Dust Bunnies Take To The Streets - Part II

Miss Ginger Grant commented today on how proud I must be of all my Dust Bunnies for your Join The Impact efforts. Words cannot express how proud I am of all of you. And the fact that we did this separately - all across the nation - but were still able to do it "together" through this little old blog, gets me a little teary.

Then again, this could just be Miss Ginger trying to keep the Houston Dust Bunnies at the top of the chapter list. Drag Queens can be quite sneaky. :) But whatever her motivation, I AM proud.

So this is "Part II" of the post from this morning. First of all, I have to acknowledge the FUNNIEST sign yet - which I stole from Marker (he stole it from somewhere else). The sign appeared in Dallas:

If you do not know what this refers to, you are not a homosexual. Proceed directly your local Hooters.

Dover, DE - Part II:

The pictures above were taken by Mark (see his Join The Impact post HERE). Howard, who also attended the Dover demonstration, states that this may have been the first EVER gay rights protest in the entire state of Delaware. If so, that is AWESOME.

Even more awesome is the fact that Howard, his straight niece, and their friend (the mother of a lesbian) combined with Dust Bunny Mark and his spouse, accounted for 15-20% of the total number of protesters. So, Dust Bunnies and their loved ones/supporters were CRUCIAL to the very first Gay Rights Demonstration in the history of the great state of Delaware. I'm feeling like some kind of Mayflower Bitch right about now!!

Ft. Myers, FL:

I have to say something about those of you who attended "small" protests. It's one thing to live in New York or San Francisco and go to something like this. We KNOW there will be thousands of people there, and the others we encounter will overwhelmingly be supportive. But in places live Dover, DE or Ft. Myers, FL - that isn't necesarily the case. In fact, only ONE PERSON - a Towleroad reader named Jack - showed up to the "rally" in Ft. Myers. But Jack stood up for his (and OUR) rights.

He had this to say: "Not much of a turnout in Ft Myers. I was the only one there at city hall. I did represent though."

Note to Jack - YOU ARE FABULOUS - and don't you EVER forget it.

Sacramento:

My favorite potty-mouthed Christian mom, Jennie, attended the rally in Sacramento, but had to leave due to the extremely bad migraine headache. She had this to say:

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.

PLEASE Jennie- as a straight mother of 3 kids, the fact that you took the time and effort to even attempt to go to Gay Rights rally (when you weren't feeling well in the first place) is above and beyond the call of duty. As I've said before, you are a TRUE Christian (even if you might still be going to Hell for that mouth of yours - and for your support of gay marriage). I love you! And I was able to get a picture elsewhere. XOXO

Los Angeles:

Dust Bunny GayInLA took the pictures above, and sent me the following email:

I wish I could send you dozens of photos that captured the energy and excitement of this event. Or photos of all the witty signs, hot papis, and drag queens in the crowd. But, these random crowd shots are all I have to offer. It was so thrilling to be a part of this that I didn't give a lot of thought to trying to capture it all on film. I hope you understand....

It was an amazing morning -- perfectly clear and sunny in the high 80s. We decided to take the subway from Hollywood into downtown where the rally was being held, and apparently so did thousands of other demonstrators. (I'm sure that for many people this was their first experience with LA mass transit.) There was a really festive mood as everyone carried their signs and banners down to the platform and squeezed into the train heading for the civic center. By the time we got there, the rally had already started and we could hear the crowd cheering for one of the speakers. I noticed that someone had managed to hang a large rainbow gay pride flag from the top of City Hall.

When we approached the rally, there was a small demonstration of anti-gay hatemongers but they were cordoned off behind barricades, a line of about 18 policemen, their row of motorcycles and a line of rally organizers. As everyone passed we just waved at them and blew them kisses, which seemed to infuriate them even more. The crowd was already so large that we could only get about a block from the stage where the speakers were. I heard crowd estimates from 12,000 to 30,000 and I truly believe it was at the higher end of that range.

The speakers included Mayor Villaraigosa, Darryl Stephens (from "Noah's Arc"), Matt Lucas (from "Little Britain") and Ricki Lake. The sea of signs, flags and banners was pretty amazing. Some of my favorite slogans included: "We can't all marry Liza Minelli" and "Til 52.5% do us part..." A lesbian couple near me had a sign that said "Together 27 Years. Married 5 Months. Invalidated by Majority Vote 10 Days Ago." After the speakers there was a march that went from City Hall to Chinatown.

Yes, there were lots of beefy hotties in tank tops. But what was inspiring was that there were also lots of older long-time gay couples -- and in the cult of youth and physicality that seems to define gay culture (at least in LA), that is usually a pretty invisible group. It was great to see gay men and lesbians -- and plenty of straight people too -- united in a common cause. My friend remarked that it was the first time for him that the "gay community" really felt like a community. Despite the hateful, disgraceful passage of Prop 8 here in California, there seemed to be an overwhelming sense of optimism among the crowd. Perhaps because everyone knew that this was part of a much bigger movement across the country and that ultimately we will be on the winning side.....


Honestly G, thank you. That was so beautifully written. DUST BUNNIES 4-EVAH!!

If I missed anybody, please send your pic/stories to daviddust@gmail.com.

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

WANTED: Dust Bunny Correspondents

As many of you know - tomorrow there will be simultaneous demonstrations/protests against Proposition 8 and for marriage equality. Protest times are staggered by time zone, making this the very first time in the history of our nation that LGBT people (and our straight allies) will be speaking out in every major city in every state at the SAME TIME. Go to JoinTheImpact to find the location of the nearest protest.

I have heard from a number of you, saying that you plan on going. That is fucking AWESOME. Just showing up is half the battle. Those of you that can't go - please be there in spirit, or donate time and/or money toward equality when you can.

For those Dust Bunnies who DO attend a protest - please take pictures and send them to me at daviddust@gmail.com. If you have time, send a little mini-recap of your event. If I get enough response, I'll do a "Dust Bunnies Take To The Streets" post on Sunday or Monday.

One last thing - I know I've been cramming Politics/Barack Obama/Proposition 8/Marriage Equality down your throats lately - but this is important. A movement is beginning that just may give me the same rights as many of you already enjoy. And I'm excited...