 "Photo: D. Ross Cameron-Oakland Tribune | MCT")
The St. Louis community will hold the “Join the Impact” rally as part of a nationwide protest against California’s Proposition 8 on the steps of the historic Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis tomorrow.
The rally is aimed at attracting those wishing to protest pro-equality losses in last week’s election, especially the passage of Proposition 8 in California.
Proposition 8 restricts the definition of marriage in the Golden State to a union between a man and a woman. It overturned the recent State Supreme Court decision that recognized same-sex marriage as a fundamental right.
“A lot of people were taken aback by the defeat because they expected California, a very liberal state, to be supportive of gay marriage,” Pride Alliance Historian Michael Rodriguez, a senior, said. “This loss shows how much we still have to do. If we lost California, it means we have a very large amount of work left to convince the rest of the country, most of which isn’t nearly as accepting.”
Despite the recent protests nationwide at Mormon churches, Rodriguez believes that both minority groups and whites must be targeted in future elections. Mormons poured tens of millions of dollars to support the proposition.
“It’s true that the majority of African-Americans voted against it, Hispanics were pretty much split and the majority of whites voted for it,” he said. “So, we have a lot of education and outreach left to do in every demographic. But we only lost by two percentage points.”
Jason Buchel, Pride Alliance director of public relations, said that in light of those statistics, a great deal must be done to spread tolerance. Buchel is also the director of Safe Zones, an organization dedicated to the education of the Washington University campus and community in GLBTQIA issues.
“Regardless of who’s to blame, I think it shows us that no matter how liberal a state is, we can never be too careful,” Buchel, a sophomore, said. “I think our country should have made more effort to ensure that the proposition wouldn’t pass.”
The campaigns for Proposition 8 raised $35.8 million while the push against it totaled $37.6 million, making it the highest-funded campaign on any state ballot of the election, second only to the presidential election.
Despite the disappointing outcome, Pride Alliance director of outreach Laura Lane-Steele said she believes California is an extremely progressive state but is saddened by the outcome and questions what this means for gay couples nationwide.
“Our love isn’t legitimate in the eyes of millions of Americans,” she said.
It is unclear what will happen to the 18,000 couples that have already married in California. Gay couples wishing to marry will most likely be forced to travel to other states that have legalized same-sex marriage.
“Gay couples who want to get married will have to venture to Connecticut or Massachusetts if they wish to get married,” Buchel said. “I have also heard talk that New York may be leaning toward legalizing gay marriage in the near future.”
Rodriguez said it is “inevitable” that the proposition will one day be turned down, but believes a lot needs to be done to reach that pivotal point.
“We’re on the right side of history, yet this defeat shows that we cannot be complacent, that we have to push hard to make history happen,” Rodriguez said.
Buchel also remains confident.
“I have faith that one day we will live in a world where same-sex couples can marry,” he said. “At this point, all we can do is take baby steps and be patient. And most importantly, stop the spread of ignorance.”
Join the Impact will take place at noon at the Old Courthouse, located at Broadway and Market Streets. For more information, visit www.jointheimpact.com.
Before slavery was outlawed, before women got the right to vote, many states voted that inequality was perfectly fine. Just because the majority of voters decided that a certain group of people did not deserve equality under the law did NOT make it okay, let alone constitutional.
Proposition 8 was put on the ballot ridiculously fast and (as the California courts will shortly decide) may have been put on the ballot unconstitutionally. I see absolutely nothing wrong about these protestors using their first amendment right to protest something they believe was absolutely ridiculous.