by Rockero
Thursday, May. 28, 2009 at 4:38 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com
In response to the California State Supreme Court's hate crime of a ruling upholding proposition 8, the homophobic proposition that repealed the right to same sex marriage, the community of the Inland Empire joined together to demonstrate our resistance to the decision with a boisterous rally.
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Friday, May 26, 2009
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, California -- Between 300 and 400 people--perhaps more at the peak of the activity--gathered at the corner of Foothill and Day Creek Boulevards under the auspices of the recently-formed Equality Inland Empire (EQIE), a coalition of human rights, student, activist, and LGBT organizations.
Chants included "What do we want? Equal rights!" "Gay, Straight, Black, White, Marriage is a civil right!" and "Eight is hate!"
Early on, an angry white man with a large sign bearing Bible verses approached and yelled slurs at us, condemning us all to hell. A few people let him know he wasn't welcome, but the majority expressed sentiments of unconditional love and understanding. Not finding the conflict he was looking for, he went hunting for a fight on the other corners. We loved him away!
When I left at nine, there was still a large and diverse crowd: old and young, white, black, latino, asian, and mixed race, the overly-normal and the deliberately freaky, church folk and heathens, all united in a spirit of solidarity.
One sign I spotted during my egress was particularly poignant. It asked, "Do we look defeated?"
With the streets as full of love and fury as they were, the answer was a clear and resounding "no."
