Nov 21, 2008  |  By: CHRIS JOHNSON  | COMMENTS     

After an estimated 1 million people across the country rallied to support same-sex marriage and express anger over the passage of Proposition 8, event organizers and national leaders are forming new plans to sustain interest in the issue.

The steps come after protests Nov. 15 in many U.S. cities against Proposition 8, which overturned same-sex marriage in California. Voters approved the state constitutional amendment on Election Day, halting same-sex marriages in the state and calling into legal question the marriages of 18,000 couples that have wed in California.

Join the Impact, a grassroots group that coordinated the protests, estimated that 1 million people participated in the protests nationwide, although that number could not be independently verified.

Kellan Baker, who organized the Nov. 15 protest in D.C., where an estimated 5,000 people gathered, said there would be future events and protests that would keep gay issues in “people’s hearts and minds.”

“There are a lot of things pressing on people,” he said. “We need to remind people that this marriage issue isn’t going to go away. We need to keep it in people’s hearts and minds, we need to keep it in the spotlight of the media.”

Baker said future events could help to remind President-elect Barack Obama that he promised to support expanded gay rights during his bid for the White House.

“In order to compete with all the other things that he’s got on his plate, we need to remind him and everybody else around the country that we’re here and that we still do not have full rights as American citizens under the law,” he said.

Baker also said he hopes the Nov. 15 protests and future events would build momentum to help repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

Sue Hyde, an official with the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, said she didn’t “want to read the tea leaves” for what could follow the Nov. 15 protests, but noted they represented “a new and fresh dynamic and it’s impossible to say what might happen.”

“It seems to have a bright future,” she said. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm there and we very much look forward to being involved.”

Marty Rouse, the Human Rights Campaign’s national field director, said it’s important that national organizations “turn the protests into action as soon as possible.”

“Our job as organizations is to harness that energy into positive change,” he said.

Rouse said HRC could build on the protests by coordinating forums where people could talk about their experience working on marriage rights for gay couples and how to take their state forward.

A town-hall style meeting is scheduled to take place next week in New York to discuss how same-sex marriage rights could be advanced in that state and elsewhere, he said. HRC also is partnering with Marriage Equality U.S.A. to sponsor 40 similar meetings in California to keep the community engaged on the issue of same-sex marriage.

‘A Day Without Gays’

But the national gay rights organizations found themselves largely on the sidelines last week. Grassroots coordinators of the protests have since revealed plans to encourage gays across the nation to make Dec. 10 “A Day Without Gays,” where gays would “call in gay” to work and stay home.

Instead of going in to work, organizers are encouraging gays to participate in volunteer efforts and not spend money to demonstrate the impact of gay money on the economy.

Baker said “A Day Without Gays” would keep people “interested and energized on the issue.”

He recommended that gays volunteer Dec. 10 with religious groups that are supportive of gay rights.
“Rather than just having a fun day off work, give some of that time to organizations that need our help to show that we’re committed to the community,” he said.

Baker also said a protest outside the Mormon church in Kensington, Md., could occur in early December. Mormons have been criticized for contributing an estimated $20 million in support of the campaign to pass Proposition 8.
Baker said he didn’t know if such protests would be useful, though, because they might be seen as “divisive.” He noted that the Nov. 15 protest in Washington was supported by Affirmation, a national gay Mormon group.

Baker said he was “more interested in reminding people in communities of faith that they have much more in common with this movement than they think because we’re both about love.”

Rouse said having personal conversations with friends and co-workers is “the most important thing anyone can do” to work on advancing marriage rights.

He recommended that backers of same-sex marriage foster ...