Rally in San Jose

I marched in my first protest yesterday - i was in the San Jose arm of the amazing nationwide rally coordinated by Join The Impact. Here in San Jose we had 4 groups march from different meetup spots and converge upon our city hall from 4 different directions. Once we all poured into the courtyard we had some speakers, including city council members, a religious leader, and our vice mayor. Then we lined the streets, waving signs, chanting, and cheering as all of the cars drove by honking their horns in support. (I have to admit, after i left i took the long way home just so i could drive past & honk my horn :-) ).






It really was moving; seeing so many people come together in support. High energy; high emotion. And some amazingly creative signs; here are a few of my favorites:




Even more moving are the countless photo galleries and stories pouring in from all of the other protest locations across the country. Images from Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, and so many other cities where people just flooded the streets - overwhelming. Also inspiring are spots like my old home in Champaign-Urbana where tight groups held strong. Props to the crew back home for pulling this off! Check out their facebook event for some awesome photos; i especially like the sign which reads "Discrimination is *so* 1950s".

I've felt strongly about this issue for a long time, so i'm glad i can finally help do something about it. And this is only the beginning.

<soapbox>
Yes, it blows that Prop 8 passed. But maybe that was a much-needed wakeup call. I think too many people just sat back and assumed that it would fail. Until about a month before the election, i was one of those people. Then i saw the polls and freaked out; "What do you mean we're losing? This is CALIFORNIA! Who the fuck is actually supporting discrimination?" I know i'm not the only one who reacted to that - i started to get involved, and was encouraged by the support of so many individuals, community groups, politicians, and even a group of silicon valley business leaders (including open support from execs from Yahoo!, Google, Apple, and many others - check it out here).

But it wasn't enough, and maybe we were too late. Prop 8 passed, along with similar ballot measures in 3 other states, making a grand total of 37 with same-sex marriage bans written into their constitutions. This is not acceptable. But on the flipside, 2 states - Massachusetts and now Connecticut - carry equal marriage rights. This is a start.
</soapbox>

Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into a political blog. I'm sure i'll be writing a little about future events i get involved with, but the random silly stories and concert writeups will continue on as well (although i'm behind - Bloodwire & Claire Voyant were amazing last week, and i haven't even looked at my photos from Dragonforce yet).