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marcos from the bronx,
I couldn't agree more. Non-white gays and lesbians who tried to help out in fighting Prop 8 were told their constituencies didn't matter. And they were turned away. Same old, same old.
Prop 8 could have easily been defeated, and there is a lot of criticism, rightly so, of the people who incompetently managed the anti-8 campaign.

On the lines at the innauguaration. I waited for four hours in severe cold with a ticket in the silver line. Our wait was longer because, a huge mass of people cut in to the front of the line, and there was no one there in an official capacity to stop them.

I heard from the Obama transition project that previously innaugural events had been paid for by lobbyists and the Obama/Biden team was working to pay for it by general contributions from supporters. I disagree with either approach the innauguration should be fully federally funded. Some thing are better not privatized. I don't think many people would have cut into line if the lines were being tended to by the national guard.

Heres my main takeaway from prop eight's passing:The LGBT folks who fought back against police brutality and sparked the modern gay rights movement, at the Stonewall, were astonishingly diverse in terms of race and class. But, the gay people who benefited the most from the gains after Stonewall were not. All people in this country have benefited some. However, the most dramatic change up till now, is that,in some areas, openly gay white males, have been able to enjoy the same social and ecconomic priviliege that straight white males did before. In fact a gay white male patriarchy has emerged that dominates certain industries. This is not CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN, for many people who are still excluded. The LGBT rights movement can only become a broad civil rights movement when this patriarchy sheds it's priveliege, listens with compassion, and put it's money and it social means into uplifting the downtrodden, espicially LGBT folk who are poor and/or of color.
It is also important to direct energy and resources into dialouge with religious people and supporting religous allies, but that is for another post.

As for the parade- they started letting non ticket holders through gates 30 minutes before the parade was scheduled to begin.Most people had no idea that they had to have a ticket to see the parade as well. They had about 4 secret service men checking bags- and the process was very slow. this created crushing mobs- who almost crushed a small child right in front of me. I also was crushed up against the gates as i was trying to walk through.

how is it possible for someone to know the numbers if they have little idea of what they affirm; through statements for which they are unable to confirm...

I was not in the purple tunnel - but i was outside the gates by the purple area. My bus was 2 hours late- luckily i found an opening in the fence and slipped into the mall after it was already closed. I think it was really sad that they didn't put screens outside the gated areas so that people could listen and watch the swearing in which they traveled so far to witness. So many people missed not only the inauguration- but the parade as well. So many people were saying that they would have been perfectly happy watching it on a big screen outside the gated area as well :(

Quote: These are the times that try men's souls. Thomas Paine

Another note on prop 8. To say media was unfair to blacks and painting them as homophobic by saying 70% voted for prop 8 then having a researcher say the real percentage was considerably less.... nearly 60% still shows that the MAJORITY of black people voted to take rights away from another. The story is still the same.

Hi Brian,
I don't think the problem was that more tickets were given than there were seats. I was watching the inauguration on TV and noticed that when the cameras panned to the blue and purple seats that a LARGE number of them were empty though there were still millions of people on the mall - I don't think these were people who had gotten up to go to the bathroom or for pop corn.
We learned, as Senator Feinstein has called for an investigation, that security decided to not continue people sitting for security reasons. They made an arbitrary decision and did not communicate it to anyone. Including those waiting to be allowed to get to their seats.

It's good to see Thomas Paine getting some well-deserved recognition.

I had a yellow ticket and BARELY got in...for about 2 hours I stood in a mashed line that was half purple people and half yellow people with nobody knowing what was going on! In three hours spent in line I was very surprised to only have seen one official directing traffic the whole time!

If I may, a few more pix of the tunnel (among other inaug. day pix) I recently uploaded:

http://tinyurl.com/ce7jgk

I was there with a purple ticket as well. Look at the sattellite photos, they had enough room, they were totally disorganized and incompetent in how they ran the screenings and gates. It was bedlam.

Brian,

The next time you have a guest to discuss prop 8, can you ask about the possibilty that many people (maybe some black) didn't answer the question? It is optional. In NJ there were questions on the ballot, and I didn't answer them when I voted. I actually forgot, but a lot of times people are indifferent about certain issues. Gay marriage is no exception.

Mr. Egan seems to be dancing around two questions the host should have asked:
1. Are there higher levels of "religiosity" amongst black people meaning higher levels of black people would have voted against prop 8.
2. Mr. Obama did get the youth vote, but were the majority of new young voters black, white, or other? That is to say, if the youth that came out for Obama (and actually voted) were white and not black, then the average age of black voters in California would be older than white voters and more likely to vote against prop 8.

it not a wedge for blacks and hispanic it is a one of black and gays....

blacks still voted in higher numbers than whites for proposition 8- sorry if that offends the PC monsters to point it out. Blacks are more culturally conservative than perhaps they have a reputation for: a high percentage of them are churchgoers and they are well behind whites in terms of acceptance of gay rights. that's what needs to be discussed- and what is apparently now a taboo subject.

Considering religiosity in lieu of race as the pivotal factor is a red herring. There were many deeply religious people whose religions support marriage rights for all adult couples. It is Southern Baptist reactionary ideology that drove this vote. Unfortunately, many African Americans are victims of this dogma.

you forgot bill-O and vanity

none as the subject takes is as the verb, none is=not one is or no one is

any truth to the story i heard that the CA GLBT community did no work to defeat prop8

none of us are free until all of us are free