ANTI-PROP 8 PROTEST SET FOR DALLAS 11-15-08
posted by Kelli Busey
planetransgender
On election day of this year while the LGBT community was celebrating the end of Bush politics our inequality was being written into the California, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas constitutions. In California where LGBT people had enjoyed marriage equality since June our rights were ripped away from us over night.
Since the elections tens of thousands of people have been pouring into the streets throughout California in disgust over the passing of Prop 8. This Saturday, November 15 at 12:30 PM, we in Dallas will stand in front of City Hall with those in California in expressing our abhorrence of the passing of this hateful measure.
Dallas’ Protest is part of a nationwide day of action against Prop 8. This effort coordinated through the website www.jointheimpact.com will take place at exactly the same time this coming Saturday in front of City Halls throughout the country.
Although last Tuesday’s vote in California prompted officials in that state to cease issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, it’s an open question whether the Supreme Court in that state will confirm the ballot referendum or throw it out. Officially, their decision will probably hinge on a legal technicality, whether or not the referendum language broke a vaguely worded provision of the state constitution that says that referenda cannot be overly-broad in the matters they cover.
However, the real reason for the court’s decision will probably have much more to do with the amount of protest heat that LGBT people and our allies can generate outside of the courtrooms. While courts are always loath to admit that public protest influences their decisions, some of the most important progressive decisions have in fact been the direct results of such public protest. A large women’s movement in the streets of America made the Nixon-packed, anti-abortion US Supreme Court give us the Roe v. Wade pro-choice decision in the 1970s to name one example.
Saturday’s nationwide protests are aimed at pressuring the California Supreme Court to reaffirm its earlier pro-gay decision and restore the state’s reputation as a beacon for progressives elsewhere. Also on the agenda is repealing the Texas state constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage and advancing LGBT equality here in our home state, this is not an impossible task that our elected leaders often present it as being.
For more information about Saturday’s demonstration please contact the following individuals:
Blake Wilkinson
214-679-6321
fromabilitiestoneeds@hotmail.com
Etta Zamboni
469-323-3060
stoptheh8@ymail.com
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