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Uploaded: Thursday, November 20, 2008, 10:39 AM
No on 8 rally attracts crowd
Protesters sound off against vote on same-sex marriage
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by Casey Weiss
Mountain View Voice Staff
Several hundred opponents of Proposition 8 rallied outside Mountain View City Hall Saturday, many dressed up as brides and carrying signs against the ban on same-sex marriage. They cheered on speakers and waved signs reading, "Will your marriage be next" and "love does not discriminate," before spontaneously marching up and down Castro Street.
Local members of the Raging Grannies, an activist group, organized the rally in conjunction with other protests nationwide supporting the right of everyone to marry. Similar rallies were held in San Jose and San Francisco. Members of the group said they wanted to provide a venue for Peninsula residents to speak out against the ban, which protesters called a civil rights issue.
"There are many people who are really hurt by the passage of Proposition 8," said Ruth Robertson, a Raging Granny. "Mountain View is a place where people can speak out."
The Nov. 15 protest came just 11 days after Californians passed Proposition 8, overturning a state Supreme Court ruling that gave same-sex couples the right to marry. Also on Nov. 4, voters in Arizona and Florida passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, and in Arkansas gay and lesbian couples can no longer adopt children.
The Raging Grannies wore wedding dresses to honor the thousands of same-sex couples who married in California while the ceremonies were legal. They led the approximately 200 protesters, of all ages, sexual orientations and backgrounds, in chants outside City Hall singing, "Here come the brides, here come the grooms, what does it matter who marries whom."
"It was hopeful," said Susan Taylor, a Mountain View resident and Raging Granny. "It is not just gay people. Human beings as a whole want to be fair."
The Grannies said they had prepared additional songs, but gave way to the many protesters who wanted to speak. One woman said she and her partner had married three times during periods when same-sex marriage laws changed back and forth in California.
A local high school student attended the rally to gather material for a paper she is writing for her social studies class because, she said, the struggle "is history in the making," according to the Grannies.
After the rally, the crowd spontaneously started marching throughout downtown Mountain View, leaving the Grannies behind.
"No civil rights were ever earned by doing something once and folding your tent and going home," Taylor said. "It takes a lot of people coming together so the world can see the right and acceptable thing."
The rally also attracted a few Proposition 8 supporters, and some drivers who passed by gave the thumbs-down sign to the protesters.
"In Mountain View, people are able to listen, even if they do not agree," Robertson said. "
The Raging Grannies said this was only the beginning. After the rally, Baxter-Berman said that although it may take a while to overturn the ban, she knew people would keep fighting.
"This is an issue that has legs," Raging Granny Barbara Baxter-Berman said. "It is not going to disappear.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by Marty E, a resident of another community, on Nov 20, 2008 at 3:34 pm You go Raging Grannies! I hope one day I will be one of you -- The more people who speak out against the injustice of Prop 8 the more free we will be as a society.
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Posted by Bex, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Nov 20, 2008 at 4:21 pm Does anyone have pictures? I'd love to see some. I went up to San Francisco for the protest there. But I would have loved to protest in my own town. I'm sorry I missed it now.
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Posted by Grannies, a resident of another community, on Nov 20, 2008 at 5:07 pm Actually, that would be ALL communities that we hail from, not "another community". Several Grannies reside in Mtn. View.
Here is a link to photos of most of the Bay area protests of November 15. The Mountain View protest has 4 pages of photos. Web Link
OR visit the Raging Granny website at www.RagingGrannies.com and go to the blog.
Sorry you didn't make it. We'll do it again, as long as it takes to overturn Prop 8!
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Posted by Randall Flagg, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Nov 21, 2008 at 2:13 pm Hey, "traditional marriage" according to the Bible includes marrying your sister-in-law, having multiple wives, and selling your daughter into slavery. Of course, the Bible also features a talking snake and routine child sacrifice, so maybe we ought to stick with Dianetics or the Church Of The Subgenius.
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Posted by Nick, a resident of another community, on Nov 22, 2008 at 12:11 am Glad to see the public turning out in support of gay marriage. How can a reasonable person take the Bible as a guide for all customs? There are plenty of practices in the Bible that would get you arrested today. Things change. Not too long ago you could not marry a person of another race and housing agreements excluded people of certain races. If you want to support marriage do something practical and get out and work for an increase in the minimum wage or for universal health care. Leave the gay community alone. I am not gay but consider it none of my business whom consenting adults marry.
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Posted by amber, a resident of another community, on Nov 22, 2008 at 2:11 pm yes on * i think you need to give it a break
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Posted by Justice, a resident of another community, on Nov 22, 2008 at 7:18 pm Years from now, the Yes on 8 people will be embarrassed to have tried to stop civil rights for gays. It is just a matter of top. Prop 8 will be found invalid by the CA Supreme Court. If not this go round, then the next.
Thank you, Raging Grannies, for organizing the demo.
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Posted by Julie, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Nov 22, 2008 at 10:14 pm You all sound crazy. I cant read this crap. The Voice is off my coffee table and into the trash.
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Posted by an american, a resident of another community, on Nov 23, 2008 at 12:20 pm "You all sound crazy. I cant read this crap. The Voice is off my coffee table and into the trash."
Julie, I am sorry you are so offended by people exercising their rights. I suppose you would prefer to live somewhere where the people silently accept the dictates of religious law, instead of standing up for freedom.
I think that sounds crazy. Go Grannies, Go!!
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Posted by Desiree, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Nov 23, 2008 at 3:53 pm I'm offended by an american that acts crazy.
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Posted by You go girls, a resident of another community, on Nov 23, 2008 at 6:06 pm I'm all for the Grannies and I'm for Proposition 8. Assertions that this is about taking away civil rights are empty at best. So many marriages have been considered religious for centuries that it is impossible to simply remove religion out of marriage. Revise all the laws pertaining to marriage so that all marriages are civil unions, but not all civil unions are marriages.
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Posted by Disagree, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Feb 8, 2009 at 4:03 pm "So many marriages have been considered religious for centuries that it is impossible to simply remove religion out of marriage. Revise all the laws pertaining to marriage so that all marriages are civil unions, but not all civil unions are marriages."
Civil marriage is already separate from religious marriage. Churches alone cannot legally marry a couple, you need to get a marriage license from city hall before you get married in the church. No one says churches need to perform a marriage ceremony for anyone -- divorced Catholics know this, they can't get married by a priest unless they get their marriages annulled first (and the first step to a Catholic annulment is a legal divorce--the civil part). But divorced Catholics can get married by a justice of the peace and it's exactly the same, legally, as if they got the licence and had a priest perform the ceremony. So why should it be different for gays?
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