although they only legally got hitched in 2004, held a banner that read "Citizenship under law. Prop 8 a tax-exempt bag of shame."
"There’s only one U.S. citizenship," Hernandez said.
On the other side of the plaza, a group of girls from Wellesley College held large banner declaring that "Wellesley (heart)’s Gays."
"I’m from California. I voted in California," 22-year old senior and San Francisco native Nikita Carney said, expressing disappointment in her home state. "We were really excited about Barack Obama and so [the election] was bittersweet."
"I’m hopeful that since there are rallies in all 50 states that this will stir legislation," Carney’s fellow student, 20-year old New Yorker Allison Petrosino added.
Lawmakers from all levels of Massachusetts government also took part, including state Senator-elect Sonia Chang-Diaz , state Rep. Carl Sciortino, state Rep. Byron Rushing, U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas and U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano. Out lesbian state Rep. Liz Malia was also in the crowd, as was Boston City Councilor Mike Ross.
"We have to achieve equality in every single place in this country," said Sciortino, one of the state’s openly gay legislators who spent time campaigning against Proposition 8 in California, declared.
On the outskirts of the crowd, less than a dozen members of the local anti-gay activist organization MassResistance, held signs that read, "Let the people vote on marriage."
"The judges gave gay marriage to this state, not the people," said one woman, a MassResistance member for two and a half years who asked to remain anonymous.
Her organization’s protests we drowned out by a larger, rowdier, and younger, crowd standing next to them and an eight-piece band playing a bit further beyond the main rally.
"Hate is not a family value," read the band’s sign.
To view a slideshow of images from the protest taken by photographer Marilyn Humphries, go here.
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