Rally in Support of Gay Marriage

This Saturday, all over the country, there will be rallies held in support of gay marriage.

This is not just a rally for the non-religious. It’d be great to see Christians, Mormons, and African-Americans at these rallies showing that they are in support of equal rights for everyone.

Keith Olbermann said it well the other night:

This isn’t about hate. It’s about love. It’s absurd that there are people out there who would deny other people that love and then complain about the breakdown of the family structure.

This isn’t about hate. It’s about ignorance. The people who are against gay marriage need to be educated. They need to know that denying two committed people the right to marry hurts them. They need to see people they know supporting gay rights. Some of them will cling to their Bible but many of them can be swayed.

If you’re looking for rallies near you, you can find them here.

Reader Eliza said this:

I’m planning to attend the rally & march in Seattle and I am tentatively planning my sign to say: “There is NO EARTHLY REASON to deny equal marriage rights… any other reason is UNCONSTITUTIONAL”

If you’re going, let us know and tell us where!

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phlebas

I’ll be at the one in Atlanta with Masala Skeptic (proudly representing Skepchick) and several other members of the ATL skeptical community, along with (I hope) hundreds of other outraged people. And, with luck, maybe some entertaining counter-protestors from some of the hundreds of fundy churches we have around here.

I’ll be sending updates to my blog throughout the event, if anyone cares to follow. I’m looking forward to hearing stories from others who went in other places.
PrimeNumbers

Keith says it very well.
Larry Huffman

Excellent that you posted this. My family and I will be at the Ventura protest. If anyone else is going, let me know…would be good to meet a fellow member of this forum. And if anyone is in need of a ride, let me know…we may have room, and if not, we will just enlist another driver and vehicle and make it happen. It looks like we may have 3 or 4 vehicles already in the caravan.
Kate

I will be at the Chicago event.
Catherine

That was a beautiful statement from Keith Olbermann.

Thanks for spreading the word about the protests on your blog.
benjdm

Planning to attend the Albany, NY one.
tvmode

I will be at the Orange County/Irvine rally. I like your sign idea Hemant!
5ive

Unfortunately, I don’t think it is as simple as letting these people meet the people whose rights they have taken. Having spoken with some prop 8 proponents, even the ones that appear rational will still see homosexual people as not quite as human or worthy of right as they themselves are.
This proposition passing and having spoken with some of the ignorant has completely shaken my world view. It hurts. I had previously thought people would tend towards good. Now I realise that people will tend towards selfishness and whatever is easy.

It is way easier to see someone different as less equal than it is to open your mind and view your contradictions. In the same way it was easier for me to sit idly thinking that people were good than it is for me to see that they are selfish and lazy at heart. I feel like I acted too late. I honestly did not think it would ever pass, because we already learned about civil right in the 60’s, right? Apparently not. People are stupid and I am sad.

I will be at the rally in Sacramento.
Martha Knox

I’ll be at the one in Philadelphia, and I’m encouraging members of all the humanist, freethought, and atheist groups around here to go too.
Jeff Satterley

I’m gonna try and make it to the one in Boston, MA, although I’m supposed to meet with my advisor tomorrow. Hopefully he’s in early…
siamang

the siamang family will be attending the downtown los angeles rally.
Adam

That bastard made me cry
johnb300m

Sad, very sad.
There are no comments to sum that up or add to.
Well said Keith.
DSimon

I’m totally on board with the sentiment of this post, just a little weirded out by this specific language:

This is not just a rally for the non-religious. It’d be great to see Christians, Mormons, and African-Americans at these rallies[…]

Er… one of these things is not like the others? Since when did being African-American become a religion, or necessitate being religious? I understand what you’re getting at here, that there’s a high level of correlation between being black and being religious in the US… but it’s not 100% high.
Richard Wade

DSimon, you asked:

Since when did being African-American become a religion, or necessitate being religious? I understand what you’re getting at here, that there’s a high level of correlation between being black and being religious in the US… but it’s not 100% high.

I think Keith is mentioning African Americans not because they are religious, but because 70% of the African American voters in California voted in favor of Proposition 8. He’s not linking them to the religious issue so much as he is wishing that representatives of the groups who for whatever reasons voted highly in favor of the initiative will be at the rallies to show that not all of the members of those groups are so backward and narrow-minded.

This campaign of protest will have more credibility if it is supported by diverse groups; gay, straight, all ethnic groups, religious and non-religous. If the bystanding public thinks everyone in the rallies are gay, they will only be surprised that there are more gays than they thought, but they won’t get the point that we are ALL effected and threatened by this outrage.
Jennifer Gray

I plan to be at the rally in Columbus, Ohio, along with several other members of Central Ohioans for Rational Inquiry. (www.ohioskeptic.com)
Buffy

My wife and I will be at the San Jose event. BTW, everybody attending please keep alert. Some individuals have made threats.
Renacier

Why is there nothing in Savannah? Dammnit, south Georgia, you are working my last nerve.
Skunque

I will be attending the rally in Washington DC.
Zerotarian

I’m going to the one here in Boston.
A Mind is a Terrible Thing….

The saddest part of all of this is that the rights of every American are implicit in the US Constitution-a LIVING document amended to become a document of INCLUSION. However, religious extremists and members of the far, far right believe the United States is, somehow, a christian nation based on the EXCLUSIONARY “Old” and new testaments; and, American law is, or should be, based on the 10 commandments (although I’m not sure which one of 3 lists of ten commandments they’re referring to.)

The voices of people like George Duhbya Bush, Pat Robertson, “Dr” James Dobson and Sarah Palin have dragged this country backwards into the early middle ages. Hopefully, more intelligent, rational voices will lead us into the future.

Good luck to us.
Erp

Planning to be at the San Jose event myself and attended a street vigil on Monday evening (a good turn out and plenty of support from passing cars).

Note it is not just marriage but also fostering (in Arkansas now unmarried couples gay or straight can’t foster even children related to them unless the parents very carefully took care of that contingency before dying). Read and become angry at http://adoptionact.familycouncilactioncommittee.com/index.asp?pageid=4
JSug

I’m planning to go to the rally in Seattle. My wife is going to be in Olympia on Saturday, so I’ll be bringing our 2-yr-old son. That probably means I won’t be able to stay long. But I’d like to wave a sign around and maybe take some pictures. Someday I’d like to be able to say I helped turn the tide.

Any suggestions for things to put on a sign? I was thinking something along the lines of:

Marriage is:
_ Defined by religion
_ Defined by the state
Pick one. You can’t have it both ways.
JSug

Also, I highly recommend people Digg this to help get the word out.
martymankins

I missed last week’s rally here in Salt Lake City, but plan to attend another tomorrow afternoon at the city/county building.

Keith says it well.

There’s so many letters to the editor in the Salt Lake Trib from people of religion that claim “marriage is ordained of God” and like this applies to everyone, not just people that belong to religion or believe in God. I say to them: if that’s the case, then why do you care if you are legally married? Why not just have a marriage that’s about God? Throw out the legal portion of it if it doesn’t matter. The selfish actions and mindsets of these people make me wonder how they see other legality concerns in life.