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Hundreds march for marriage rights for gays

By Gene Park
Associated Press

POSTED: 02:20 p.m. HST, Nov 15, 2008

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Hundreds of Oahu residents turned out to protest the California vote that banned gay marriage there. 

The protest was coordinated by local resident Tom Larabee and the Aloha Pride Center. Protests were also held in other cities across the country including, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Boston. 

Yesterday’s ppeaceful rotest started at Honolulu Hale and ended with a march to the state Capitol building. 

The nationwide protests followed the vote on Proposition 8 in California in this year’s election, which banned same-sex marriages in the state. Hawaii has neither same-sex marriages nor civil unions and protesters also called for the establishment of same sex unions in Hawaii. 

Protests following the vote on Proposition 8 in California, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, have sometimes been angry and even violent, and demonstrators have targeted faiths that supported the ban, including the Mormon church.

However, representatives of Join the Impact, which organized Saturday’s demonstrations, asked supporters to be respectful and refrain from attacking other groups during the rallies.

Seattle blogger Amy Balliett, who started the planning for the protests when she set up a Web page three days after the California vote, said persuasion is impossible without civility.

“If we can move anybody past anger and have a respectful conversation, then you can plant the seed of change,” she said.

Balliett said supporters in 300 cities in the U.S. and other countries were holding marches, and she estimated 1 million people would participate, based on responses at the Web sites her group set up.

“We need to show the world when one thing happens to one of us, it happens to all of us,” she said.

The protests were widely reported to be peaceful, and the mood in Boston was generally upbeat, with attendees dancing to the song “Respect.” Signs cast the fight for gay marriage as the new civil rights movement, including one that read “Gay is the new black.”

But anger over the ban and its backers was evident at the protests.

One sign in Chicago read: “Catholic Fascists Stay Out of Politics.”

“I just found out that my state doesn’t really think I’m a person,” said Rose Aplustill, 21, a Boston University student from Los Osos, Calif., who was one of thousands at the Boston rally.

In San Francisco, demonstrators took shots at some religious groups that supported the ban, including a sign aimed at the Mormon church and its abandoned practice of polygamy that read: “You have three wives; I want one husband.”

Chris Norberg, who married his partner in June, also referred to the racial divisions that arose after exit polls found that majorities of blacks and Hispanics supported the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

“They voted against us,” Norberg said.

Demonstrators in Washington marched from the U.S. Capitol through the city carrying signs and chanting “One, two, three, four, love is what we’re fighting for!”

Hundreds of Oahu residents turned out to protest the California vote that banned gay marriage there. 


The protest was coordinated by local resident Tom Larabee and the Aloha Pride Center. Protests were also held in other cities across the country including, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Boston. 

Yesterday’s ppeaceful rotest started at Honolulu Hale and ended with a march to the state Capitol building. 

The nationwide protests followed the vote on Proposition 8 in California in this year’s election, which banned same-sex marriages in the state. Hawaii has neither same-sex marriages nor civil unions and protesters also called for the establishment of same sex unions in Hawaii. 

Protests following the vote on Proposition 8 in California, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, have sometimes been angry and even violent, and demonstrators have targeted faiths that supported the ban, including the Mormon church.

However, representatives of Join the Impact, which organized Saturday’s demonstrations, asked supporters to be respectful and refrain from attacking other groups during the rallies.

Seattle blogger Amy Balliett, who started the planning for the protests when she set up a Web page three days after the California vote, said persuasion is impossible without civility.

“If we can move anybody past anger and have a respectful conversation, then you can plant the seed of change,” she said.

Balliett said supporters in 300 cities in the U.S. and other countries were holding marches, and she estimated 1 million people would participate, based on responses at the Web sites her group set up.

“We need to show the world when one thing happens to one of us, it happens to all of us,” she said.

The protests were widely reported to be peaceful, and the mood in Boston was generally upbeat, with attendees dancing to the song “Respect.” Signs cast the fight for gay marriage as the new civil rights movement, including one that read “Gay is the new black.”

But anger over the ban and its backers was evident at the protests.

One sign in Chicago read: “Catholic Fascists Stay Out of Politics.”

“I just found out that my state doesn’t really think I’m a person,” said Rose Aplustill, 21, a Boston University student from Los Osos, Calif., who was one of thousands at the Boston rally.

In San Francisco, demonstrators took shots at some religious groups that supported the ban, including a sign aimed at the Mormon church and its abandoned practice of polygamy that read: “You have three wives; I want one husband.”

Chris Norberg, who married his partner in June, also referred to the racial divisions that arose after exit polls found that majorities of blacks and Hispanics supported the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

“They voted against us,” Norberg said.

Demonstrators in Washington marched from the U.S. Capitol through the city carrying signs and chanting “One, two, three, four, love is what we’re fighting for!”

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