Eve of Justice

I had the privilege to be a part of the team that organized the Eve of Justice March on March 4th (Get it? March Forth on March Fourth? Clever? No? Fine...) in Los Angeles. This candlelight march was to bring visibility to the following days event: the Supreme Court Oral Hearings.

...Not sure what I'm talking about, eh? Well, in a nutshell, it was an oral debate from both sides to the CA Supreme Court over three items: 1.) If the 18,000 gay marriages that were performed legally before Prop 8 passed will be annulled or not, 2.) If Prop 8 will be upheld or overturned, and 3.) if Prop 8 will be an amendment or a revision to the Constitution. Basically: "HOLY FUCK" IMPORTANT. Ya dig?

Now, I'm still very new to activism. I only, and I mean ONLY, started to get involved in the gay rights movement about a month ago, so what I brought to the table was minimal, but it still felt better than doing a whole lot of NOTHING.

I got involved on an individual level when Prop 8 came about, like most gays did, but then my involvement tapered off in November when 8 passed and I didn't know where to go or what to do. Luckily I made some friends who are heavily involved with several grassroots organizations here in L.A., and they took me under their wings. I am starting to feel more educated, more aware, and more connected to my community as a whole. These are all great things. What I love the most, however, is that I'm not just sitting around on my ass expecting other people to fight for me. I've joined in on my own fight... and MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT.

Right, enough back story, back to the march...

Our march (there were 34 known marches in total going on in the state of California that evening) ended up quite well, all things considered. It was a Wednesday, it was raining, it was in downtown, and it started at 5:30pm. Now, if you know anything about LA, you know this is pretty much attendance suicide as is, sans the rain, but WITH the rain... oh boy, good luck! People in LA don't even want to go outside if it's cloudy, let alone risk getting wet (and not in the good way) as it would ruin our fancy clothes, water spot our pimp rides, and frump our $250 haircuts. BUT 1200 people were estimated to have been there! Wooo!

The one downfall? It was a candlelight march, as I mentioned earlier, and we had to go back and clean up all the wax to avoid being charged by the city. This was probably the only time I was thankful for the rain, as it made the wax not stick to the cement so badly.

I met a lot of tremendous people (see video below of Todd, who was on LA Ink just after the courts made gay marriage legal in California), saw some great re-commitment ceremonies, and generally felt very touched by the showing of people who believe that marriage is about love, not gender.

Some faith in humanity restored? Check.

Now we just have to wait 90 days (maximum wait) to see what the court decides. I'm a bundle of nerves here...



His tattoo is SICK and he and his husband and daughter are aaaaa-dorable.