I attended my first ever rally yesterday in support of the recent Prop 8 ruling and to counter the NOM bus tour that happened just a few yards away, in Clayton MO, near St. Louis.
Show Me No Hate http://showmenohate.blogspot.com/
Faith Aloud http://www.faithaloud.org/
PROMO http://promoonline.org/...
all helped sponsor the event, provided signs and buttons and generally coordinated where we should be standing (towards traffic and away from the NOM rally) so we were visible to as many people as possible.
I'd estimate the marriage equality crowd at 200-300, stretching from in front of the NOM rally at Corondolet and S. Central up to the corner of Forsyth and S. Central. Here's a map from Show Me No Hate. NOM set up slightly north of the smaller planned yellow region and slightly south and east of the circular yellow shaded section:
http://maps.google.com/...
And here's some more pictures:
I have never done any kind of political rally or any kind of activism because I'm.....I'm scared. Anxiety, agoraphobia, socially phobic. But the diary last week showing posters of nooses and quoting Leviticus crossed some kind of line with me.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Those two brave, wonderful and proud guys with the picture of their family I posted made me want to sob, to think that people just a few feet away would do anything they could to hurt them and their children.
The NOM folk probalby numbered between 25-50, and police were there to make sure that my group and that group of people were kept separate.
I was and still am, overwhelmed by how nice everyone I met was. And like I said I don't do good with people.
I'm certain there are tons of folks out there who took way better pictures than I did (plus I hadn't brought an extra set of batteries@@) and can tell a much better story but I did my small part and stood with my...friends for equality and now I'm sharing with ....other friends. This site inspires me. There are so many wonderful people here who write passionately about things I care about.
Thank you Daily Kos community....for helping me do something good.
Here's the link to the rest of the photos I took:
http://www.flickr.com/...