fotonomous: NO ON 8 PROTEST IN THE "HOOD"

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

NO ON 8 PROTEST IN THE "HOOD"

On Sunday I went to another No on 8 protest but what made this one special was that it was organized by the Black LGBT community. The protest began at 11am in Leimert Park, turned into a march at 11:30am that proceeded on the sidewalks along Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvds, then returned to Leimert Park to end. Approximately 200 people were at the protest - mostly from the Black community - with a few White, Asian, Latino, and other supporters. Reverend Freda Lanoix and others spoke to the protesters. She made a point of saying (and I'm paraphrasing) that although it's great to go protest in West Hollywood, it's was important for the Black community to make a stand in their own "hood" too. A nice touch during one of the speeches was that the speaker (sorry I don't know her name) asked that we think of someone who is no longer with us to come support us and walk alongside us at the march. Then she asked us to call out the names. I yelled out Vito Russo - who not only was a huge influence on me for writing the seminal gay film book "The Celluloid Closet" - but who was also a prominent gay activist during the original AIDS crisis as a member of ACT UP. The only Yes on 8 protesters were a Black man and woman who followed alongside the march route in a large RV that had a few Yes On 8 signs in the windows. They never spoke to the crowd, but honked a bunch of times as they passed. The honking didn't really make any sense to me because usually cars that honk as they pass the protesters are honking in support. The protest/march was completely peaceful and it was great to see the fight from the side of Black LGBT since the the Black community has been scapegoated for coming out to the polls and voting Yes on 8 in such large numbers. - Lydia Marcus

My friend Patti and Me.