Prop. 8 causes Westside traffic misery

Hundreds of people protesting on the Westside over the passage of Prop. 8 are causing gridlock in a part of L.A. already famous for bad traffic.

The Times' Tami Abdollah reports that the gridlock is gripping streets around the Westside. She said it took her a half-hour to go a mile. She said most major streets -- including Sepulveda Boulevard, Barrington Avenue and Olympic Boulevard -- are jammed. Side streets around the area are also clogged with cars. There is major congestion through Beverly Hills as well.

Details:

• Portions of Santa Monica Boulevard are closed between Beverly Glen and Westwood boulevards.

• Portions of Westwood Boulevard are also closed north of Santa Monica Boulevard.

• Portions of Ohio Avenue are closed east of Westwood Boulevard.

• The closures have caused major congestion on Wilshire Boulevard, a part of which was closed.

• The eastbound Wilshire Boulevard offramp from the 405 Freeway is closed.

These closures change as the protesters move through. Some streets open then close again.

--Shelby Grad

Photo: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Randy]

How much will this cost? Why do these protesters have the right to spend city and state money by walking in the street and blocking traffic. Why should commuters be inconvenienced in this way? Wasn't the election expensive enough?

[steve]

the more i see these protests the more and more firm and stronger I feel we need to protect marriage. I will do all I can. it is a moral issue not a civil issue.

[susan]

Acting selfish in this way is NOT helping their cause. They didn't like the results of the voting process and how bring misery to the streets -- many people are saying they're acting like spoiled brats, plus wasting our police resources, and causing people major delays in going home to their families, plus in case of emergency. They could protest off the streets, but blocking traffic is backfiring. I voted against Prop 8 but if they make life miserable again, I'll reconsider.

Many are turned off by their message that their right to marry is just like blacks and Latinos being allowed to marry across race -- that totally disregards the strong religious teachings of many, blacks, Latinos, conservative Christians, etc.

I understand how they'd find the Mormon church hypocritical, since that church allows polygamy, and it's creepy that an older man can marry multiple young girls. But that's not what's going on here in LA at the local Mormon church or in California -- that church gave to a ballot measure just like other churches do, including the Catholic church against abortion rights. People can disagree but making life miserable at rush hour for everyone backfires.

Some conservative Christians and Orthodox Jews and Muslims oppose gay marriage because if it's legally equal to traditional marriage, churches that refuse to marry gays as opposed to their principles can be prosecuted. Plus many don't want teachers to be forced to include gay sex and marriage in the health and social studies classes that are required in schools, and in the stories used in elementary curricula to teach civil rights tolerance. If those exemptions are written into a future version of the law, lots of problems can be avoided. Blocking traffic is NOT going to help anyone.

[Daisy]

Well...on the bright side, we were saved from a riot on election night. Can you imagine what would have happened if Obama had lost? Thank you foreign donors for helping America elect Obama.

[srla]

I have to drive right through all that mess now, but I'll gladly put up with the inconvenience.

I've heard so-called legal experts on local new proclaim that Prop 8 was not a Constitutional revision but rather an Amendment because it was short and "limited in scope".

By this same logic a ballet proposition to ban Mormon marriage should pass muster too, as it would be equally "limited in scope". Of course, the sole problem with this hypothetical proposition is that such an amendment would violate the equal protection provision of the State Constitution and therefore would constitute a constitutional revision. As a revision, it would have to pass a 2/3 vote in the state legislature to be allowed on the ballot.

The same is true with Prop 8. This legal reasoning should be simple for an objective individual to understand. A gay marriage ban has been ruled to violate the equal protection provision (as would banning Mormon marriage). therefor it should be clear that Prop 8 will be ruled an illegal revision of the California Constitution.

[Sarah Beth]

The protesters even caused the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to close today for the safety of worshipers. I'm glad I got the message from my church group that was planning to go that the temple had been closed. Traffic would have been a mess and I would not have been able to get inside tonight anyway.

[Fred]

Protest all you want because the PEOPLE have spoken and they have decided that your abominable actions are repugnant enough to deny them the dignity and honor of marriage. Bring it on liberal drones - the PEOPLE will fight on in their churches, synagogues, and mosques.

[greg johnson]

I hope the proponents of prop 8 now feel like their hetero marriage is more special and sacred. I do not understand how my ability to marry my husband in any way harms my hetero neighbors. If their relationship is so fragile, that two people committing to each other in love, could destroy it ... makes you wonder.

What kind of hatred do you have inside of you to want to hurt us this much ?

It is tragic that the proponents of prop 8 had to lie and misrepresent to ram their hatred through the election. What I don't understand is why don't they pick one of the ten Commandments and rally around that. How about "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor". Homosexuality is barely mentioned in the bible. Why pick that. If it was such a horrible thing, why isn't it one of the Ten Commandments ? Why single homosexuality out ? Why not the equally strong ban on eating shrimp (Leviticus 11:9-12) ? Why pick us to hurt ? I don't understand.

[Maggie]

You might want to update this. Intersection at Wilshire and Santa Monica is closed. Sort of a big news story, you would think.

[James Wilson]

Are you kidding me? Gay marriage is unlawful in California, get over it. Don't these protestors have jobs? Yes on Proposition 8 passed, live with it. If you want to marry your lesbian or gay lover, move to CT or MA. Not in our backyard...ever.

[Jim]

Why on earth were the on-ramps to the 405 from Wilshire and Santa Monica closed?! No one could get on to the 405. It seems that congestion might have eased if the police had allowed people to get on to the 405! It took 2 1/2 hours to get back to the Valley, and only through circuitous routes to Sepulveda. I'm done venting!

[caliislove]

Same sex couples rights (which have been granted in 2 other states, including this one) were put up for a "majority rules" decision. That is illegal, unconstitutional. I hate it when people who do not even have a domestic partnership feel they can safely say that DPs are the same as marriage. Domestic Partnerships are not the same as marriage. The rights granted by DPs do not extend beyond state borders. Marriages do. Domestic Partners must be 18 to marry...but straight couples can marry if they are under 18 with their parent's permission. With marriage, those in the armed forces stationed away can marry via proxy...there is no such equivalent for domestic partnership. And same sex partners are charged $40 to file a DP, while straight couples over 65 are only charged $10. That's not the same, that's not equal. That's discrimination. That's wrong. and that's illegal. The riots are only the beginning.

[Gryph]

The same thing happened back many years ago when then-Governor Pete Wilson vetoed legislation that would prevent discrimination toward gays and lesbians in housing and employment.

I know, I was one of the marchers. ;-)

West-side drivers (which I also am) will just have to put up with it for as long as it lasts.

After all, no matter what you think of Prop 8 or gay marriage, its clear that we gays and lesbian Americans mostly view this as an attack on our families, including even our children. Think of how ticked off you would feel if that happened to you.

[Jere]

It's about time the religions are held accountable in the laws eyes for their misdeeds. Take for example, David Koresch, Jim Jones, Jimmy Swaggert, and other Law Abiding Religious Citizens of this country. Perhaps, while they are pointing the accusatory finger at Gay Marriage, perhaps they should look at themselves first. I do believe, and know for a fact that most of the child molestations (pedophilia) comes from the churches themselves. Perhaps they don't want us to come together, because it could spoil their fun....

[Stuckintraffic]

i voted no on 8 and i completely support the protestors but why don't they go do this in orange county...

[mario]

If you don't like traffic then you should have voted NO on 8!

[mario]

If you don't like traffic then you should have voted NO on 8!

[H. Craig Bradley]

Sore losers! The Gay community lost at the ballot box on the first initiative in 2000 and again with Prop.8. They lost in Oregon a couple years ago, as well. You can not force a majority of the population to agree with or accept you. That must be earned in each individual case. Also remember, equal treatment does NOT equate to equal results.

Doing end runs through the courts in an attempt to overturn the will of the people only causes more hard feelings. So, don't be doing that. And yes, leave the MORMONS alone, or suffer fire and brimstone.

Remember Sodom and Gomorrah in the Book of Genesis? Only Lot escaped with his life out of the entire population of two towns . That was not bigotry, it was judgement. Please, Don't let it happen to you.

[Concerned Driver]

Do these idiots really think causing this kind of disruption is going to make me sympathetic to their cause? Nope. This is the second time the people have made this choice. Live with it.

[DAVE PHILLIPS]

Next time LA law enforcement grants a parade or protest permit, why not allow that to occur during mid-afternoon. That way the protestors would be forced to join the rush hour conjestion which was so maddening for tens of thousands headed both to and from work tonight -- for the civil rights of a few thousand who apparently can't accept the results of a direct democratic vote on Prop 8.

[joey]

Come on! Do you people realize that Mormons only made up for 2% of the YES vote. That leaves 98% of the YES vote to others. Maybe it should tell you all a little something about having family VALUES. Something you all agreeing on the NO vote know nothing about.

[Darla Clancy]

What does the Mormon Church have to do with the passing of 8? I know our Catholic church really was focusing on the pass. Also, exit polling shows that black and hispanic voters voted 70% in favor of prop 8. There isn't a BIG following of blacks and hispanics in the Mormon church. I don't understand why a bill has to be passed twice and people still don't get that majority wins.

[Dan]

I'm looking at it through my window on Barrington. Its utter gridlock. Lots of ambulences and firetrucks cutting through the mess. I just rode my bike through it, its gridlocked down to 20th, all through the Westside. Looks like I won't be celebrating my roomate's birthday tonight, good luck out there.

[tom grant]

Marriage really is a special relationship between men and women; this is not a liberal or conservative political 'position' regardless of religious affiliation...I can hear the screams of the self-righteous already, but: did it ever occur to you that you're actually wrong? Male and female exist for specific reasons. OK, start yelling. PS, I'm a Democrat.

[Norman]

Taken from a quote as a diverse group of US military men/women became US citizens: "Diverse as your backgrounds may be, you all now have one thing in common: You are all Americans," said U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top American commander in Iraq. "You represent the very best of all that our nation stands for: freedom, opportunity, equality and service."

The best that a nation has to offer and here in California in this 21st Century, we've passed a measure to insert hate into our state constitution. Shouldn't all people have equal rights? Where's the justice in excluding the rights of a certain group such as the gay community?

First we didn't learn our lesson with inequality for blacks, then women, interracial marriage, now the gay community. Let's be the progressive state and offer equal rights to all our citizens.