Meet in the Middle, the huge gay marriage rally in Fresno protesting Proposition 8 and the Supreme Court ruling last week upholding it, just wrapped up, and it was a fantastic event.
Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples and activists gathered behind city hall before 7 am to be shuttled 15 miles south to Selma, California, for a symbolic march. Clergy joined the marchers, who included Molly McKay from Marriage Equality USA in one of her signature wedding dresses; Harvey Milk protege Cleve Jones, carrying Harvey’s own bullhorn, gay serviceman Dan Choi (who recently came out on the Rachel Maddow show), and Christine Chavez, the grandaughter of the great civil rights pioneer Cesar Chavez.
The march got off to a late start, but many of the marchers made it the whole 14.5 miles through the hot Fresno sunshine to arrive at the rally a little after noon.
Thousands showed up at City Hall for the official rally, from all over the state and even from outside California. We’ve been to many of these things, but this one was different.
There were all the same speeches, from clergy supportive of gay rights, from gay and lesbian community leaders, and even celebrity sightings – Eric McCormick from Will & Grace, Michelle Clunie from Queer as Folk, Kyan Douglas from Queer Eye, but surprisingly no appearance by Charlize Theron, who had called for everyone to attend the rally last week.
But what crystalized the difference for us was the speech, given by Robin McGehee, the principal organizer of the rally, about why and how she had come to this point.
She spoke about the African American professor who had taken her under his wing in Alabama years ago, and helped her find her voice, but could not attend the rally because of how people in his little Texas town might feel if they knew he was supporting the gays.
She spoke about speaking out against Prop 8 in Fresno before the election and fighting to get Obama elected, and how devastated she was when Prop 8 passed, even as Obama won the election.
And she spoke of how she and 70 others met week in and week out to pull off this rally, and how many folks said she was crazy to try to do this in Fresno, but how each one eventually came around and became an enthusiastic supporter of the idea.
Robin is one of a new breed of gay activists, no longer content to wait for the crumbs government might hand her. Burnt by Prop 8, but filled with a new resolve.
Here’s where she hit it out of the park. She asked the assembled press to take a message to President Obama. She asked them to tell him:
“Show me you have the courage to produce change.”
She called on him to make good on the promises he made to our community, who worked so hard for him during the election. She called for full glbt equality from the federal government.
That’s what’s different. We’re done asking. We want marriage equality, we want employment non-discrimination, and we want an end to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
When she finished, the crowd went wild. And then Cleve Jones got up, and he announced the March on Washington for October 10th and 11th.
Throughout the rally, there were calls for inclusion – especially to remember our transgender members, who have so often been left behind in the past. They were the vanguard when we fought at Stonewall 40 years ago, and they’re in the vanguard of the fight now, too.
The rally is over, and everyone is dispersed – some to their homes, many to the after parties in Fresno’s gay bars.
Tomorrow, the leaders of many of the LGBT organizations are meeting here in Fresno to discuss the next steps in the fight for gay marriage in California and the country at large.
But no matter what they decide, the ball is rolling, and things they are a changin’.
