Jordan
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As many of you know, over the past month, I have deconstructed NOM's nastiness from the comfort of my home in New Jersey. Well, today, I decided to go out to Harrisburg and demonstrate (Trenton did not have a counterdemonstration).
I arrived about 11:15 and parked several blocks away, not knowing what the parking situation would be like near the capitol. I decided to put on some felt reindeer antlers and walked towards the site. NOM was setting up, and I saw a bunch of people in red, one of them carrying a rainbow umbrella. I was a little nervous at first because during lobby days in New Jersey, NOM wore red, but I soon discovered they were friendlies. Before we moved across the street, I took the liberty of going behind the Whine-A-Bago and holding up a "honk for equality" sign. I got several honks until some old white male bigot in a green shirt starts chatting me up about Bowers v. Hardwick. I then mentioned how NOM protested at the Thurgood Marshall memorial, even though Marshall wrote the dissenting (pro-queer) opinion, and he said he never read the opinion because he didn't want to.
He snapped a photo of us before we went across the street for the rest of the demonstration. It was basically go-through-the-motions-civil-rights-appropriation, etc., but The American Society For The Defense Of Tradition, Family, and Property also made a visit, with red capes and all.
Many families, as well as several representatives of the Metropolitan Community Church in Philly, were there. We chanted and sang "This Land is Your Land". We even had an impromptu speakout with a family person talking about how LGBTIQ people are second class citizens, an MCC member talked also about LGBTIQ rights, and I talked about how me wearing antlers made more sense than NOM.
It was a successful rally. Though NOM outnumbered us this time, it was the message that mattered
-Jordan Gwendolyn
PS: I didn't get much photos, but this politically active 12 year old gave us the best Kodak moment (better than my reindeer thing):
CORRECTION: Those people who were there in the red capes were NOT KoC, but a similar organization.
