So, I was supposed to meet Sarah (a friend from work) at the Park Street station at 10 in the morning. Well, if we've met a couple of times, then you know that I sometimes have problems getting places on time. I rolled in at about 10:20, with no sign of Sarah by the stop. I walked through the Common to the State House, where the protest was to be held. Basically, I followed the shouting.
The story was thus: Massachusetts has had same sex marriage for years now, and the sky has not fallen down...although the divorce rate sure has! Despite this, there are religious and political conservatives who do not agree that same sex marriage is the bees knees, and have been trying to make it go away through an amendment to the state constitution defining "marriage" as a union between a man and a woman. To make this happen, the amendment would have to go to popular vote on the ballot with the presidential election (worst idea EVER). To get the amendment on the ballot, 1/4 of the joint legislature has to vote yes in two separate votes. It had already been voted through once, and if it got through this day, the slam ad campaigns would start (just as they had in Wisconsin) trying to convince people that all gay people are pedophiles and other such malarky.
On the side of the street with the Common was the Pro-Amendment faction, hereafter referred to as ProAms. Surprisingly, when I arrived, they were completely civil. They had tasteful, well-made printed and lamenated green signs that said "Let the People Vote," and they sang hymns and chanted their chant:
"One man, one woman, let the people vote!"
Effective, and reasonable. I'm sure the people they encounter day to day are not chatting up gay marriage to them, and it's a perfectly legitimate argument that if the state is going to adopt same sex marriage (or not) that the population of the state should vote on it. The flaw in their logic is that Massachusetts is so blue it could be a smurf. Still, I was impressed by their calmness and lack of hate speech, and they only hassled two guys a little bit because they had brought their 8 year old son with them. Nothing too bad I guess, just things like "How could you bring a child into this?" etc.
On the side of the street with the state house was the Mass Equality/Pride faction, hereafter referred to as MassEq. The great thing about this rally is that Mass Equality (the nonprofit organization located in Boston that fights for civil rights) had been working for weeks lobbying with legislators, and this rally was the culmination of all their work (rather than a single gathering designed to make a statement or something). This side was full of more kinds of people than you could count, happy as can be. People had been bussed in from all over the state since six in the morning, and Mass Equality was running a great, organized show with excellent crowd control. All the protesters faced the street. Nearest the curb were the people with the huge signs that it takes 6-8 people to hold up, forming a block between the crowd and the street. People with bullhorns walked back and forth on the street in front of these people, leading the crowd in cheers and chants (the theory: if you give a crowd something positive to do with its energy, it will not break things) and inducing cheers whenever senators arrived. I knew that Mass Equality was not messing around as whenever legislators arrived, they were recognized by Mass Equality members and introduced to the crowd by name. There were many clergy there, and 60+ of them had held a prayer service down the street at a Unitarian (what else?) church and marched down the street to the MassEq side wearing their rainbow stoles. The signs were of all kinds: when I arrived, I decided I wanted a big one on a stick because they're easier to hold up, and the two choices I had were "I love my two dads" or "Marriage is a human right." While I have two dads, they are not married, and I would've felt misrepresentative holding the sign so I chose the latter. I found a couple of people I know there, namely Adam, who works with me, and Andi, who I'd met at the Pride party at Meg's and who'd encouraged me to go. I was real excited about the experience, and the sidewalk was live with energy. I found Sarah eventually, who was also excited, as she had worked with the Anti-Amendment group in Wisconsin, where she'd gone to school (AntiAm Wisconsin lost, but MassEq had a chance!). There was chanting and singing, and everything was so positive. I would have expected some people to be angry, but everyone just seemed so happy to be a part of this, the anger was left at home. There were also the "Ragin' Grannies," little old women with crazy hats and clothing who made up songs and show up to help causes who showed up on our side. The most emotional signs for me were the parents who (there without their kid!) stood in front of us with signs that said "We're proud of our gay son." Knowing so many guys from the CNY who had to take shit from their parents...that made me a little emotional. The MassEq side, btw, WAY outnumbered the ProAms. It was really awesome.
Some of our chants were these:
"Two men, two women, what are you afraid of?"
"Hey hey, ho ho, discrimination has got to go!"
Leader: "Show me what equality looks like!"
All: "THIS is what equality looks like!"
These are only a selection, but the last is especially potent because to look at the MassEq side, there was not a majority or minority group not represented. The ProAms were a bunch of middle class white people. As the chanting happened, people took up empty water jugs and used them as drums to keep the crowd in time. YAY FOR RHYTHM!!!
After chanting outside for awhile, we were ushered inside the State House to an auditorium where we would be sitting to watch the vote on a big screen live from the joint legislature session. They put the ProAms on the right, and the MassEqs on the left. POLITICAL SYMBOLISM, ANYONE??? Before the vote happened, we started singing again...this time patriotic songs, which made the ProAms REAL angry. Hee hee. On the balcony to my left, there were people waving a big American flag next to a big Pride flag and we all cheered, and just as the crowd was quieting down again two guys on the balcony kissed and one of them shouted "He said yes! We're getting married today!!!" I cried a little bit.
During the voting, the room was completely quiet. The ProAms needed 50 yes votes total to get the amendment on the ballot. The senators had to vote out loud and were each called by name. By tally beforehand, Mass Equality was three votes shy of putting down the amendment. You could tell when a couple of senators voted our way when they hadn't before, because the Mass Equality workers (identified by their cute T-shirts: "It's wrong to vote on rights. MASSEQUALITY.") jumped up and down and cheered with delight. After the Senate, there were 5 yes votes. Then the house voted by electronic ticker, and whoever was running the camera on the video feed wouldn't show the whole electronic vote tally board, but then the results came up..."Yes: 40." The whole room (now filled on both sides with MassEqs because there were so many of us) cheered and was ecstatic. Afterward, we went to a press conference and went outside where all of the legislators who voted "no" stood on the balcony of the State House and were thanked individually.
This victory made me feel good all over that day. The only thing that marred the victory were the ProAms who, realizing their defeat, saw no problem with bringing out their hate speech. There were signs with the two bathroom-style men sodomizing each other with a big red circle with a slash through it (the MassEq response: "Yes. Because THAT'S what it's about. Good job."), signs that said "Dogs don't even do that!" (response: "That's not even true!") and "God hates homosexuals!" (responses: "God HATES people? We're all in trouble then!" and "Are you kidding?")
This is the story of a thing I have done. It was one of the best experiences of my life.
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