First, I apologize that my last post was a bit, shall we say, angry. I've never felt so political, and to see the Mormons on every street corner, holding Yes on 8 signs that are TOTALLY misleading, has been tough. Mormons in Utah are calling CA voters, and have helped move the vote to their side.
I decided to stop complaining about this, and to do something about it. Time to be a good gay, as I jokingly call it.
Here is what we've done in the last 24 hours:
1) We skipped our Saturday plans, and volunteered at the No on 8 San Jose office. Becky did call center help, and I called a list of people who'd said they might be interested in volunteering. Becky called 80 people, and I was able to get 5 official volunteers for this coming week.
2) We went to our downtown Oktoberfest, and there was a No on 8/Obama booth. We got a bunch of No on 8 signs, stickers, and carried them around.
3) We donated another $50 to No on 8, for a grand total of $550 now. We've never donated that much to anything!!! They said each commercial costs $500, so we've helped put one more ad on TV.
4) Two days ago, I sent in my official resignation from the Mormon church. They will now potentially harass and intimidate me, or excommunicate me for voicing my opposition to Prop 8.
5) Today we attended a No on 8 rally in our town. We brought our dog (who wore a No on 8 sticker, as you can see in the pic). There were about 8 people there at first, then eventually up to 15+. It was a three hour event.
A bit on the No on 8 rally...
The cool stuff:
- There was a straight girl there holding a sign, that said "Straight and voting no on 8."
- There was another girl holding a sign that said, "Mormon + No on 8." I was so impressed.
- I realized, technically I AM still Mormon. I made a big sign that said, "Mormon & No on 8." May as well milk my Mormon membership for all it's worth!
- Lots of people honked in support. At least 90% of the response we got was positive. I was surprised at some of the honkers. We saw minorities in minivans with lots of kids honk. Cars full of wife-beater-wearing, trucker hat-wearing frat boys honking in support. Old ladies honked. Straight families with kids in the car honked. Really cool. We had some people shout their support, including one "Eff yeah!!!" :)
- This was my first rally ever, and it felt good to be out there.
- A local newspaper was there, and took pics/interviewed at lot of us. Of course, once the Mormons see me and my sign, I might be immediately excommunicated. Like I care, though.
- Another straight woman came to help us. She'd driven by, and saw us. So she went home, made signs, and came to support.
Now, the ugly stuff:
- We had folks flip us off - I'm sorry, but that is just rude. A thumbs down would have sufficed.
- We also had thumbs down, and people shouting Yes on 8. Honestly, I wasn't phased. It's ok for them to say that. I shouted No on 8 to the Yes on 8 rally yesterday. Tit for tat, I suppose.
- Some jerk guy drove by, and saw me holding my dog. He asked, "So do you want to marry your dog?" He is a cute dog, but no, I don't plan to marry him. Thanks for asking.
- The worst was towards the end. Some car was stopped at a red light. They started yelling really obscene things at us, really inhumane type of things. Then, they started throwing garbage at us, including a water bottle. Sigh. You know what, though, people have it worse than us. Imagine attending a rally in really backwards parts of CA. And I tried to remember what our African American friends went through long ago, being spit on, garbage being poured on their heads, etc.
- Two Mormon missionaries kept circling us. They were nice, and didn't say anything. I don't think they were amused with the "Mormon + No on 8" signs. :)
All in all, it was really nice to be there. I felt like we were doing something. There's another rally being organized for next Sunday. If any of you are in the San Jose area, let me know if you'd like to participate!
Next weekend we'll volunteer again at the No on 8 office, and attend the rally. We're being good gays!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Being a good gay
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8 comments:
You go girl!!!! Thats a lot to do for such a good cause!
FYI, if you have already sent in your resignation, they cannot excommunicate you!
(I know, I did it two years ago!)
Go you guys. :) That's really awesome that you could do that.
I will never understand why people preach hate and perform painful acts. The people who threw items or yelled obscenities at you are a sad lot. I hope they find peace within their hearts, as that type of hate will consume them.
Good for you…that must have been difficult on many levels.
You go Gays! Why can't the Mormons just stay in Utah? Why od they have to come and ruin California??
Even the Salt Lake City newspaper endorsed Obama!
If I lived there--I'd be out there with you.
It is really sad that the events have either not existed or had a poor turn out.
Since you're not going to, I'd really like to ask you for your dog's hand in marriage. That is one cute dog and I think it's allowed in Canada. :)
Seriously, though, good for you getting out there (protesting) and getting out of there (Mormon church)!
I hear you about the middle finger bit. When GWB came to town a few years ago, he made eye contact with me and I gave him a thumbs down... a middle finger would have more aptly depicted how I feel about him, but you gotta be civilized.
Go you!!!
You're a good person. When I donated to 8 I realized that I never thought I'd see the day where I'd give money related to another state's question!
Tear it up ladies! It's so good to have people like you getting out there. Wish we could be right there with you.
Hey I'm from SLC (not mormon though) and I get a giggle thinking about those nervous missionaries trying to figure out how to go about saving your soul! Hee hee hee.
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