Anti-abortionists not welcome in SF

Fabulous pictures! Thank you for turning out!

ya'll are awesome - thank you SO MUCH for coming out
luv
marit w/bacorr

look it's one fringe group protesting another irrelevant fringe group. Yay, Extremism!

Love,

Mary

Hey dude: Was not along ago that just by being gay one was considered "extremist fringe". Think about it. Then think about calling prochoice protesters "fringe". They are using street theater to make a very very important point.

The Pro-Abortion demonstrators were there in support of the Law of the Land, namely Roe v. Wade, which guarantees a woman the right to a safe and legal abortion. There is nothing fringe about the law of the land. That is why it is so outrageous that the Democratic Party machine of San Francisco allows this anti-women, anti-science Catholic Church glorification parade on our city streets, escorted by taxpayer funded police, and allowed to park their buses at the Marina Middle School playground. It is not just the First Amendment church-state mandate that is being violated; they are showing contempt for a fundamental legal ruling upon which women's lives depend.

As to gay liberation, that is by far still an uphill battle. As all of us know, Proposition 8 PASSED, albeit just barely passing. The fact remains, the concept of gay marriage is still very difficult for people to understand, especially the uneducated, which is a description of the majority of Americans. Some 61% of Americans oppose the fact of evolution and 55% claim to believe in angels. See:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2009/02/12/4427408-poll-just-39-believe-in-evolution
and
http://www.baylor.edu/pr/news.php?action=story&story=52815

Proposition 8 obtained 51% of the vote in 2008, putting the elimination of gay marriage into our state constitution. Some 13 million people voted in that election, a high voter turnout presidential election, in a state with about 29 million adults. The voters are always the most educated sector of the population, yet still, in a comparatively more advanced state like California, they could not figure out that Proposition 8 promotes homophobia. Both the Catholic Church and the Mormon Church promote homophobia, with the Catholic Church being the far bigger of the two. Even in San Francisco, the best county on opposing Prop 8, some 25% or 92,500 voted for it, more than the 17% who usually vote Republican.

The vote on Proposition 8 was better than the vote on Proposition 22 of 8 years previous, which also opposed same sex marriage, but was not a constitutional amendment. This was a March 2000 (presidential primary, not as high a voter turnout as the November election) proposition which received 61% of the vote. Only 38% or 2.9 million people understood the issue well enough to vote No. A total of some 7 million people voted on that proposition. San Francisco, as usual, led the way as far as counties are concerned, with 68% voting no, which means almost 32% or 62,371 voted yes.

California was one of the early states in repealing the sodomy laws, doing so in 1976, thanks to the massive gay liberation that had grown at that time under the umbrella of our peace movement against the war in Vietnam. You will recall that the benchmark Stonewall Riots were in 1969, when black and Puerto Rican drag queens in New York City stood up to the routine police invasions of their bar. It was finally in 2003 that the US Supreme Court struck down the remaining state sodomy laws in its ruling, Lawrence v. Texas. For more, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodomy_laws_in_the_United_States

And now it is legal for gays to be in the military, openly. The next step on that front is of course to abolish the military as it simply exists to guarantee profits to the capitalist class.

So, in California, in 8 years, we have gone from 32% supporting gay marriage to 49% supporting gay marriage among voters. You can be sure there is less support among the less educated on that issue, sad to say. This a generational issue supported mostly by the young (although not always), and as the younger generations age and vote (half the voters are over age 50), we can win that issue at the polls. It is still, of course, an ongoing battle. After all, it was as recently as 2003 that we won a US Supreme Court ruling abolishing all sodomy laws, just 8 years ago.

"The Pro-Abortion demonstrators were there in support of the Law of the Land, namely Roe v. Wade, which guarantees a woman the right to a safe and legal abortion."
And the pro-lifers were there to defend the rights of the unborn from being slaughtered for happening to be inconvenient

"There is nothing fringe about the law of the land."
Somehow I doubt you would think so if the it were a law you opposed.

"That is why it is so outrageous that the Democratic Party machine of San Francisco allows this anti-women, anti-science Catholic Church glorification parade on our city streets, escorted by taxpayer funded police, and allowed to park their buses at the Marina Middle School playground. It is not just the First Amendment church-state mandate that is being violated; they are showing contempt for a fundamental legal ruling upon which women's lives depend."
Really? And you would of course demonstrate that same moral outrage over parking spaces and police if a religious pro-choice group were to demonstrate, right?

I won't get into what's ''fringe '' or what isn't . That term is too overused and abused often to beliitle and marginize dissenting movements. (The movement against the war in Indochina was ''fringe '' in 1964 . It sure wasn't by 1969 ! )
But there has been a strong LBGT cultural/sexual atmosphere to BACAOR rallies that does cause problems . What do i mean ?
After all we are talking about the right of overwhemily straight women to legally, safely , choose whether or not to have a abortion . (Yes i know that Lesbians sometimes get pregnant . But aside from rape or serious medical complications It's usually a very consious thought out decision so the likehood a lesbian would get a abortion is pretty slim except of the above mentioned exceptions )
So when you have as part of the counter rally Street dance parties with Gay women bumping and grinding to ,i suppose , taunt the Anti-Women's rights marchers What possible political purpose does that serve ? Don't you want the largely working class Church led marchers to reconsider their reactionary views ? If so don't live up to their lurid '' Sodom and Gommorah '' parnoid fantasies .
Please do not misunderstand . I am certainly not saying that LBGT groups shoudn't be there with their signs , banners, and literature . But They should realize they are basically there in solidarity with their hetersexual sisters.

Although I see what you're saying - focus on the rights of women and change minds through a constructive march - the lesbian & gay get-down makes it a whole hell of a lot of fun. Plus, they are completely uninhibited and if the other side walks for God, they walk for acceptance of all of us. And that includes gay folks. Sadly, many of them are homophobic. Knowing that San Francisco always embraces everyone - the WFL is permitted here, cross-dressing nuns are permitted here - helps them realize I'd hope, they can never take over another's rights. Let's face it, WFL are ultimately bullies when it comes to politics. One way to change their mind is through reason, another is to beat them at their own game. If they go home frightened or curious about gay folks, well, deal.

That said, we can still be constructive AND have some fabulous street theater.