by MARK GABRISH CONLAN
Copyright © 2013 by Mark Gabrish Conlan for Zenger’s
Newsmagazine • All rights reserved
March with
International Socialist Organization (ISO) banner
Gathering before the
rally
Sisters of Perpetual
Indulgence
Four Years and No
Complaints
You Are Not Alone
Sean Sala
Lori Hensic of the
American Military Partners’ Association (right) with her fiancée Shaina
Fernando Lopez
Pastor Bill McCullen
of Missiongathering
Musician Colby Martin
of Missiongathering
March with End DoMA,
Prop. 8 sign
March after dark
Assembling the lights
At the overpass
“This shit wouldn’t
happen … ”
On the eve of
the United States Supreme Court’s historic hearing of the constitutional
challenge to Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage approved by California
voters in November 2008, San Diego was one of 180 cities in all 50 U.S. states
to host a “Light the Way to Justice” rally. The purpose of the nationwide
mobilization was to raise public awareness of the case and to call on the
Supreme Court to issue an historic ruling declaring all laws against marriage
equality for same-sex couples unconstitutional.
The event was
held outside the Federal Building on Broadway and Front Street downtown at 6
p.m. March 25. It was called by San Diego Queer activist Sean Sala, organizer
of the first contingent of active-duty military personnel to participate in a
Pride parade. Sala acknowledged he’s a relative newcomer to Queer activism,
having only been involved for the last two years, while “there are people who
have been doing this five, 10, 15, 20, 50 years now. We’re here because of
their work.” As precedents for civil-rights activism he cited 19th
century women’s activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martin Luther King, Harvey
Milk and the “drag queens and Transgender people who were the ones at Stonewall
who sparked this movement.”
Sala put
together a 41-minute program with three speakers and a musical performer. First
up was Lori Hensic, director of educational affairs for the American Military
Partner Association, a nationwide network of partners and spouses of Queer
servicemembers. Throughout her presentation her partner Shaina, an active-duty
Marine Hensic plans to marry in California this August if the Supreme Court
invalidates Proposition 8, stood by her side.
“I’m elated and
moved beyond words to send a true message to the Supreme Court to embody the
virtues of equality,” Hensic said. “I’m the child of parents who raised me with
honor, and taught me to stand up for what was right. I didn’t think I’d ever
have to stand up against my parents. My
spouse and I will be married in August, but my parents will not be there
because they tell me they ‘do not believe in same-sex marriage.’ It’s not
something to ‘believe’ in. My love is real, and my marriage will be too. I’m
hoping the Supreme Court will allow this marriage to continue and grant us the
benefits to which all other Americans are entitled.”
The U.S. Supreme
Court was scheduled to hear two different marriage-equality cases on
consecutive days. On February 26 they held a one-hour, 20-minute hearing on the
Proposition 8 case and on February 27 they were scheduled to address the
provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA), a federal law which
defines marriage as one man and one woman and therefore forbids legally married
same-sex couples from getting any of the
benefits given to opposite-sex married couples under federal law.
Not surprisingly,
DoMA was the issue Hensic focused on because, as the partner of a U.S.
servicemember, it’s the issue that hits her most directly. “I didn’t realize
what a hold DoMA had on my life until I entered this relationship,” she said.
“I couldn’t visit her office without written permission. I will not be allowed
to share in her health benefits. And if she dies in the service of our country,
I will not be the first person to be
notified. As an active-duty Marine, my spouse fights for our freedom —
including, apparently, the freedom of a majority to vote away our rights.”
“We’re standing
on the sunset of discrimination,” said Fernando Lopez, administrative and
public affairs director for San Diego Pride. “What if we could wake up tomorrow
and the value of our humanity did not
depend on the one we love? That is the day we have been fighting for. Our fate
does not only rest on nine people in robes. Our quest for equality does not
rest with a single court decision. Our fate rests with the people willing to
stand up and say, ‘Enough is enough.’ The world will change because of you who
were strong enough to serve in silence during the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ era,
to stand up to bullies, to be the pioneers of our movement or just to hold
hands with your lover on the street. You have brought this movement to this
point with your fierce tenacity of love and a colorful, creative sense of
community.”
The last two
participants were from Missiongathering [sic] Neighborhood Church, 3090 Polk in
North Park. Missiongathering’s pastor, Richard McCullen, identified himself as
an openly Gay evangelical Christian and recalled what happened right after the
California Supreme Court allowed same-sex couples to marry in 2008 — a decision
reversed by Proposition 8.
A few days after
the state court’s ruling became effective in mid-June, McCullen recalled, “I
received an e-mail from the pastor of a large mega-church in San Diego inviting
me to be part of a brainstorming session on how to reverse this decision. My
first thought was that this person obviously didn’t know what I believed or
what sort of church mine is, but I decided to go and see why they were so
upset. I was surrounded by more than 1,000 religious men and women, who claimed
they know a loving God. But their prayers were not of love and peace, but of
hate and discrimination. I had to leave because I was so hurt.” McCullen
recalled that his elation over the election of President Obama in November 2008
was tempered by the passage of Proposition 8 in the same election.
“Tonight we
stand here, religious and non-religious, Gay and straight, not in hate, anger
or revenge, but in love,” McCullen said. “Hopefully this summer we will
experience equality for all. We cannot leave this moment without the amazing
words of Martin Luther King, Jr. that the arc of history is long but that it
bends towards justice. Our state and our country are seeing through the hate,
and we will no longer be held hostage to it. We will win and equality will win.
We stand here in solidarity calling on the Supreme Court to rule for equality.”
After McCullen spoke, his “worship & arts pastor,” Colby Martin, came
onstage for an impassioned medley of well-known songs, including John Lennon’s
“Imagine,” U2’s “One Love” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”
Post-Rally Action: Lighting
Up I-5
“When you leave
here, do not stop,” Fernando Lopez had said in his speech during the rally, and
about 75 people took him literally. In an action pre-arranged by the SAME
Alliance (formerly San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality) and Overpass Light
Brigade, they marched through the streets of downtown San Diego on a circuitous
route to the overpass over Interstate 5 at First and Elm. The objective was to
display light boards spelling out the words “NO DOMA” and “NO H8” so motorists
on the freeway could see them.
The police, out
in force for the rally, were momentarily confused by the marchers’ route.
“We’re here to protect you; we just need to know where you’re going,” one
officer said. Former SAME Alliance president Cecile Veillard, who was leading
the march and using a bullhorn to call out chants, ignored the police and told
this reporter, “I don’t talk to police.” Eventually SAME Alliance’s current
president, Sean Bohac, spoke to the officer and gave a quick overview of the
route they planned.
The march was
fairly long, doubling back on its route and briefly passing — but not entering
— Civic Center Plaza, site of Occupy San Diego’s occupation in late 2011 before
the police broke it up. One woman who’d been part of Occupy San Diego marveled
at how different the police were treating this action as compared to how they’d
handle the occupiers. The people at the overpass were spirited. People took
turns pressing the lighted signs against the fence so passing motorists could
see them. The police briefly threatened to arrest the people holding the signs,
apparently on the idea they could be a threat to traffic, but ultimately let
the action continue.
The night’s
activities were disrupted only briefly. One woman at the rally started heckling
incoherently and Sala asked the police to intervene and have her removed.
Later, as the march passed the bus stop on Third and Broadway, a tall man
started yelling, “Shut up!,” as the marchers passed by and chanted. Ironically,
he was also in the area the next day while supporters of Proposition 8 held their own rally during and
after the court hearing on March 26 at the same location — the Federal Building
downtown — the opponents had used the night before. He seemed equally hostile
to both sides in the debate.
The pro-8 rally
drew about one-third the crowd of the marriage equality event the night before.
It was much longer and had many more speakers. Though the Queer community and
its political allies proclaim a commitment to including people of color and
non-English speakers in their movement, it was the pro-8 rally, not the one on
the other side, that included at least one speaker in Spanish.
