Stirring words on a hot day at Long Beach’s latest anti-Prop. 8 rally

Saturday’s anti-Proposition 8 rally at the usually-deserted Burton W. Chace Civic Center was, as advertised, a “peaceful rally,” with babies frolicking on the grass outside City Hall, loving couples lounging barefoot in front of the stage, and Long Beach police sitting on their bicycles at the very back of the crowd.

(Favorite signs: “Imagine all the people”; “Take your hate off my wife”; “Engaged until further notice”; “Wedding bell blues”; “I want what the chickens got”; “We’re an Obama nation, not an abomination”.)

But, thankfully, it wasn’t all about peace. That would have been boring. Instead, a racially and demographically-mixed crowd of anywhere from 1,000 (the police estimate) to more than 3,000 (organizers’ estimate) heard a Who’s Who of city and gay community leaders urge them onward in their quest for equality.

Then, as the program neared its end, and before hearing from State Sen. Alan Lowenthal, everyone got married–all part of that mass WED-IN we’d been promised. (It stood for Wishing to End Discrimination & Inequality Now).

“From here, all the way this way, you are Partner A,” said the Rev. Sunshine Day of Namaste Spiritual Center in Long Beach, dividing the crowd roughly at City Hall’s southwestern edge. “And from here, all the way this way, you are Partner B.” (Or, if you’re like me, you were walking as she spoke, and you crossed over from B to A.)

Day then read Partners A the vows that would commit us to each other and to the fight for equal rights, including, “Will you unconditionally accept Partner B to be your ally …”–but, tellingly, she never got a chance to address Partner B. No sooner than she said “Partner B?” than the entire sweaty, smoky courtyard erupted in cheers. “Yes,” Day said. “That’s right.”

Much seemed right, but as every speaker reminded the crowd, the world outside civic center at that moment would still need some convincing.

“There’s no such thing as being 98 percent equal,” said Seventh District Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga, who spoke after the two Lowenthals on Long Beach City Council and before Sen. Lowenthal. “The real battle is in the hearts and minds of your friends, your neighbors and your family, and little by little it’s going to turn.”

It went on like that–soothing words mixed with sobering reality–and you couldn’t help feeling inspired. Unless, perhaps, you know … .

“We can talk about peace and still be angry,” The Center Long Beach’s Executive Director Kimberlee Woods cautioned to the crowd, as audience members shouted out assent. “We can talk about peace and still want justice.

“I know as an institution, we have a problem with them,” Woods said to scattered boos, referencing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ support of Prop. 8. “But I know that in this crowd there are still people who are Mormons.”

She even gave a shout-out to Long Beach police, who were criticized by some for making a handful of arrests following last Friday night’s march down Broadway.

“Friday night cost the city $89,000 to pay for overtime for police,” Woods said, “so we’re going to try to have a fundraiser for our city.”

It’s a city whose elected leaders have unanimously supported equal rights–and opposed Prop. 8, a point that city leaders emphasized in their remarks.

“Just when I miss being back in India, there are days like this,” said Second District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, as a police helicopter whirred overhead in the smoky heat. “It feels like home, but the other part of home is seeing people in this underutilized space. This space is so underutilized. This is what we should be doing. It’s your right–take it. When something matters to you, you’ve got to believe that it matters to someone else.”

A scattering of couples dressed in wedding garb seemed to underscore her words.

Long Beach attorney Stephanie Loftin took the stage a bit later to update the crowd on the Prop. 8 debate now underway at the state level.

“Our [state] Attorney General said don’t worry … ,” Loftin said, pausing for emphasis. “… too much. Our Attorney General said we will be grandfathered in, so the [estimated] 18,000 couples who got married will still be married.

“What are we going to do with this mess?” Loftin asked, pausing again slightly, before noting that with four writs now making their way to the California Supreme Court, change could be on the way.

“We may get a ruling from the Supreme Court as early as next week,” she said. And the crowd cheered again, as it did so many times.

Despite the heat, punctuated with periodic flakes of ash from the wildfires, its enthusiasm seemed unflagging–stoked by the charisma and drive of speakers like Long Beach Pride founding member Vanessa Romain.

“Keep your signs,” Romain said to the legion of supporters who brandished their banners. “Don’t throw them away, because … what do we want?”

The crowd screamed back, “Equal rights!”

“When do we want it?” Romain answered.

The reply came back even louder: “Now!”

Tags: Burton W. Chace Civic Center, California, california supreme court, india, Kimberlee Woods, Long Beach, Long Beach City Council, Long Beach Pride, Namaste Spiritual Center, Proposition 8, Second District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, Seventh District Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga, Southern California, State Sen. Alan Lowenthal, Stephanie Loftin, The Center Long Beach, The District Weekly, the Rev. Sunshine Day, Theo Douglas, Vanessa Romain