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Riot Police swarm streets at Proposition 8 protest!
 On Saturday evening - a few members of the press and a handful of AFI Festival organizers were sipping cocktails
and kibitzing about the days events in the Cinema Lounge at the Roosevelt Hotel - when a disturbance outside caught our eye.
A rag-tag band of protestors - in support of Gay Marriage - stormed by in the streets angrily denouncing the passing
of Proposition 8.
On their heels, a swarm of motorcycle cops and squad cars - manned by hard-jawed officers in riot
gear - began to form an impenetrable barricade on the glitzy "Walk of Fame".
At first, onlookers surmised that the
police were there to crack heads in the event the gay protestors got out of line.
However, when I stepped outside
to determine the facts, passers-by assured me they were there to prevent "fag bashing".
As I trundled down the street
to check my e-mail at the Internet cafe - a couple of ugly incidents around me - validated that argument.
Red-neck
types were cruising the Hollywood streets in the vicinity shouting out car windows "Fu** you faggots".
As I hopped
on the Internet at the PC outlet at La Brea and Sunset, I overheard some patrons muttering about the turn of events with disgust.
"Those faggots. They lost! When are they going to figure it out?"
I can't recall this kind of shocking conduct
going down against Gays in a number of years in the streets of Hollywood proper.
Ironically - earlier in the day -
I attended a screening for a small Independent Feature - "A Quiet Little Marriage" - at Mann's Chinese Theatre.
The
film was a romantic little drama about a newly-wed heterosexual couple focusing on their wedded bliss, issues about child-rearing,
and so forth and so on.
In essence, "Quiet Marriage" was about a nurturing union of two "souls", that a majority of
voters in California appear to want to deny "gays".
Over the weekend, Arnold Schwarzenegger jumped into the fray and
noted for the record, that he hoped Proposition 8 would be overturned by the Courts.
Shortly after the vote count
was in on the eve of the November 4th election - supporters of the right for Gays to "marry" - sprang into action, too.
Anti-discrimination
groups and bar associations have joined with 44 State Legislators in a bid to overturn the anti-gay marriage initiative made
into Law last week by virtue of ballot.
A ban on same-sex marriage amounts to a sweeping revision of the State Constitution,
some have argued, and is way beyond the scope it was intended to span.
"Proposition 8 threatens the permanent and
abiding nature of the requirement that Laws must apply equally to all - the most basic principle of democratic government,"
it was noted in a letter to the court from the Anti-Defamation League, Asian Law Caucus, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Japanese
American Citizens, and the Public Counsel.
The issue continues to be a contentious one.
And, potentially explosive,
too.
During the course of the drive by both sides to get their message out to the voters, a handful of individuals
and businesses were threatened - according to eyewitnesses - that any position taken contrary to their own would result in
retaliation.
Will the courts be able to resolve this thorny issue sometime in the near future?
David
Kaczynski once opined:
"We've got to take back the ideal of justice, we've got to take back this principle
of human dignity. We've got to take it back from vengeance, from hatred, we've got to say: look, we're all in this together.
We are human beings."
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Proposition 8...Boycott works. El Coyote donates
$500 to cause...
According to a morning daily - twenty two minutes after an announcement by protestors to reappear at
the El Coyote restaurant in West Hollywood to voice their disapproval over an employee's support of Proposition 8 - employees
coughed up $500 to donate to a fund to fight the anti-gay marriage ban!
The Boycott is working!
Ali Bay, a
spokeswoman for Equality California, quickly noted to the media how the funds will be put to use.
"It will go toward
our work and that includes working to overturn Propo 8. We're working legislatively and through the courts to promote equality
for community."
 In
an earlier post, I noted that gay activists determined earlier in the week that an employee - Marjorie Christoffersen (a Mormon
disciple) - donated $100 towards the vote "yes" on Prop 8 campaign.
Because El Coyote is a popular local eatery among
gay residents in the neighborhood, the unexpected contribution stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy, when it came to
light to opponents of Proposition 8.
Employees rustled up the contribution on short notice for a couple of reasons.
"Maybe it's a way to say sorry, that we have always tried to be a charity place, that we donate to a lot of places.
It's something to show we can help also," employee Arnoldo Archila, noted solemnly to the press.
The protestors have
been causing a lot of discomfort for employees (one called in and wondered to her superior if she should stay at home until
the controversy blew over) and patrons alike.
A handful of customers saw a night of wining and dining go down in flames,
ruined by loud protestors in the streets, for instance.
Manager Larry Crenshaw was on top of it, though.
He
apologized profusely, then picked up their $50 tab.
I was a little upset to read that Crenshaw alleged that protestors
shouted out vulgarities at patrons when they departed from the establishment, on the 2nd evening of protests.
While
I support the picketing, and the vocal protesting, I think it is counter-productive to the cause to engage in low, demeaning
conduct, that amounts to harassment.
Therefore, I strongly urge all activists involved in the protests to hold their
heads high and tackle the cause with dignity and grace.
That issue aside, a quote by Abraham Lincoln merits thought,
too.
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
Blacks must be held accountable for their actions...
When Proposition 8 was passed in the November 4th election, I penned a post about some of the specifics
pertaining to the protests that erupted in the streets of Los Angeles, in the wake of the unfortunate outcome.
In
response, a blogger posted a comment in which he alleged that 70% of Blacks voted "yes" for a ban on "gay marriage", for good
reason.
"Because gays in West Hollywood are racist," Monster 62 (!) lamented.
In a follow-up post, I laid
bare such a notion and backed up my position with a solid argument.
In the final analysis, I asserted that the black
community stabbed "gays" in the back.
Some have alleged in the front, too!
Therefore, I was quite appalled
when I read in the weekend newspaper that protestors at a rally against Prop 8 in Los Angeles urged the emotionally-charged
activists not to blame the black community!
After all, exit polls verified that blacks voted 2 to 1 in favor of a
gay marriage ban.
I proceeded to denounce the anti-Prop 8 rallies on the grounds that the protestors were wrongfully
"singling" out Mormons and Evangelicals and ignoring the truth.
Until the protestors were prepared to put part of
the blame where it belonged - on the black community - I noted that I could not support their misguided harassment of a select
few.
I was quite surprised (and thankful) to open the Sunday paper and come across an editorial by writer Gregory
Rodriguez which appeared to be in accord with my position.
Ah, an individual not afraid to voice an opinion, for fear
of being labelled a racist!
He started by saying:
"The chattering masses on the post-racial right say Barack
Obama's win is one more nail in the coffin of affirmative action. It proves blacks are equal , they say, and therefore they
don't need "special consideration" (Amen!) anymore. Abigail Thernstrom wrote it in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday."
Maybe
they're right, he continued.
"And gays' attack on blacks for voting to ban gay marriage is the proof. Since when have
blacks been the target of left-wing opprobrium about the way they vote? At least since Obama was elected president."
Mr.
Rodriguez proceeded to argue that because blacks had no power in the past they could not be racist.
 "Difference plus power (old race warriors insisted) equalled racism. Those with no power therefore could not
be racist, and by extension, could not be bigoted in other ways as well."
Then, he bold-faced argued that the ascension
of an African American to the presidency changed that calculus, primarily because of the symbolism of a black man in the "White
House".
At this juncture, he noted that he was deeply impacted by an image he caught on the local news.
A
dejected gay protestor at an anti- Prop 8 march - he asserted - argued that blacks got theirs - in the form of a president
- but did nothing to help the little guys.
"We're the last minority left," he wailed to the media.
In sum,
Rodriquez smugly asserted, whether the gay man knew it or not - he was accusing blacks of doing what many other ethnic groups
have done - joining the mainstream by stepping on the group below them.
Then, Rodriquez took a leap!
"I hate
to say it, but that's the American way - a constant struggling of outsiders to become insiders."
"If the controversy
about Proposition 8 tells us anything, it's that even as discriminatory borders fall, groups in our diverse society will continue
to jostle for power, position, and whose vision of the country will prevail."
"Implicit in the criticism of black
support for Prop 8 is the idea that, as historically oppressed people, African Americans should have greater empathy for gays.
The assumption here is that they cast their ballots as a liberal or even progressive bloc of "black voters"."
That
issue aside, Rodriquez also put forth the idea that blacks may have voted "yes" on Proposition 8, because they are all basically
"Church-goers" with a traditional Christian ethic which see gay marriage as an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.
Hogwash!
If the sermons at the Churches they attend are anything like those wildly pounded out from the pulpit in Chicago by
Barack Obama's pastor friend - what's his name - then it's easy to fathom why the black community has gone astray!
Notwithstanding,
alleged Christians - involved in the Prop 8 controversy - have been quoting scriptures in support of their stance on a gay
marriage ban - that have never been determined to be the actual "word" of God.
In view of the fact the Bible has been
edited, rewritten, and updated - by a myriad of Church Officials with secret agendas over the centuries - the words within
its covers can not be trusted to be held true.
Moreover, it should be obvious to anyone with a modicum of intelligence,
that it is not necessary to turn to the scriptures to resolve the problem at hand.
If each of us simply recognized
that all individuals are equal - no matter their race, color, creed, or sexual persuasion - the answer to the current "dilemma"
facing the courts would be crystal clear.
It's the Devil in sheep's clothing along the way the trips up the many at
the expense of the few!
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