The crisp fall morning of Saturday, November 15th brought out approximately five thousand Portlanders for a rally in support for gay marriage. The rally and protest was held in the South Park Blocks adjacent to the Portland State University library in downtown Portland.
Portland’s rally included people from what seemed to be all walks of life, with a significant and visible participation by heterosexuals supporting the homosexual community. “My HETERO marriage is NOT threatened by GAY marriage!” read one man’s sign.
Entire families inflicted by the discrimination of the majority came out in numbers to show their faces. “13 years, 6 kids. Don’t you think it’s time I marry her?” read one lesbian’s sign who attended the rally with her partner and family.
Hundreds of signs were created to voice frustration and were vocalized in several chants and cheers that intrigued people from blocks away. “Same rights for all people. Separate is not equal,” the crowd began to chant in concert at one of the many audibly passionate moments.
Some of the signs in the crowd read “Stop the H8 Support the Love,” “Protect the Sanctity of ALL Marriage,” and “No More Mr. Nice Gay”.
Several speakers rallied the crowd including Samuel Adams, Portland’s out gay mayor and Commissioner-Elect Amanda Fritz.
"My name is Sam Adams and I'm here to recruit you!" exclaimed Adams. "The issue at hand is about marriage but it's really about respect - and what happened in California and in other states, including our State, has to end now. How many of you are as angry as I am? While this community is watching us, the nation will be watching us and in our anger [it] is important that we put it to good use.”
Gay activists are comparing the prohibition of gay marriage to the similar prohibition of interracial marriages that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in a Virginia case overturning that state’s ban on interracial marriage in 1967.
Portland’s rally was intended by its organizers to be part of a nationwide campaign to protest the recent passage of Proposition 8 in California which “eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry”. Proposition 8 was put forth by anti-gay activists and church groups through the initiative process after the California struck down the ban on same sex marriage in May 2008.
Passage of Proposition 8 in November effectively invalidated thousands of marriages by gay couples that were issued marriage licenses and had begun to marry after the California Supreme Court ruling.
Several legal challenges have been put forth to the California’s proposition claiming that the measure conflicts with the equal rights clause in the constitution. Others also question whether or not a simple majority of people should be able eliminate the rights of a minority, according to callers into local and national talk radio stations. “Isn’t a constitution designed to protect the oppression of the minority?” one caller asked.
Oregon voters also passed a similar law in 2004 defining marriage between “one and one woman” however the 2008 Oregon legislature responded to constitutional equality questions by passing two of the “most comprehensive civil union and anti-discrimination laws in the country” according to the activist group Basic Rights Oregon.
Portland’s rally was organized in part by individuals through an online grass roots effort for a nationwide response to several anti-gay measures passed throughout the country. More information can be found at http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/.