An estimated 7,500 people packed into San Francisco's Civic Center Saturday, November 15, joining tens of thousands of LGBTs and allies across the country who participated in simultaneous rallies to protest the passage of Proposition 8.

The day brought vivid images of men, women, and children speaking in support of same-sex marriage to television viewers across the country as media outlets extensively covered the protests.

In Las Vegas, comedian Wanda Sykes surprised a crowd of nearly 1,500 attending a rally when she announced that she is gay. The Associated Press reported that Sykes said the passage of Prop 8, which eliminated same-sex marriage in California, made her feel like she was being "attacked."

"I'm proud to be a woman. I'm proud to be a black woman, and I'm proud to be gay," Sykes said.

In Oakland, a crowd estimated to be around 2,000 turned out in front of City Hall, where speakers urged the crowd to support the repeal of Prop 8. The Oakland event was just one of many organized as part of the nationwide Join the Impact, a movement that started online by Seattle lesbian Amy Balliett, and the local Paths to Change organization.

"A broad coalition of people of color came together with a surge against Prop 8," Lawrence Ellis, founder and president of Paths to Change, told the Bay Area Reporter.

Monifa Porter, an African American lesbian living in Oakland, said that it was important "not to blame anyone" for Prop 8's passage. Exit polls on Election Day showed blacks overwhelmingly voted for Prop 8, but the percentage of black voters in California is only about 6 percent. Additional analysis showed the number of African Americans voting for Prop 8 was closer to 57 percent, according to a statement issued by No on 8 campaign executive committee member Kate Kendell Tuesday. Other analyses showed that older voters also voted strongly for Prop 8, as well as members of the Latino and Asian American communities. However, many in the LGBT community have acknowledged that more outreach to communities of color must

Kobi Appel-Bernstein stands with his moms, Alison Bernstein and Judy Appel, after he addressed a couple thousand people at the rally in front of Oakland City Hall last Saturday. Photo: Lydia Gonzales

"Race-based division is not going to get us anywhere," Porter added.

Kendell said in her statement that "No one group is responsible for the passage of Prop 8 – period."

Porter, who married her wife Maya Hart on October 31, suggested that the LGBT community needs to do grassroots organizing and "go into African American churches."

"I think this is an issue of governance, not an issue of religion," she added.

Leslie Ewing, executive director of the Pacific Center in Berkeley, told the B.A.R. that she was heartened by the outpouring of support for the rallies in cities across the country.

"I haven't seen this level of grassroots activism since the 1990s when we took the quilt to D.C.," she said, referring to the display of the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt that took up the entire National Mall during a 1996 display. "I think it redefines how we do activism."

Kobi Appel-Bernstein, 10, brought cheers from the crowd when he talked about his two moms, Alison Bernstein and Judy Appel, who is executive director of Our Family Coalition.

"I think some kids in my class understand more than some grown-ups do," he said. "My family and their family, and everybody's family is the same."

Amid chants of "We will not be silenced," many in attendance brought signs such as "Prop 8 hurts my family," and "Focus on your own family," a reference to the anti-gay group that contributed $420,000 to the Yes on 8 campaign. It was reported this week that Focus on the Family would be laying off hundreds of workers [see story, page 2].

Out Oakland City Councilwoman-elect Rebecca Kaplan said that the demonstrations against Prop 8 are just the beginning.

She also criticized Prop 8 proponents who told voters that the elimination of same-sex marriage was necessary to save families. Heterosexual families, she said, are still falling apart due to the Iraq war, the economy, and other issues that "are still happening."

"This is not about disrespecting people of faith," Kaplan said. "People of faith are an essential part of this community and the Bible I read says to love one another."

In San Francisco, police spokesman Sergeant Neville Gittens said that 25 people were arrested for failure to leave the roadway when asked; he said they most likely were cited and released.

State Senator-elect Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and state Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) both addressed the crowd in Civic Center Plaza, along with other same-sex marriage supporters. People then marched to Union Square. Others marched to the Castro.

Around the country

In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke to a crowd estimated at 13,000. He had come to the event from the scene of horrific wildfires in the area.

"But I've come from the fires because I feel the wind behind my back as well," he told the crowd, according to a transcript of his remarks. "It's the wind of change that has swept the nation. It is the wind of optimism and hope that has swept the nation – and in many ways – it began here."

"You see when our great nation was in a crisis about to be divided by war – California chose to be a free state, not a slave state. From our very beginning, California decided that we would lead the way. California decided that we would join the cause of freedom. And here we are in front of this august City Hall that you all honored me with    the ability to lead – here we are – and we're here to say – that LA will lead the way," Villaraigosa said.

Perhaps the largest event took place in San Diego, where an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 people showed up.

It was reported that there were about 1,000 people in San Jose; 10,000 at Boston's City Hall; 1,200 in Dallas; nearly 1,500 in Las Vegas; thousands in Chicago; and hundreds in other cities, including Cincinnati.