Monday, November 17, 2008

Dust Bunnies Protest Prop 8

On Saturday many of you took part in Join The Impact and attended an anti-Prop 8/Pro-marriage equality demonstration in your area. You can read about my experience HERE.

I had asked anyone who attended a rally to send me pictures and/or a recap - and I was overwhelmed by the response. And Dust Bunnies in two cities really showed their Dust Bunny pride while voicing their support of equal rights for all.

Reports say that people in 300 cities in the U.S. and abroad attended rallies. Here are reports from nine of them. When I didn't have a photo, I got one from Towleroad's impressive photo album of many of the protests across the nation - see it HERE.


Dover, Delaware:

The Delaware Dust Bunnies get the first honorable mention for Dust Bunny pride! Here is blogger Mark (left) who I met here in NYC a few weeks ago, and frequent commenter Howard (right). Howard CAME CORRECT with Dust Bunny signage. Work!!! Check out Mark's blog - Tales Of The Sissy - HERE.


Howard's account:

I had no idea what to expect from the rally in Dover, Delaware. I grew up in Delaware, just about 15 miles north of Dover, but have lived away from here most of my adult life until moving back. I rarely go out [the closest gay bars are an hour away], and don’t really know too many gays here. I enlisted my niece, Mandy, to join me, figuring she might be straight, but always up for a fun time. She, in turn, enlisted Nancy, someone she works with who is the mother of a lesbian. We met at Mandy’s house, and drove to Dover City Hall. I wasn’t sure if that would make 6 of us, or 60.

I printed up some signs of the web, and made one special just to keep the spirit of Dustville with us.

Well, there were four people when we walked up there, all of who were quite nice. Of course, the rainbow flag was flying high, as was a nice State of Delaware flag. Soon a few more people walked up to join us. Slowly but surely, the numbers grew to a very proud group of 35 or 40, a wonderful mix of str8 and gay, old and young, black and white. I was particularly pleased to see a group of 3 younger people of color, who stood on the street and voiced their support for the issue of equality.

There was lots of fun chatting, but it was truly wonderful to meet Mark_DE in person! I had known he was coming, and posted to him that I was planning to attend as well, and had hoped we would cross paths. We did. He is handsome, bright and charming, and his significant other, also quite good-looking and sweet. We chatted a bit [yes, I am jealous Mark met David and I have not]. It was great.


I was there for 2 hours, standing on the sidewalk, holding up signs and taking pictures. There was no chanting, but when the cars passing by either honked or waved, we cheered for them and waved back. The passersby were quite friendly and supportive, although one group did yell out their support for President-Elect Obama. There was also a rather zealous young passenger in a car who hung out the window and screamed ‘Fuck Prop 8!’

After 2 hours on the sidewalk, it was time to head home. What a wonderful afternoon. The weather was great, the people were fun and wonderful, and I had a feeling of accomplishment that if nothing else, I let my voice be heard today.


Lexington, KY:

Longtime Dust Bunny Travis Spears said the following:

We had about 250 down in Louisville in front of the City Hall, about 40 miles from where I live. Mostly gay folks but a few Moms and Dads of some cute gay boys too. My straight nephew and his girlfriend went with me. It was cold and raining and snowing for about an hour. Louisville is pretty laid back, not liberal, not conservative. No one really gets excited about anything. If the weather had been nicer, but still it was okay. Some straight couple whose son is gay brought coffee for a lot of people.


Chicago:

Marker took this picture at the Chicago rally. Hello Mr. Blue Nike Cap! Read the account on Marker's blog - Echo Chamber - HERE.


Dan had this funny picture on his blog - see all his pictures HERE.


And here is Dan (right) with his friend Polo.



Columbus, OH:

Hilarious Project Runway/Top Chef/Etc. Recapper Cliff (see his blog HERE) gives us his report:


The Columbus rally was larger than I think anyone expected, particularly considering the ad-hoc nature of the demo and the hideous weather. What appeared to be between 250 and 300 people rallied on the steps of Columbus city hall despite the cold, rainy, windy weather. Logistically, it was a an awkward affair with the speaker(s) being a the door of the hall and the crowd being divided by the steps and landscaping there, which made it very hard to hear. But the turnout and the signs indicated far greater passion than the sporadic, church-like call and response chants would suggest.

A couple of the speakers, particularly Daniel Coleman and Rick Neal of Equality Ohio, did a great job of focusing and firing up the crowd and giving the assembled an idea what to do with this new found passion. (In contrast, one speaker, somewhat humorously, had people call out to his, "What do we want?" "Equal Rights!" but gave no guidance to what to answer to his, "What are going to do about it?!" This, of course, led to lots of random muttering.)

Eventually, part of the crowd moved to the sidewalk where they succeeded in getting a good number of passing cars to wave and honk in support.

Considering the small-town nature of Columbus, the weather and the speed with which this was organized, it was a great success.



Colorado Springs:


Thanks to The Java Junkie (who authors an awesome Top Chef blog - see it HERE) for sending THIS story about the demonstration in Colorado Springs. Her favorite sign, not shown, said:

"There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and endurance."



Nashville:

My "Auntie Flame" - our darling Joy - sent two links - HERE and HERE - regarding the protest in Nashville. The second one has a poll you should take. And check out Joy's blog HERE.



Burlington, VT:

From Dust Bunny Amber Lemay - of the legendary House of Lemay (see their blog HERE):

My "friend" Bob Bolyard attended the rainy gathering on Church Street in Burlington today. It looked like around 200 people were there huddled under their umbrellas. The event was coordinated by the Vermont Freedom To Marry Task Force. Vermont was the first state to recognize same-sex couples with the historic Civil Union legislation that became law in 2000



Atlanta:


Dust Bunny Kayce (you know her better as Chef the City - the name of her BLOG) attended the smaller of two Atlanta demonstrations - a candlelight vigil later in the evening. She said:

YEY!!! this was so moving and uplifting, esp seeing how many people across the board who were allies of equal rights: all colors, genders, and orientations. I LOVE ATLANTA!!!



Houston:

This picture taken by Timmy. Check out his full report on his fabulous blog - St8 Up With A Twist HERE.


Dust Bunny AlnHouston took a picture of this "Papi-in-Training" just for me! Nice pouch, Papi!!!!


Dust Bunny MOF took this picture during the demonstration, and was so proud of herself because she was able to send it from her phone, directly to me. I still don't know how to do that.


But THIS picture, ladies and gentlemen, is the WINNER. HOUSTON DUST BUNNIES REPRESENT!! I am attributing this pic to Miss Ginger Grant - since it appears on her blog (see her protest post HERE). From left, we have Timmy, Boy Ginger, MOF, and AlnHouston. These are four SEXY BITCHES with their bunny ears and their fierce sign!

Houston - you officially have the Number One Dust Bunny Chapter in the nation. Congratulations.

And thanks to everyone for getting out there and letting your voices be heard. Dan titled his blog post Our Time Is Now - and he is right - our time IS now.

XOXOXO

16 comments:

Angel said...

these are fantastic pictures! I pray that it makes a difference.

kayce. said...

omg the "miserable" sign is so hilarious... i also am now craving a tee that says "focus on your own damn family". that is the crux of the issue right there; just like abortion rights, marriage rights should be protected by the fundamental right to privacy. no worries, tho, i think wanda sykes (and others) got it right when she said b/c of all the protests re: prop 8, america will end up w/ a nat'l marriage-for-all act. woohoo!!!

Anonymous said...

Way to rally the troops. This was just wonderful and I am impressed with the dedication. I just hope that it ends up giving you (and all of us really) the outcome you want and expect.

the dogs' mother said...

"focus on your own damn family"
LOL! Love it. :-)

Unknown said...

Great to see the BunnyNation step up like this. What a great group.

It is interesting, but I found a blog that listed the Saturday protest as the first ever gay rights protest to happen in Delaware. Mark, the others and myself were part of history!

Unknown said...

Wow...this is a wonderful piece of work David. Obviously you put some time into it. Maine had its demo too, though small but enthusiastic.

This Sunday the Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Maine made an anti same sex marriage statement he had read at mass in every RC church in Maine and published in the largest Sunday paper in Maine. He did say that certain rights were undeniable for all, but not in the case of marriage.
He's started it, we knew it was coming, and the cause is about to be flare up again in litigation.

xoxox-Charlie

Anonymous said...

FUCK! I forgot to take a picture! Sacramento was good, but not as well attended as I thought. More people might have shown up after I left, but the news reports didn't seem to show that.

Sorry. I feel like let you guys down. I think I need Dust Bunny Time Out or something.

Unknown said...

Jennie, showing up at the event was much more important than taking a picture.

Miss Ginger Grant said...

WOW! we are so honored to be recognized as Dust Bunny Chapter Number One!!!! But look at what you accomplished, DD! Look at the way BunnyNation came together to support the cause! You must be a proud MommaBunny right now!!!

David Dust said...

Ginger -

I am SO very proud!!!!

XOXOXOXOXO

Unknown said...

I think we should all be proud of BunnyNation! And Delaware is pleased [I'll speak for DE despite having no reason nor mandate to be able to do it] for the honorable mention behind the great chapter from Houston, headlined by the fabulous Miss Ginger Grant!

Marker said...

BunnyNation! Is this thread the first time that term has been used? It's fabulous.

I would like to salute David Dust for creating this blog. Last week was an exhausting one in the blogosphere! For example:
1.) Melissa McEwan, Blogmistress extraordinaire of Shakesville, took a week-long LOA after the grueling cynicism of the election season, leading many faithful readers to wonder if she might make her absence more permanent.
2.) Several free-for-alls ensued in comments threads at Joe.My.God. as the readership battled it out over a number of issues related to Prop 8 and the huge amount of anti-gay energy it's unleased into the world, all the while fighting off idiotic hateful trolls galore. Things got so ugly that BlogDaddy Joe was prompted to place a warning regarding the use of racist and misogynist language at the top of each comments window.
3.) Mr. Sullivan was prodigious as always in cataloging and analyzing Prop 8-related news from all over--but all that information only served to add to the angst.

I should stress that I absolutely love the 3 blogs mentioned above, each for their own reasons, and do not mean to imply any kind of negative comparison whatsoever. It's just that there was so much turmoil going on - and yes, that's going to happen, it's real, it's part of life, and the non-troll comments at Shakesville and JMG (and many others) are a real-time snapshot of our many communities and a vibrant mix of many voices. I can honestly say that I have learned a lot at each. These and all the other blogs I read (including many of the Bunnies') have actually been quite a comfort in recent weeks - we are not alone!

In the midst of it all, I realized what a peaceful respite DAVID DUST is. It's thankfully free of rancor, we don't get any hateful trolls (shhhhh), there are tons and tons of hotties, and everyone's comments are supportive, friendly, and often hilarious. Thank you, David, and thank you BunnyNation.

I'll wrap this up - already too long for a comment. I think there's a post somewhere in all of this.

Short version: THANK YOU DAVID!

P.S. - Don't get too comfortable Houston! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the pictures! Too Shy to Stop photographer Shaun Bell attended the protest too. You can view the photo essay here.

SailorAlphaCentauri said...

I wish I had been at the Columbus one. I had meant to go, but my paper took muuuuch longer than anticipated, so I was there in spirit. I'm just glad of the turnout all over.

What a way to make a statement!

Mark in DE said...

How exciting that we were all participating at the same time!

Howard is a veritible DOLL.

Mark :-)

Joy said...

It was wonderful to feel a part of something national and this big! I know it will change. It must!

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