Saturday’s Protest slash Rally
Wife and I went to a Prop. 8 protest/rally at the Oakland Civic Center on Saturday. I’ve never been a giant fan of protests. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I encounter a protest at least twice a week.
The typical scene:
Whinger: [Tip-tap-typing away at her day job.]
Outside: Rahjah jah! Rahjah jah! Woooooooooooo!
Whinger: ..?
Outside: Rahjah lee! Brug lee! Wooooooooooo! [Whistles and drums.]
Whinger: ..? [Sighs and wheels chair over to window to look down at crowd twenty-some stories below.]
Outside: Brug rahjah lee!
Whinger: ..? [Strains to see signs, but they are never clearly printed.]
Outside: [More whistles and jumping up and down.]
Whinger: [Calling to co-worker down the hall.] Do you know what the protest is for today?
Co-worker: [Pause while she looks. Calls back.] No, but it looks like they’re headed toward the water, so we should go the other way for lunch.
Whinger: Good plan.
I even recently lectured the girls at Peet’s, who were wondering what the protest was that was passing us by at the time, about the need for clarity in chants and signs. Walking down the street with a flag that could or could not be Ireland’s is not the way to tell me about your cause.
Anyway.
So despite all protest reservations, we went to the protest at the Oakland Civic Center, and it was beautiful. The day was lovely, and they had good speakers lined up. But above all, as I was looking around, I realize that I live in a city of beautiful people, and not in the sense that everyone could grace the covers of Vogue. The people are charmingly and engagingly themselves.
I saw a lot of families with both straight and gay parents, and they were all adorable and loving and romping underneath the giant Oak tree on the Civic Center lawn. I saw many couples, also gay and straight, who casually leaned against one another for support. There were folks of all ethnicities and sizes, and they were all bound for this common purpose of being proponents of love and family.
We had cheers for different people in the crowds: One for the same-sex couples like us who got legally married recently, one for the couples who were planning to get married, etc. The last cheer was for the straight friends who were out to support the cause, and that cheer was by far the loudest and longest. We all know that the gay population will never achieve protection and recognition on its own; it will never be above 10% of the population, the very definition of a minority. And so we rely on those who love both us and equality to help, and we were not let down on Saturday.
It was a joy to see.

