More than 20,000 protesters spilled into the streets of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and even Modesto on Saturday in mostly peaceful demonstrations over passage of Proposition 8, the statewide ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage.Of course ANSWER sponsored an illegal protest: These people are hardcore revolutionaries seeking the ultimate destruction of the American state.
The unfolding street scenes underscored the racial and religious tensions that have surfaced since Tuesday's vote threw into question the legality of 18,000 marriages of gay and lesbian couples and foreclosed the option for any more.
Police estimated that 12,500 boisterous marchers converged about 6 p.m. at Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards in Silver Lake near the site of the former Black Cat bar, which the city recently designated a historic-cultural monument for its '60s role as home of the local gay rights movement....
The Silver Lake rally began with fiery speeches from the bed of a pickup.
Among the speakers was Robin Tyler, half of the lesbian couple who were denied a marriage license in 2004 and challenged that rejection all the way to the California Supreme Court.
The pair married after the court cleared the way for gay weddings, but the legal status of such marriages is now uncertain.
Tyler expressed frustration over the leadership of the unsuccessful campaign to defeat the ballot measure and lashed out at those who supported it.
"The No on 8 people didn't want us to use the word 'bigots.' But that's what they are, bigots, bigots, bigots," Tyler said, bringing a round of cheers from the growing crowd. "We will never be made invisible again. Never again will we let them define who we are."
The march's organizers, the L.A. Coalition for Equal Marriage Rights and the Answer Coalition, did not apply for a permit, police said.
The intense vitriol we've seen in the various photo images of the protests, as well as the attacks on black Americans standing in the way of the revolutionary agenda, demonstrate that the gay rights radical movement is not about building cross-cultural and multi-ethnic alliances, but is rather part of the "struggle" against the imperial hegemony of the privileged classes.
We've seen the frontlines of the new culture war take to the streets this past week. The tide is turning in this country, and some in the GOP are arguing that the road back to power lies along the landing grounds of traditional culture.
12 comments:
International ANSWER eh? I've encountered them many times on the streets of Washington DC. I've counterprotested their type several times. They're a crazy bunch.
Gay Marriage is about a lot of things, but marriage isn't one of them.
It is an attempt to change the fundamental nature of American society. If it was just a situation where some gay folks wanted to get married, then I might be in favor of it.
But these people want to force their values on all of us. They want to force churches, photographers, and caterers to participate or face legal sanction, including criminal and civil penalties. Don't believe me? They've already tried it.
And this is why ANSWER is involved; they see what it's all about.
Exactly, Tom!
Thanks for vistiting!
"Traditional culture":
Slavery?
Genocide against Native people?
Second-class status for women?
Child labor?
No health and safety laws for workers?
Forced military conscription?
Jim Crow?
Some American "traditions" are best broken.
No one is forcing gay marraige on you. If you're gay, you don't have to get married.
Seriously, tell me how a marriage between a committed gay or lesbian couple threatens YOUR marriage any more than the high divorce and adultery rates amongst straights does.
Simple, QD ...
... no one is trying to use the legal system to assign moral equivalence between the divorced and adulterous, and the married.
Face it ... this is just another lever y'all are using to try and move secular fundamentalism into an exclusive position in public life.
And BTW, QD ... your laundry list of past American misdeeds is more than matched by the rampant imperialism in the history of those Europeans your fellow-travelers believe we should subordinate our national will to as "world citizens".
Discussed, debated, debunked ... old news.
20,000 protesters in a state with a population in excess of 36,000,000. Not very impressive. Certainly not convincing relative to any injustice on this matter.
@Tom: They want to force churches, photographers, and caterers to participate or face legal sanction, including criminal and civil penalties. Don't believe me? They've already tried it.
Any citations of any of that, Tom?
For the record, I would not be in favor of forcing any church or religious organization to perform or house marriages or ceremonies that go against their teachings. (I sincerely doubt there is anything in US law to compel them to do so anyway, nor would I ever want there to be.)
If a business discriminates on the basis of race, gender, or sexual orientation, that's a different matter, however. If you're black (or Catholic, or Jewish, or...) & getting married, perhaps "Triple K Caterers" isn't the best business to employ to prepare & serve your guests in the first place, but if they refuse to take your business because you're not "their kinda people," you'd be remiss in not pursuing legal action. So why is this any different?
@RC: ... no one is trying to use the legal system to assign moral equivalence between the divorced and adulterous, and the married.
Of course not... There's little need. The divorced, the adulterous, and the married for the most part already have moral equivalence in American society, for good or ill. And where there is any question of it, such as the rights of fathers vs the rights of mothers in divorce, legal cases abound.
While I know you folks still see the Reds in every dark corner, this really isn't a socialist issue in any way. (The E. R. in ANSWER is about ending racism, & acting against discrimination of any kind is a step toward ending racism.) To suggest otherwise makes y'all look crazy foolish. Whatever you may think, the gay commies aren't coming to steal away your children...
Repsac3: All along your line used to be, "there's no evidence that the radical left has anything to do with the Democrats..."
Now when we have ANSWER as the main sponsor of one of your pet projects, you just blow it off with your normal nihilist non-chalance.
ANSWER is all about destruction of the United States. They advertise it all the time. Their goal is the "struggle" against "fascism" and "imperial aggression," and the gay rights protests are just one tactic in overthrowing the dominant hegemonial barons.
The more you deny this as "commies" in the corner, the more you look like a tool of the neo-Marxist intelligentsia, defending their propanda while they call good, decent blacks, "niggers." Why don't you just call this one a day and concede. You're even worse than Biobrain, and that guy's nuts.
@Donald: All along your line used to be, "there's no evidence that the radical left has anything to do with the Democrats..."
My line was never that "there's no evidence that the radical left has anything to do with the Democrats...", but that Obama is not a radical, and that no radical organization of the type you cite constantly (Including ANSWER) will (or did, now that it's over) support the Democrats or their candidate in the 2008 elections.
For more on that misstatement & the shifting goalpost: Wingnuts & Moonbats: There's a difference between denying a thing...
HaloScan.com - Comments: You're going to find very few of your commie radical boogieman organizations supporting Obama or the Democratic party, though there may be a few individuals loosely associated with them who do... The commies & the socialists run their own candidates, or believe the system is so corrupt that elections are a sham anyway, and won't support any candidate or the system for electing them.
Now when we have ANSWER as the main sponsor of one of your pet projects, you just blow it off with your normal nihilist non-chalance.
I wasn't aware there was any such thing as "normal nihilist non-chalance"
I blow it off because ANSWER is a coalition of smaller groups focussed on single issues, and discrimination (against blacks, against muslims, against homosexuals) are among those issues. That they rallied for this cause does not surprise me. Rallying for member group causes is their reason for being. Think of them as the "Coalition of the willing" of protest groups, if it'll help. Just because Pakistan fought along side the US in the WOT, it doesn't mean the US supports their record on human rights & freedom. It just means we came together to achieve a goal.
defending their propanda while they call good, decent blacks, "niggers."
As long as you define whole groups by their worst behaving members, you'll never get anywhere... (Or are all Republicans as perverse as Larry "Wide Stance" Craig & Mark "Pretty notes to young boys" Foley, and as corrupt as ol' Ted Stevens?) In every large group, there are idiots...
You're even worse than Biobrain, and that guy's nuts.
Still smarting from getting your intellectual ass kicked so badly by him, eh? Donald, that was a really, really long time ago. Get over it, already... Plenty of people have beaten you at least as badly since then...
repsac3, your past characterizations of Don and the tactics and verbiage he uses in his arguments are becoming clearer to me every time I visit this site. Intellectual midgets like redhunter and casebolt are fun to fuck with because I've come to expect very little from them anyway but Don truly does seem to be fairly intelligent, yet I can't seem to square the disconnect between this apparent intellect and the demonstrably false and foolish things he says.
To be honest I'm quickly losing interest in this blog: the posts are becoming predominantly cut and paste jobs from long, pointless biased articles with some inflammatory language thrown in as "style" to "rile up the leftists"; I'm seeing very little in the vein of original thought post-wise and the comments by those who agree are for the most part predictably ugly and boring.
Obama won, guys: deal. And he isn't a commie or racist or socialist or whatever else makes you feel good to call him. And I'm sure you'll all respond in kind that he is indeed a...whatever. It was a lively past time arguing ideologies during the election but there are now more important things to get to; my life will be too short at it's end for me to have spent it butting heads with haters and morons.
repsac3, you're obviously a progressive and thoughtful individual; I'll drop by your site whenever I get a chance. Don, sorry; this site was interesting for a while but the mealy flavor eventually left a bad taste in my mouth. While I obviously don't wish you well in your political endeavours I hope life remains good for you and yours; no one deserves anything less. Adieu.
Haters and morons, jbw?
Only if you define "hate" as any strong dissent from the Leftist party line ... and "moron" as anyone who does not conform to the Left's simplistic litmus tests for intelligence.
You fail to discern wisdom, jbw ... as do many of "your" leaders.
They, and you will soon be exposed as such ... not by the writings of alleged intellectual midgets, but by the consequences of your ideas when they are now applied.
Read Romans 1:22 ... continue in your smugness, and that will be your future.
I missed this over the weekend - thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Post a Comment