Gay marriage supporters head to Fresno for Prop. 8 rally
Streams of cars are headed north on the 5 Freeway this morning, sporting banners saying “Equality Now,” as supporters of same-sex marriage travel to Fresno for a 1 p.m. rally to kick off a renewed campaign to win back the right to marry in California.
Many of the cars are flying rainbow flags from their windows as a symbol of unity. Organizers are calling the rally “Meet in the Middle.” They chose Fresno as a rally site because voters there backed Proposition 8 by more than 2 to 1 and will be crucial to the new campaign. Organizers could seek to put the issue back on the ballot next year.
A march from the nearby town of Selma to Fresno was planned before the rally. But even as the activists road-tripped from Los Angeles and San Francisco into the heat of the Central Valley, their work would not go unchallenged.
On Friday afternoon, the ProtectMarriage committee, which organized the Yes on 8 campaign, announced what amounted to a counter-protest — a “Celebration of Marriage,” to be held Sunday in Fresno and San Diego.
-- Jessica Garrison
Interactive map of milestones in the gay marriage battle and how state laws have changed since 2000.
why do they keep saying they want a right to get married there is no such right its not a right for anyone anymore than driving a car is a right
Posted by: thomas k daniel | May 30, 2009 at 11:13 AM
What exactly are the "Yes on 8" people protesting? They have all their rights intact and picked up a new right - the right to deny other people their rights. Oh, they must be protesting gay peoples' freedom of speech now. Their counter protest just seems really really dumb to me.
Posted by: JohnVisser | May 30, 2009 at 11:34 AM
What I do not think you understand Thomas, is everyone has the right to apply for a license to driver a car when they reach a certain age. Not so with a marriage license. Marriage shouldn't be a special perk for the heterosexuals only club. It creates 2 classes of citizens, a 1st class and a 2nd class. That has no place in American society where we are all supposed to be treated equal under the law.
Posted by: Sean Stone | May 30, 2009 at 11:42 AM
Right or privilege? So... if gays were excluded from drivers licenses because they weren't straight... that would be OK with you? Discrimination is OK?
Marriage equality is about equality. Separate is not equal.
Posted by: MikePost | May 30, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Thats kind of funny how there traveling 200 miles while the county over san bernardino voted yes by 75 %.. thats ironic
just sayng
Posted by: Jose O. | May 30, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Thomas K Daniel said, "why do they keep saying they want a right to get married there is no such right its not a right for anyone anymore than driving a car is a right."
Actually, Thomas, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Loving vs. Virgina, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), said, "marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man,' fundamental to our very existence and survival..."
Just goes to show the ignorance of the law that the "Yes on 8" folks are lacking.
Posted by: JohnVisser | May 30, 2009 at 11:51 AM
"Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival. To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discriminations. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State. " (Loving VS. VA
Posted by: Warren | May 30, 2009 at 12:19 PM
The gay rights people will shout,scream,threaten and attempt to intimidate the citizens of fresno. This will only increase the Yes on 8 people. Yes on 8. Yes on 8. Wohoo, we won SUCKERS!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Juan | May 30, 2009 at 01:55 PM
Notice that Loving. v. Virginia said nothing about removing the bride+groom requirement from marriage licensing. Apples and oranges.
Posted by: Ken | May 31, 2009 at 03:51 PM
Shame on pro prop 8 to celebrate hate (h8). And to use the bible and God as their defense to create inequality. Shame on them!!!
Posted by: hesster | May 31, 2009 at 10:55 PM
I am pleased to see this issue going before the US Supreme Court. I do not want yet another proposition circulating yet another time. It's absurd to think that the voters of California will approve of same-sex marriage ever. The voters of California have a very bad habit of approving nasty legislation.
Imagine if de-segregation had ever been put before the voters of Alabama in a statewide proposition.
If the US Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage, then, conservative California is just going to have deal with it.
I live in the Bay Area, which nearly unanimously voted no on 8. Other than a few scattered counties, we were relatively isolated in that decision. Figuratively speaking, California is made up of the Bay Area surrounded by Alabama to the east, Oklahoma to the north, and Texas to the south. Other than the Bay Area, it's a conservative state, and these other comments prove it.
Posted by: KRT | June 01, 2009 at 08:00 AM