Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Prop 8 Protest in....Rancho Cucamonga??

My hometown had quite an interesting display. After weeks of Yes on 8 people mobbing the intersection of Haven and Foothill; I have now seen my first anti-prop 8 protest. Too little too late? Perhaps. But the reality is finally settling in that California is not as progressive as we thought it was and we need to be visible. We need to put a human face on gays and lesbians and gay and lesbian families as well as our straight supporters.

While the rest of America wonders how Prop 8 could have passed in liberal California; and while opponents play the blame game citing African American turnout or Latino turnout one thing remains clear. Away from the coats, California has a red inland. And the inland areas are growing every year.

On NPR tonight I heard a special on Harvey Milks life. During his life Milk called on a coalition of minorities. Only when blacks, feminists, Latinos, Asians, gays etc begin to fight for the rights of not just their own group, but form a coalition against all forms of discrimination can the minority become the majority.

We need to stick together. We need to realize that racism and homophobia and sexism all come from the same ignorant base. And we need to fight that collective ignorance and not just the ignorance that effects us personally.

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