"Out of the bars, into the streets"

On Tuesday November 4th, Proposition 8 was passed in California by a slim majority of voters. That night, the LGBT community celebrated the election of the most gay friendly president in American history, but was left stunned by the passage of a number of anti-gay measures passed through elections around the country.

In the months leading up to the election, Californians were bombarded with TV ads from both sides. The "Yes" campaign ran ads based on peoples' fears and used children to hide behind their message of hate and discrimination. The content of "NO" ads can be heavily debated. Did we use the right strategy by keeping images of gay couples out of it? What I do know is that for months I had to see ads attacking the gay community, portraying us as dangerous to children.

The passing of the proposition has finally galvanized many in the gay community, who like myself, did little except throw money at the situation, in the hope that more ad time would change more minds. In fact, although the "NO" campaign raised more money, we failed to raise awareness on the ground and actually educate people on the consequences of the supposed "amendment."

Did people really stop and think what a "Yes" vote meant on Tuesday? It tore me apart seeing couples in tears being denied the right to marry. The fact that California voters declared that "separate but equal" is somehow ok is very disturbing, and maybe if people had thought about the real wording of this proposition, instead of listening to false claims, things would have been different.

What happened is in the past, and in many ways we can learn from the results of this election.

The last few days have been incredibly emotional, and awakened a sense of urgency that lay dormant in much of the gay community. This first post does not even begin to cover the legal challenges that have been launched. I also want to discuss how it is not right to target or blame the Mormon Church...no matter how much effort they put into their campaign to "Protect" marriage and the "traditional" family. Targeting a specific group does not help our cause.

What I do hope is that the marching will not let up. I have never felt such strong emotions as I did participating in the rallies so far. To see a community come together is truly a special thing.

The joyous faces of the leaders of the "Yes" campaign will be short lived, because in some ways they have done what many of us failed to do in the first place...get us "out of the bars, into the streets".