Mass Fresno Rally Kicks Off Gay Marriage Campaign

by Randy Shaw via Beyond Chron

Mon, Jun 1, 2009 7:21AM

Monday, June 1, 2009 : In 2005, after Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed marriage equality, I took my then-boyfriend to a protest – where we marched from the Castro to the LGBT Center on Market Street. My ex grew up in Fresno, and at the time he told me it didn’t make sense to have a gay marriage rally in San Francisco – because we were preaching to the choir.

On May 30th, I joined over 3,000 people in Fresno to kick off a statewide campaign to repeal Proposition 8. Meet in the Middle for Equality was one of the most powerful mass rallies I ever attended – because it was focused, strategic and executed to have an impact. Local activists who attended were floored by the turnout, and those who had traveled from across California knew their presence mattered – because no successful effort to restore marriage equality can ignore a section of the state. Prop 8 passed because the top-down leadership in the LGBT community figured they could make decisions for us, but “Meet in the Middle” happened because grassroots activists wanted to take ownership of the movement – and a mass rally in Fresno was the logical thing to do. To my surprise, no counter-protesters were there to greet us – despite being in the heart of California’s “Bible Belt.”

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