I've just gotten home after the rally and peeled off my fourth pair of socks. I'll be nursing a cup of hot chocolate as I type this out. =) I hope everyone got home safe and warm!
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Today was cold, wet, and windy, hardly ideal conditions for getting a crowd of people outside. But Toronto, we did it. Over 200 people braved the cold to protest the inequalities that took place when Proposition 8 in California, Proposition 102 in Arizona, and Amendment 2 in Florida banning same-sex marriage, and Act 1 in Arkansas preventing same-sex couples and single parent households from adopting children all passed. Countless more people showed their support honking their horns outside the US Consulate, and those who could not attend were with us in spirit.
I have the unique perspective of being both a young adult, as well as the organizer of this protest. I came out as a queer woman after WWII, after Stonewall, and after same-sex marriage became legal in Canada. I haven't faced the same discrimination and barriers that other LGBTTI2Q folk have.
Then came marriage in California, a huge step forward! Even while the publicity against Prop 8 was growing more and more frenzied I never considered that it would pass- after all, gay marriage had been legal in Canada for years. What a shock, when I woke up to find out that several of these anti-gay measures had passed on Tuesday, November 4th. Later that week I saw the protests in California. The events of that week bore an eerie resemblance to a lot of what I was learning in the queer history unit we had started at Triangle Program. (Canada's only high school for LGBT youth and their straight allies, where I have just started in September.)
I found out about Join the Impact, and the fact that Toronto's protest, originally planned for November 12th at City Hall had been mysteriously cancelled, and jumped in.
After a whirlwind of flyer's, emails, news releases and attempted protest permits Saturday rolled around, and you all gave me the privilege of seeing hundreds of people unite for one cause and one belief. People who believe that the majority cannot speak for a minority, that love can't be voted on, that there is no exception to equality for everyone. An estimated 1 000 000 people participated in rallies worldwide, including Australia, Belgium, China, Japan, The Netherlands, Puerto Rico, the UK, and Germany.
There is nothing more powerful than voices raised, fighting to change the society we live in. My faith in the world I will become an adult in, (and marry in, and have kids in) became stronger just when the world seems to be falling apart. There is hope in these streets and in these hearts. Thank you Toronto.
-Katherina (Kat) Yerro
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Hi Kat,
Firstly Congratulations on a successful demonstration
I didn't find out about it until quite late on Friday night.
I spent 4hrs on Saturday morning calling PFLAG members to let them know about the demo. I hope they managed to swell your #'s. The thing is that there is a bit of a generational divide in that older people don't tend to live online quite the way that is becoming so common with facebook and blogging and such. If you could email me back, we could share contact info and then the next time something like this comes up I could function as something of a bridge between the generations.
In any case Thanks so much for caring enough to make the arrangements! Well Done YOU!
Peta
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