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UPDATED, November 14, 11:30 am:
Some additional details in advance of tomorrow’s No on Prop 8 Portland rally…
*The event organizers have fired up a blog to talk up the event, and to generate conversation and debate after it – it’s called “PDX Join The Impact” and it’s online here.
*The speakers’ line-up for the event has been posted, and includes the likes of Love Makes a Family’s Bonnie Tinker; pastors Nathan Meckley (Metropolitan Community Church) and Tara Wilkins (Community of Welcoming Congregations); El Hispanic News‘ Melanie Davis; community organizer Tash Shatz; and two Basic Rights Oregon staffers, Aubrey Harrison and Jessica Lee. The speaking kicks off about noon.
*Expect major media presence for the event – newspapers and TV stations nationwide have been talking up the national day of protest all week. Hair and makeup, kids!
*Event co-organizer Debra Porta posted a long note at the event blog today, rallying the troops in advance of the event. It says, in part:
Our community has been divided and on the defensive for far too long… and I think we are drawing somewhat of a line in the sand this weekend.
… how much work do we put into our daily lives, talking to people, sharing our struggles and listening to theirs? How much thought and work do we put into really building bridges and making those allies that we need, in order to win this struggle? The fight for equal rights doesn’t happen only at the periodic rally, or on election day. It takes WORK. And that is what… we are asking you to commit to, as well; for the LGBTQ community, OUR community, to join together and, while honoring our differences, recognizing that we sink or swim together. It isn’t up to someone else to fight for my rights for me. It’s up to me.
UPDATED, November 12, 10:26 am:
There’s lingering confusion in the web-o-sphere as to where exactly this Saturday’s Portland rally to protest the passage of Prop 8 is being held.
Well here it is, world: the Portland No on Prop 8 rally will be held this Saturday, November 15, from 10:30 am onward at the Portland State University South Park Blocks near the corner of SW Broadway and Mill Streets, bordering the Smith Memorial Student Union.
Pride Northwest board president Debra Porta, one of the event organizers, e-mailed these additional thoughts about the rally that you might want to consider:
Folks are more than welcome to bring their own signs. The only thing we ask, is that they do not target race and religion, as that defeats the purpose of our gathering. We plan to have speakers closer to noon (11:30 and after).
This is a rally, not a march. Our hope is, aside from demonstrating our support for the communities impacted around the country by the passage of ballot measures last week, that this event can serve as the kick-off for the organizing and work that we have ahead of us in preparation for 2010, and beyond.
Her statement about “preparation for 2010″ just might be alluding to fresh anti-gay ballot measures in the works by Concerned Oregonians PAC and company.
ALSO: if you’re in the Eugene, Oregon area, there’s a Saturday morning rally planned at Eugene City Hall (777 Pearl Street), also kicking off at 10:30 am, and there’s more info on the Eugene rally online here.
The original post follows after the jump…
A team of PDX-area queers and allies just announced Portland’s first large-scale rally to protest the passage of California’s Proposition 8 – and it’s all going down this Saturday, November 15th, from 10:30 am onward at the Portland State University South Park Blocks, near the Saturday Farmer’s Market.
The Saturday rally is the brainchild of a Portland lesbian couple with California connections: Lindsey Asher and Amanda Leas. Sensing the palpable moment of history uniting queers across the country with the unfortunate passage of Prop 8, the couple made a split-second decision to step into history by driving south to California and standing with thousands of other No on Prop 8 protesters at events in the San Francisco Bay Area tonight and tomorrow.
“Yesterday my partner and I decided to drive down to San Francisco and take part in the rallies,” Asher said by cell phone this morning, from a friend’s home in the Bay Area, where the couple had just arrived. “We were so moved and angered by what was happening we decided to come down and take part.”
So the couple packed up their car, left their Northwest Portland home at just after 2 in the afternoon on Sunday, and made the pilgrimage south to California. “This is such history in the making,” Asher says of their trip. “If we have kids, we can say hey, we were there at the beginning of a movement.”
Asher says she and Leas will be marching in a Tuesday night rally from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to City Hall with several thousand queers and allies, in a peaceful demonstration against discrimination. Leas, a Fresno State journalism major finishing her degree remotely in Portland, will be blogging the experience on her MySpace account, and the couple will also be filming video and taking photos.
The whole trip south is designed to sweep up some of San Francisco’s rebel spirit and bring it back north to Portland. “We’re going to bring this energy from down here and bring it back to Oregon. The only way things will get done is if we stick together and let our voices be heard,” Asher says.
Asher says she’s been in touch with LGBT community leaders across the Portland metro region to help plan the Saturday morning rally, including Pride Northwest’s Debra Porta; mayor-elect Sam Adams has been invited to the event as well, but as of this morning his office could not confirm his attendance.
“I think that’s its very important with this for Oregon, as a neighboring state, to show California that we support them in their fight against the ban on Prop 8,” Asher says. “But we also need to reiterate to the Oregon community that we’re not going to stop our fight for these rights. Never should a minority’s right be decided by the majority.”
Check back into Blog Out for the latest updates on this Saturday’s November 15th No on Prop 8 Portland rally on the South Park Blocks.
(photo of Amanda and Lindsey courtesy of the couple)
21 responses so far ↓
1 Leo Schuman // Nov 10, 2008 at 11:23 am
So far, the rally/protest scheduled for this coming Saturday at 10:30am has been announced for three different locations:
- the South Park blocks (in this blog post)
- Waterfront Park (in a prior Just Out blog post)
- Portland and Eugene City Hall (at jointheimpact.com and stonewalloregon.org)
Which one is it going to be? We need to get the word out, way beyond this blog.
2 Stephen Marc Beaudoin // Nov 10, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Hey Leo -
My information here is correct – it’s happening at the PSU South Park Blocks this Saturday, 10:30 am onward.
Keep checking back here for the most current updates on the event – the event organizers haven’t yet announced an exact location for it, but the rally starts at noon with speakers slated for noon.
- SMB
3 Rhonda Tallmadge // Nov 10, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Perhaps you should link with http://www.jointheimpact.com somehow. I have a group of people who were slated to go to Portland City Hall per their web site and now, frankly, I’m not sure where we’ll show up.
Not good to have confusion. Please co-ordinate soon!
Thanks
4 Stephen Marc Beaudoin // Nov 10, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Hey Rhonda – I get the sense this is a very grassroots, fast-paced event being planned, so I’ve no doubt there’ll be some confusion on the internets as Debra Porta, Lindsey Asher and their whole team of folks figure things out.
I understand Portland City Hall was one of several possible locations they were considering until deciding on PSU South Park Blocks for the event. I’m still awaiting word on where exactly on the Park Blocks it’ll all go down…
I’ll update as soon as more information is made available to me from the event organizers.
5 Leo Schuman // Nov 10, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Linda Asher has contacted jointheimpact.com to update their location info.
6 Esther // Nov 11, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Stephen –
As soon as this piece gets to the bottom of the blog, please move it up to the top again and keep it visible until after the Rally. I have forwarded it to everyone I can think of (along with my own commentary on why they should take part). Everyone, please keep it moving! Thanks!
7 Ira Zimmermann // Nov 12, 2008 at 9:47 am
I bartend at CC Slaughter’s and I’ll let all my customers know so they can turn out. Do you need any volunteers?
8 Stephen Marc Beaudoin // Nov 12, 2008 at 10:30 am
Hey Ira,
Debra Porta is one of the main event organizers, and is probably the best person to contact about volunteer needs – she can be reached at debraporta@netzero.net.
Cheers,
Stephen
Stephen Marc Beaudoin
staff writer
Just Out newsmagazine
9 Faith Reidenbach // Nov 12, 2008 at 12:57 pm
JOIN THE IMPACT In CORVALLIS
The Corvallis protest is scheduled for the Benton County Courthouse, corner of 4th & Monroe (on Saturday 11/15 at 10:30 AM).
10 Rich // Nov 12, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Would it not be more effective if we met at the I-5 bridge on 217, then march to the Mormon temple in Lake Oswego? Aren’t we preaching to our liberal allies by marching in “safe” downtown Portland? We already have their support. Would this not give us the attention required to show the fear based churches who funded Prop 8 an opportunity to squirm? Signs that read “Honk if you support same sex marriage.” Who is going to lead the next march? It is time to think outside of the “downtown Portland box!” We cannot wait for someone else to do it for us. We are the Obama Change Generation! The time is now! Step on up brothers and sisters!
11 Just J // Nov 12, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I will be there but I will be bringing my own sign with a clear statement about the mormon church. Sorry Pride NW, you will not be censoring me. The church certainly doesn’t play nice so we shouldn’t either.
12 B.J. // Nov 12, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Wow…I’m so sick of hearing about Prop 8 this and Prop 8 that…..why do we want marriage anyway? It has little or no ’sanctity’ these days, the divorce rate is staggering, and considering it’s origins as a way to expand the family estate, we should revel in our differences and as Elton John said, just be content with civil unions. Let the heteros have marriage…they’ve done plenty to ruin the so-called ’sanctity’ of it all by themselves.
13 Debra Porta // Nov 12, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Hi there,
Thank you, Stephen, for covering this. The response from around Oregon has been tremendous.
I wanted to post a website, where folks can go to stay up-to-date and get a better idea of what our purpose and goals are, for this event and beyond.
pdxjointheimpact.wordpress.com
We have a list of speakers, currently scheduled, posted now.
Thanks again and see you Saturday! As luck (or Oregon karma!) would have it, we are supposed to have beautiful weather this weekend.:)
14 Debra Porta // Nov 12, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Now that I read more comments I need to say something.
First and foremost, Pride Northwest is in no way connected to Saturday’s gathering. That is simply how most folks reading Just Out, will recognize me.
Also, the point of this gathering is to neither preach to the choir, nor is it to lash out in anger at a monolithic institution with no face. To lash out at those communities now being targeted as the “cause” for the passage of California’s proposition, is to lash out at our own community. That is a divisive road down which we will not go.
We know people are hurt and many are angry. However, we also know that to move forward in a positive, constructive way is the response that we, as a united community, have to have. I know that, for myself, I will not let those who want to see us fail, keep dividing me from ALL members of my community. If we let that happen, than no amount of money, or work, or wishing, will result in full equal rights for our community.
15 Amanda // Nov 12, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Across the nation people are gathering on Nov. 15 to peacefully protest the anti-gay legislation passed in four states this election. We are doing this to show solidarity with every gay American, even if the anti-gay legislation didn’t happen in our own home state.
Now is not the time to be divisive, with infighting about who is to blame, what we should do in response, or what rights we even want in the first place.
16 Tim Joyce // Nov 14, 2008 at 10:52 am
Greetings, all. I’m a reporter with KOIN– and working on a preview story on the Prop 8 story for Saturday. If anyone out there was married while marriage for same sex couples was legal down there. Please e-mail me if you’re willing to share your story. I’m family, too, btw. Cheers, Tim
17 Ralph Erwin // Nov 14, 2008 at 10:53 am
I agree with Debra Porta. I think of “a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down”. I don’t think it is useful to blame the manufacture of the medicine, the Dr. who prescribed it or the illness that requires it. Blaming others who have forgotten that GOD created mankind in His/Her own image and professes love for all, or blaming years of bigotry and misunderstanding only gives any cause a black eye. I wonder if having all the legal and social acceptance of a Partnership is an advantage of the stigma of a relationship with a 50% failure rate.
18 Traci // Nov 14, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Can someone please confirm the time and place–the final, final confirmation.
I have seen 10:30 & 11:30 and all of the locations that have already been mentioned.
Thanks!
19 Marty Davis // Nov 14, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I’d get there around 10:30-11:00. Speakers are scheduled to begin at around noon.
20 Stephen Marc Beaudoin // Nov 14, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Traci -
The rally is “scheduled” to begin at 10:30; speakers are up around noon. The location is on the South Park Blocks at the PSU campus, Portland. Any other info is not current or correct.
Cheers,
Stephen
21 Fransky // Nov 14, 2008 at 6:10 pm
A rally but not an actual march. I feel like we need to take it to the streets! Anyone else???
~F
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