Pittsburgh Prop 8 Protest

God hates hate was the sign my friend and I shared and held high during our march and protest around Oakland, where the University of Pittsburgh's main campus is. I would say close to 1,000 people at one point came to support our cause. The weather was supposed to be crappy and rainy but it turned out not to be that bad. I had such a great time being there and being with a group of people who share the same strong feelings as I do about this issue.

I tried to make as many observations as possible of the different types of people with us and also at the people who looked onward at us as we marched. Here is what I saw. First off, the group was completely diverse. Ages, race, sexual orientation, sex...everyone was different. Something else I noticed deemed a bit weird to me. Everyone I normally see at gay bars on weekends and whatnot, were not to be seen here. They were all missing. I didnt notice 1 person that I see every weekend ranting about gay marriage or gay rights, there with us to support it. This was so peculiar to me. What ever what their excuses are, I just dont understand how I literally saw not one person there that I recognized.

Perhaps even more to my surprise was all the positive feedback from the people were watching us march and protest. Onlookers gave us thumbed up and clapped as we walked by. There were no other demonstrators there to protest us, and it seemed as though overall, everyone was on our side.

After the march, we all came together and listened to people speak. It was sort of an open mic type thing, and I mustered up enough courage to go speak. I wanted to talk about Keith Olbermanns special comment he made on his show. I wanted people who had not heard it, to at least hear the overview of what I could remember. Here is what I said, "Hi Everyone!" Huge crowd all says hello back. "My name if Jeff and I want to know if anyone here has ever heard of Keith Olbermann?" Crowd goes crazy. Apparently they have. "Well, I dont know if you watched his special comment he made the other day on Prop 8, but he put into words what I think all of us feel at this moment." I am now getting ready to do my short version of his speech, when I hear from a lady in the crowd, that she has the entire transcript of the special comment. She comes forward and I hold the microphone while she relays to the crowd this amazing speech. Even though she stole my thunder, I am happy everyone got to hear Keith's statement as it rings true.

Overall I think we had a great turnout and we did what we wanted to do. I feel good about myself, that I can stand up for something I feel so strong about, and not sit around and wait for others to do so for me. I will do what i can to make sure I can get married one day.

Here are some pics from the protest. See if you can spot me.