Anti-8 Protest at Mormon Temple

tavdySat 08/11/08 20:49

http://www.365gay.com/opinion/report-from-california-protesting-the-mormons/

Follow the link for the full story - these are just some of the highlights:
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"I had theoretically given myself plenty of time to get to the rumored Prop 8 protest at Los Angeles's Mormon Temple, but I was watching my impressive lead erode as I sat and sat on the exit ramp off the 405 freeway, tantalizingly close and yet so far.
Still, if there was a traffic jam only on the exit ramp I needed, this was maybe shaping up to be a good rally. Just in case we missed it, those of us patiently merging for civil rights began to hold our signs out our car windows and honk for each other.
...
I was surprised that the Mormons hadn't really thought out more of a response to us. Clearly the LAPD had known we'd be there, so surely the LDS knew too, right?
But what they did was stand inside the Temple grounds and stare at us. Just a row of white men in white shirts and dark pants, standing very still.
...
I guess in their minds it was the only safe move. Because if one of them had actually come up to the fence to try to talk to us, he might have been bitten and caught gay, and then it would have been like a zombie movie in there. (Remember, Mormons: Don't assume the head is dead just because it's been severed. If the jaw is still attached, it can still bite and then before you know it you're giving serious thought to getting your chest waxed.)
...
As we walked, I noticed several men among us who were also wearing the Mormon uniform of white shirts and dark pants and realized that they were not doing performance art. Some, based on their signage, were former Mormons, but some were current LDS members, Elder badges and all, who were there to protest right along with us. I felt bad about the sign ahead of me that read simply 'Mormon SCUM.'"

(N.b. some of the most vocal opposition to the Mormon church's involvement in Proposition 8, and to proposition 8 itself, came from within the church - it's clear this opposition will continue.)

"I heard someone say 'Whoa. There aren't very many of us.' I looked behind me and saw that the police were there too, in formation. And I'm not sure exactly what happened, but they seemed to have quietly and very efficiently cut my part of the group off from a big chunk of us.
Realizing that you've been boxed in by the LAPD, all of whom have just swung down their riot visors, really adds a jolt of perspective to your day. I began to wonder how crazy things were about to get, and if I'd be a wuss about tear gas.
As it turned out, today was not the day when I find out whether I'm the sort who pulls her shirt up over her nose and marches bravely forward or the kind who's found curled up on the sidewalk trying to claw her own eyeballs out. The front-liners moved through the crowd to let us know that the police were going ahead to clear traffic, and then they'd move their cars. We got some more chanting going 'Gay, straight! Black, white! Marriage is a civil right!' and before too long, we were on the move.
We marched up to Wilshire Boulevard, and sat down again. It was getting toward rush hour in Los Angeles, and we were essentially an unscheduled parade on a major traffic artery.
...
Cars going the other way on Santa Monica honked with even more gusto than those on Wilshire, and we cheered back. A few people ran over to give high-fives. I looked up to see the silhouettes of people pressed against their office windows, wondered why my arms weren't falling off from holding up my (non-witty) sign, and took another moment to savor walking down the middle of a car-less street."
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This is by no means the largest of the protests against prop. 8 that have happened so far - last night's anti-8 protest in Salt Lake City (the Mormon "capital") was around 50% bigger, and the protest in San Francisco was ten times the size - yet it was still big enough to force the LAPD to shut down two major roads during rush hour. There are over a dozen more protests planned for tonight throughout California, with more planned for tomorrow and the coming week.