The stretch of Broadway on the side of City Hall is empty now, but for the past two hours thousands of people have been circulating within several blocks of Lower Manhattan. Gay and straight alike came down on this humid Saturday afternoon to protest the passage of Proposition 8 in California. It is equally a rally against similar measures in Arizona and Florida as well as the gay adoption ban in Arkansas.
It should be a no-brainer that all Americans do not receive equal rights under the law, yet hate, ignorance and bigotry have prevented us from that from the beginning of our country. Yet as Jon Stewart so eloquently shoved in Bill O'Reilly's face the other night, the side of history is with us. That isn't just in Greenwich Village but every village and every city across our country. This is what progress looked like here in New York City.
Here are some crowd shots for you, all taken on the photo booth of my MacBook!
In case you can't see, it says Defend Equality.
Equal Rights Now is right!
Another crowd shot.
Yes, that's right, even the pooties are affected!
Here in New York this display of protest for human rights must be translated into action. As you may have heard, Connecticut has started to allow gay couples to get married, just a short Metro-North trip away from NYC. Now we must make sure that happens here in NYC and across the state.
You may also have heard that Governor Paterson made an executive decision to honor the rights that have been afforded by other states like CT and MA, but it isn't enough. Right now there is a battle for our State Senate. We won enough seats to take power away from the Republicans who've held the chamber for nearly 70 years. Yet three of the so-called Democrats are stymieing things. Senators Kruger, Espada (Senator-elect and current Councilman) and Diaz are withholding their support for Sen. Malcolm Smith because they fear that the Senate will join with the Assembly to pass an equal rights bill here in the Empire State.
Let the Gang of Three know what you think of their actions (especially if they are your State Senators) and do not stop pressuring all of Albany until the bill is passed.
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