On a blistery cold Saturday morning, I woke up and thought, I’m going to do something meaningful. It might not be meaningful to some people (my manager, a gay man, told me right to my face that what I planned to do was pointless, stupid, and “against God’s law”), and it might not catch the eyes of the mainly-GOP state I reside in, but to me, it means everything. I got up, I bundled up, I took out my umbrella, made a sign, printed out a map, and drove an hour in the rain with bald tires to downtown Louisville. I fish-tailed once, but got control. (Don’t worry, I’m off to get new tires today!)

With a handful of others I stood on one of the street corners by City Hall for my civil rights. It rained the entire time, but a little rain meant nothing to us; we jumped up and down and cheered, chanted what do we want? Equal rights! for what seemed like forever. We waved the rainbow in the form of scarves, hats, umbrellas, flags, and whatever else seemed gay enough. We held our signs and shouted and heard our voices bounce powerfully off the walls of high skyscrapers. The weather was poor, but our spirits most certainly were not.

We were met with scrutiny from some people; surprise and confusion from others…but the most repeated reaction to our protest was support. Cars passed and drivers laid on their horns, shouting and yelling and cheering us on. They rolled their windows down and whooped, they chanted with us, smiled at us, and congratulated us. It was surprising and very heartwarming. I felt accomplished.

Here are the news broadcasts that featured our rally. If you look hard, I’m there in the front, wearing a hat and pea coat and shouting.
WHAS 11 Broadcast
WLKY Broadcast

I didn’t know I was on TV until today, so it’s kind of exciting. I don’t watch TV normally; we don’t have cable and I don’t care for regular programming unless it has to do with Daniel Craig shooting people and banging hot chicks at the same time.

I’m proud of myself, and of all of my peers that stood out with me, wanting badly to be recognized for who and what we are, for love. I’m proud of the initiative we as a national community took to raise awareness. I’m most of all proud that we, even in dangerous places, were brave enough to show up.

It makes me, more than ever before, proud to be gay. I hope that our cause reaches towards everyone.

Update: I’m adding this here, as it is relevant to our interests.

Many others have already made comments regarding the Anti-Gay Blacklist, which appeared over the webz some time after Prop 8 passed in California. I feel it only necessary to add my two cents.

The Anti-Gay Blacklist

I am about to make some heated accusations. I am not sorry to make them. In the spirit of free speech and the freedom to information, I will speak my mind.

This is in part directed at the people that chose to pour so much money into the campaign in support of Proposition 8. Though I deeply respect the right to opinion and the right to do whatever you want with your money, I have deep disgust for those that choose to use their money and their opinion to further hate and discrimination through politics. I thought that this nation had gone far in its great decision to elect an African-American man for president. Apparently not.

The message on the top of the Anti-Gay Blacklist begs readers not to patronize the people that donated enormous sums to this cause. I know better, and so do they. These people will be targeted and they will be “patronized”. It is a fact of life. Not everyone is going to adhere to a code of honor and leave these people alone. Hearts have been shattered, dreams have been crushed. Lives will forever be altered by this decision. It has hurt so many. It is only natural that they lash out at the beings that so insolently decided that they would brazenly walk into another person’s life and tell them that they couldn’t marry the person of their choice. I would.

I will not, however. They did the dishonorable thing and took away the constitutional rights of a minority group. I would never sink to their level and do the dishonorable thing in patronizing them. I will say, however, that these people had it coming. You cannot put forth your money towards a bill that messes with someone’s RIGHTS and not expect a serious consequence. Do not complain if someone behaves ill towards you when they are raw and hurt from your bigotry. Do not complain.

You have been highlighted as a list of people who are willing to go out of their way to deny someone the right to be recognized by the nation as a first-class citizen. In my opinion, you deserve it. You should have known this was coming. Karma is a bitch. But she’s a classy one.

People like school teachers and secretaries have donated money that I KNOW for a FACT had to have taken months to save up for. And you had to give it to a campaign willing to suppress a human being’s rights! That sort of money could have fed millions of hungry people, or put the clothes on the backs of millions of children. That sort of money could have done so much ACTUAL GOOD in the world. But instead you chose to center your mind on a minority group, playing politics and saintly crying out to your god in prayer that an amendment might pass that denies two people the freedom to marry.

Yes. I think it is fair to say that you deserve whatever is coming your way. We are hurt and outraged and our anger at this blatantly horrible discrimination will not go unheard. You have messed with our civil rights. Prepare for fabulous consequences.

I’ve been pretty vocal about my disappointment in California voters for once again doing the mood-swing thing and denying a minority group their basic fundamental rights. I’d like to hand the state a tampon and a Midol and tell it to quit PMSing the shit out of the rest of the US…but I think that honor goes to the delightfully dastardly bastards of the Mormon persuasion that decided to get political this year with other peoples’ lives.

I thought I’d share with my readers some pictures I’ve found of those in support of Prop 8. I think you’ll find them as absurd as I do. There is a reason why religion is supposed to be separated from politics. That reason is because:

ALL RELIGIOUS FREAKS ARE FUCKING LUNATICS.

Observe:

Personally I found this one hysterically funny:

Yes, congratulations! You’ve successfully suppressed the fundamental rights of human beings just like yourself! Good job. Dance all night long, why don’t you. Hey, while you’re at it, why don’t you burn a fiery cross in someone’s yard and wear white sheets? It’s pretty much the same thing!

Religious freedom for everybody! Because God knows a minority group is oppressing Christian marriages everywhere.

What I do not, and I suppose I will never, understand is why this enormous group of people insist on terminating the fundamental, constitutional rights of someone they do not even know because they claim marriage between two loving people is immoral. It makes me sick to my stomach. As quoted from www.365gay.com, “‘I’m fed up and disgusted with religious institutions taking political stances and calling them moral when it’s nothing but politics,’ said Dennis Williams, 36. ‘Meanwhile they enjoy tax-free status while trying to deny me rights that should be mine at the state and federal level.’”

Dennis puts it so eloquently.

So. I suppose the last question to ask here is, is there a Mormon temple in Louisville? It begs to be protested against.