Unfortunately for the Loudons, and fortunately for the rest of us, St. Louis sent a strong message yesterday that we believe in equal rights for all, including of course the right for same sex partners to get married. The NOM/Loudons' rally only attracted a puny crowd of about 40 (probably all from the bus), while the counter-protest (organized by PROMO, Faith Aloud, and Show Me No Hate) gathered at least 215 people (at one count: other people said that the crowd grew to over 300 later in the event). So there were at least 5 times more counter-protesters than there were protesters at NOM's event. Below are some photos from the pro-love side of the event, stolen from Ella:
Here's a Vital Voice article about the rally, and below is a Fox 2 video.
Nice job St. Louis! Even if it's maddeningly slow, we (and the rest of the country) are moving in the right direction!
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The event last night was absolutely amazing. As one of the co-organizers (I work with ShowMeNoHate), I was energized and excited by the turnout and the reception. I, personally, spoke to 6 people OUTSIDE of either rally. I approached them individually while I was greeting people and directing them where to go and they politely asked what was going on, what were the two arguments and then they told me that they totally agree with Marriage Equality and wished us a good turnout. :) THOSE people are why we do events like this. :) Public education and contact.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, the protest was a peaceful one. That's good to know considering that NOM was using this tour as a potential way to capture video of violent activity and feed their victimization narrative. --Phil, in Maplewood
ReplyDeleteTiffany did a great job! When I arrived, she came up to me and introduced herself. Tiffany told me to grab a sign and find a place along with the rest of the folks there.
ReplyDeletePhil, it was a peaceful rally. Cars going by honked their horns in support. One Clayton policeman actually chatted with us while sitting at a red light. He also gave us a "thumbs up" when pulling away!
By the way, as the rally progressed, the crowd grew in size. One late estimate around 6:30 came up unofficially with 424 persons attending.
That figure came from a friend doing a manual headcount around the entire block.
Darn, Russ, you were there? Wish I had known: would have introduced myself!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your coverage of the rally, Adam! Most of those photos were taken by my friend Jen, though. :-)
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