Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times staff reporter Lornet Turnbull writes about the new generation of protesters that have made their voices heard since passage last week in California of Proposition 8, and of anti-gay marriage equality bans in Florida and Arizona. The most draconian of the laws past last week was one in Arkansas that bans lesbians and gay men from becoming adoptive or foster parents.
Excerpts from her report:
In the last 10 days, gays and their supporters, stunned and angry over the passage of Proposition 8, have hardly left California streets, where their protests of the same-sex marriage ban have led to sometimes ugly confrontations with those they blame for their loss.
Their movement is now national, with planned demonstrations Saturday expected to draw thousands in cities across the country, including Seattle.
And so it began -- Stonewall 2.0 -- a new generation's revolt against the status quo.
The revolt is being led not so much by graying street warriors who took on the establishment following the Stonewall riots but by young people -- gay and straight -- using cellphones, text messaging and Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace to quickly assemble armies of foot soldiers.
They came of age after many of the nation's big battles for rights had been fought and have friends of all races and sexual orientation. Many are young enough to have parents who are openly gay.
"For us, Proposition 8 was a wake-up call that rights are not something we can take for granted," said Taylor Malone, a sophomore at Eastern Washington University, who is helping to organize Saturday's demonstration in Spokane.
Twenty- and 30-somethings, some politically active for the first time, are coming to this movement energized and inspired by Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Like Malone, many handed out fliers, canvassed neighborhoods and made phone calls on Obama's behalf.
In the meantime, the street protests continue, driven by people such as Seattle resident Amy Balliett, 26, who launched jointheimpact.com, where people in 150 cities can sign up to join Saturday's demonstrations.
Balliett, a lesbian, said she and her friends weren't getting much response from gay-rights organizations they e-mailed after Proposition 8 passed, "So I said, 'Why wait for them to get the ball rolling? Let's just do it ourselves. Let's have a national protest.' "
She and others sent e-mail and text-message blasts to everyone they knew -- starting a chain reaction. By Thursday, more than 2 million people had visited the site.
Along with legal and legislative strategies, she said, people in the movement need to "speak to our opponents, normal, average everyday people like us."
For years, longtime Seattle activists Bill Dubay and George Bakan have groused about whether a new generation of activists would pick up the torch.
They are encouraged by what they see.
Bakan, editor of Seattle Gay News, recalls the old days, when activism involved taping notices to lamp posts and getting mailings out weeks in advance to ensure people would show up.
"There's this new grass-roots movement, a new wave of energy at the basic level, where people are speaking for themselves about their rights and denial of rights," Bakan said.
"It's long overdue."
Source: Young, wired and rallying for gay rights | Seattle Times