equal rites

Crowd at New York Marriage-Equality Rally Reaches 4,000

Photographer RT Meyer caught some lovely images from Saturday.

This weekend at City Hall, 4,000 protesters gathered to rally against Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that passed in California reversing a State Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. The protest was a part of a nationwide chain of events coordinated to muster as strong a show of opposition as possible. In Las Vegas, the gathered crowds got a surprise when comedian Wanda Sykes turned up — and came out. “You know, I don’t really talk about my sexual orientation. I didn’t feel like I had to,” Sykes said. “Everybody that knows me personally, they know I’m gay. But that’s the way people should be able to live their lives.” Sykes, like many gay people, said she felt that the passage of Proposition 8 made her feel that she was “attacked.” “Now, I gotta get in their face,” she said. “I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.”

In New York, the rally was serious and respectful. But we were glad to see that, like last week, the gays hadn’t lost their scathing sense of humor.


Across U.S., Big Rallies for Same-Sex Marriage [NYT]
Wanda Sykes says she’s ‘proud to be gay’ [AP]

Crowd at New York Marriage-Equality Rally Reaches 4,000