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Hundreds march to state Capitol protesting Proposition 8
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More than 400 Madison community members marched from Library Mall to the State Capitol Saturday to protest California’s passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state.
Madison was just one of about 300 cities nationwide that took part in the protest. Milwaukee, Green Bay, La Crosse and Superior all had similar marches to their city halls.
Timothy Schlichting, an organizer of Madison’s march, said the California law has angered the gay community throughout the country since same-sex couples in California had the right to get married and it was taken away from them.
“That’s like if you went ahead during the civil rights movement, when we gave African-Americans the right to vote, that’s like going back and saying you can’t vote now,” said Schlichting, who added he and his partner had planned on getting married in California in June.
Schlichting and co-organizer Cody Olson led cheers as the crowd marched up State Street. University of Wisconsin professor Howard Schweber also spoke on Capitol Square.
Olson, a UW sophomore, said the California referendum required an appropriate response from pro-gay rights individuals nationwide.
“We thought California was going to be the one state that would vote against the ban and protect our rights,” Olson said. “And when Proposition 8 went through, we retaliated with protests and marches since we felt like our rights were being taken away from us.”
But the day was not without controversy. Olson said a Christian group took part in a counterprotest, screaming obscenities at the crowd during their march to the Capitol.
“We just nonviolently walked around them,” Olson said. “I was happy with the people in front who didn’t do anything, just went around them.”
Also, Schlichting said a man who was “quite verbal” of his distaste for homosexuals during Schweber’s speech was asked to leave by police.
The man was calling homosexuality a “sin” and saying two men or two women together is “completely vile,” Schlichting said.
Though many members of the LGBT community have been very supportive of President-elect Barack Obama, Schlichting said he thinks Obama won’t change very much in terms of gay rights.
“President-elect Obama has made it clear that he is not for a same-sex marriage amendment — he wants to leave it up to the states,” Schlichting said. “So maybe a lot of states will give civil unions since he supports that, which would be great.”
Olson said though he knows Obama has not been the strongest supporter of gay marriage rights, he still is hopeful that a Democratic-controlled Washington can push through legislation allowing same-sex marriage.
Schlichting said he had originally only planned for 50 to 100 protesters, but a Facebook group promoting the event helped that number balloon.
Large marches were seen throughout the country Saturday, including in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Denver.
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Stop comparing this to the Civil Rights Movement…in American history all minorities have suffered horribly and faced injustices at different times: Native Americans for 200+ years, the Japanese during World War II, African Americans for 100+ years, Americans of Arab descent more so in the last few years, as well as Hispanics with the issues of immigration and rights. However, comparing the struggle of the homosexual community to that of the Civil Rights Movement of the 50’s and 60’s? Never, no way, no how. Lynchings, no free speech, no chance for an equal education, helpless, hopeless, and poor and yet they rose up and and persevered at great cost to themselves and their families.
How many homosexuals have faced attack dogs and fire hoses? Take widely publicized incidents like the murder of Matthew Shepard, single, often isolated incidents, then think of the Klan, oppression, SLAVERY. Take a step back and think about how many African Americans suffered under Jim Crow laws. Countless of your stance on gay marriage, please do not feed into this idea. Do not disrespect the memories of those who marched, faced down “authorities,” and even died to give themselves, an entire race of people who had slaves as ancestors, a fair chance in life. It takes away from one of the greatest moments of both shame and triumph in American history, a memory that should sit fresh in our minds as a reminder of yesterday in our quickly globalizing world.
“STATE RECOGNIZED GAY MARRIAGE” = VERY FEW BENEFITS AND UPSETS RELIGIOUS PEOPLE
“FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED CIVIL UNIONS” = FULL BENEFITS AND MORPHS THIS SITUATION INTO A CIVIL RIGHTS ARGUMENT, WHICH DOES NOT UPSET AS MANY PEOPLE.
WHY IS THE GAY COMMUNITY INSISTING ON STATE RECOGNIZED “GAY MARRIAGE”? SHOULD MY PARTNER DIE BEFORE ME, I WILL HAVE TO SELL THE HOUSE I HAVE LIVED IN FOR 28 YEARS IN ORDER TO PAY FEDERAL (NOT STATE!) ESTATE TAXES. FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED CIVIL UNIONS WILL CORRECT THE MAJOR PROBLEMS IN OUR COMMUNITY, NOT STATE RECOGNIZED GAY MARRIAGE. THAT’S WHY MANY POLITICAL LEADERS (LIKE CHENEY) PREFER TO MAKE THIS A “STATE” ISSUE INSTEAD OF A FEDERAL ONE. OBAMA AND BIDEN HAVE SAID THEY ARE SYMPATHETIC TO CIVIL UNIONS - SO LET’S GET BEHIND THAT AND PUSH FOR FEDERAL RECOGNITION. STATE RECOGNITION IS POINTLESS AND USELESS.
So the Madison members of the LGBT community didn’t rough up any old ladies? That’s bad PR to do that.
” I WILL HAVE TO SELL THE HOUSE I HAVE LIVED IN FOR 28 YEARS IN ORDER TO PAY FEDERAL (NOT STATE!) ESTATE TAXES”
That must be quite the estate! And quite the house. Maybe some life insurance would be in order?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…”
If by “men,” the declaration means mankind, then we currently have “man” marrying “man.” If they mean y-chromosome, then women are not created equal.
Wooooooow. Let’s completely make civil rights about race and ignore a wider picture. So only those defined as ‘racially’ different have the right to fight for their civil rights in this country? Verrry interesting…yes, I think it’s a GREAT idea to limit our outlooks in this way, GO FOR IT! And um, 12:04am, do remember to check how long all those groups have been dealing with various oppressive issues, pretty sure North American Natives have been dealing with colonization far longer than just 200 years, and pretty sure slavery and its effects go farther back than 100 years. If you’re gonna get on the soapbox to rant, might as well make it a bit more accurate.
SOCCER is defined as “a form of football played between two teams of 11 players, in which the ball may be advanced by kicking or by bouncing it off any part of the body but the arms and hands.” RUGBY is defined as: “a form of football played between two teams of 15 members each that differs from soccer in freedom to carry the ball, block with the hands and arms, and tackle.” To suggest that if 15 players carried the ball and tackled they would still be playing soccer would be an absurdity. That most of the people in California (and in other states) prefer that Soccer not be redefined in such a way that it is no longer distinguishable from Rugby does not logically entail the conclusion that those same people believe Rugby players are less worthy of respect, or not entitled to all the same personal dignity as soccer players. A Rugby team, after all, cannot claim a “right” to play Soccer. Teams don’t have rights, individual players have rights. And, any individual Rugby player always retains the right to play Soccer, provided that the game he (or she) plays is, in fact, Soccer, and not still Rugby pretending its Soccer.
If the issue is, in fact, one of equal rights, if those who seek to equalize the laws are interested mainly in assuring the enjoyment of equal protection under the law, then why is the assault aimed at redefining marriage? Why not try to redefine “corporation” for example, and insist that gay couples be entitled to form their own limited liability corporations, and thereby enjoy the full rights and benefits of other corporations? The problem with that, as with the marriage case, is that such an argument must be based on analogy. While in some respects the legal contract between gay partners would be like that of a corporation, it is not in fact like a corporation in some other fundamental ways. Gay advocates have focused on traditional marriage as the most analogous social institution, and indeed, the union of two gay people is like a traditional marriage in some respects. But we must also recognize that in other essential respects it remains, and must for biological and other reasons always remain, different. The gay union lacks the fundamental sexual complementarity at the core of traditional marriage, a complementarity that when properly expressed produces children and sustains the society. This is a constitutive, not an accidential quality of the marriage relationship. So if marriage and gay relationships are fundamentally different in this way, the people of the society, or the government charged with carrying out the will of the people, is right to maintain the legal distinction, especially when doing so benefits the society in significant ways.
People need to chill out. At least in California, this is a self-correcting problem. With every old person that dies and every young person that reaches voting age, the pendulum swings a little bit more. This will be overturned by voters within 5 years.
12:04 - Persecution is not a competition. Just because one group faced more prejudice doesn’t mean we should turn our backs on a current civil rights violation.
The comparison is useful, because there are far fewer racists today than there are homophobes. It helps open people’s eyes to realize that there is a very apt comparison in interracial marriage bans. Especially given that all the same old arguments were used in both (religion, degradation of society, immorality, blah blah blah). It’s easier for people to understand that love comes in different forms when they realize that the current arguments are just re-runs of previous bigotry.
Also, if you think that gay people haven’t faced hate crimes (from petty violation to murder), then I have some news stories for you to look up! Discrimination is a very real, very painful fact that is still alive today.
Here are some stories of hatred and persecution. The homosexuals in WWII would take jewish stars so they wouldn’t have to wear a pink triangle. Because if they did they would be raped, tarred, burned alive. It was a worse punishment if you were a homosexual than if you were a Jew. Also Stonewall. Also the millions of homosexuals that are persecuted every day in their own lives all around the country. Just because we aren’t killed for who we are, doesn’t mean that we aren’t beat down, we aren’t struck with blunt objects to where our faces are deformed and disfigured. It doesn’t mean that our lives are constantly being challenged by daily prejudice. Walk a day in a High School homosexual teenager’s life, and you will want to go back to the cozy life that you live in right now. The fact is that we are being persecuted everyday, and Marriage is just a fundamental right that we deserve. We are going to fight for it. We are going to change history, and we are going to make a difference.
I sure wish my sister had been able marry my dad, it would have saved the family a ton of money on medical bills.
I still don’t think that a guy marrying his dog to get medical coverage is right. PETA people probably disagree.
3:02 PM said this: “It was a worse punishment if you were a homosexual than if you were a Jew.”
Tell that to the 6 million Jews. I’m sure the concentration camps, starvation, and gas chambers were a regular party. I doubt anyone had an easy or good time during the Holocaust, try not to be so biased in your statements next time.