A day the state won’t stand still

The earth won’t stand still May 26, a tremor set off by the roars and footsteps of LGBT activists is on the horizon in California.
In Long Beach, is scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday on the corner of Broadway and Alamitos Avenues, when the California Supreme Court decides whether to uphold same-sex couple’s right to wed in the state or take away that right and dissolve about 18,000 same-sex marriages in the state.
Herds of men, women and children also plan to take to the streets, from San Francisco and Sacramento to San Diego and Los Angeles, and meet in the middle the Saturday after the decision day.
“Meet in the Middle is a statewide reaction to Proposition 8 (a 2008 voter measure opposing the marriages of same-sex couples) verdict, —win or lose,” said Robin McGehee, lead organizer for Meet in the Middle 4 Equality. “We are asking people to journey from across the Western region to Fresno, Calif. … come stand with us and create a rally base for equality.”
The event will include materials on voter canvassing, personal story telling techniques, a children’s garden area, nonviolence and civil disobedience training. Speakers such as former Harvey Milk aid Cleve Jones and activist Robin Tyler, also will be part of the event.
Since February, planners have worked with the city to have a rolling permit that allows for this rally on a week to week basis until the court decides on the case.
“I have certainly not seen an event of this proportion,” said Nii-Quartelai Quartey, a spokesman and organizer for the progressive network Courage Campaign. “We are going to gather and say in one voice, ‘Give us our liberty.’”
Event organizers expect attendance to be in the thousands.
“I cannot imagine committed activists across the state staying at home knowing that this historic event is taking place and will likely mark the beginning of a more inclusive movement,” said Quartey, a Los Angeles resident.
Pouring the LGBT and ally flocks to Fresno is quite significant in the struggle toward equal rights in California, organizers said. Opponents of Prop. 8 neglected to campaign heavily against the measure in Central California, which is largely conservative and votes that tilted the scale for the measure came from constituents in that area.
“We were left out of the No on 8 Campaign,” McGehee, 35, said. “There are LGBT people (living) in this area. The reality is that, for the most part, (we are) very much living in a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ community.”
McGehee, who together with her wife has two children, speaks from experience. She said she and her spouse were harassed and kicked out of their 6-year-old son’s Parent Teacher Association. Thus, her experiences have brought her to the conclusion that even if the state Supreme Court rejects Prop. 8, work toward achieving fair treatment for LGBT people must continue. Teen suicide, hate crimes, gays in the military and transgender rights are equally chief issues that must be tackled.
“Marriage is just the cornerstone issue,” said McGehee, a human communication professor at the local community college. “Even if we have the symbolism of equality through rights that we gain, it doesn’t mean we will be treated as equals by individuals. We know that we have to change hearts and minds and it’s not just something that can change with a ballot initiative.”
To do so, organizers say they are taking a page out of history, basing the event on the Montgomery, Ala. Civil Rights March and the Freedom Summers of the 1960s.
Organizers say they also seeking to make the event a diverse platform, where people from the labor, Latino, black, straight, faith base and LGBT communities join forces.
Quartey, who never imagined he would involved in organizing such events, said the arguments against same-sex marriage are the same as the arguments that were used to keep interracial couples from marrying. Such arguments, which assume gay people have a diminished capacity to love, pushed him onto the activist arena.
“For communities of color in particular that don’t see the importance of them to get involved in this issue I say that marriage equality is an extension of equality and full equality under the law, period,” said Quartey, who is a black man. “I understand that among communities of color our faiths appear to complicate things and our leaderships … uses our discomfort to drive a wedge on this issue. But what we are saying, under the law, we all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Quartey’s call to action wasn’t lonesome, said McGehee.
“(Prop.8) was a wake up call on how quickly your rights can be denied and how quickly you can be bullied into silence,” she said. “We need to reach into communities that don’t really understand us and No. 2 we can’t just stop our work if we gain a little bit of semblance of equality.”
Long Beach Equality organizer Tom Crowe agrees.
“For those people who think we should weigh it out, take one hand, open your palm and smack yourself silly,” he said
For more details about the event and events in your city visit: http://www.meetinthemiddle4equality.com/