LA Truckers Love Gay Marriage

I'd never been to a protest rally.  I might be that guy who honks and waves in support while I'm rushing where, but I've mostly steered clear of rallies-- they bring out my agoraphobia.

But yesterday I get this text from a buddy I don't usually get texts from- and in 45 minutes I was a fish in the sea of hopeful gays (and quite a few straights) marching in solidarity through the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

I quickly located my friends on the corner of Spring and 3rd.  Shirts came off and a sign made it's way into my hand. The megaphones came out behind us--

"What do we want?"

A smattering of self-conscious voices replied with something the likes of "Equal Rights."  My friends and I were exchanging news items about the Mormon Church and deconstructing the bigots arguments for separate but equal.  I gave it a few tries, but I wasn't feeling the angry chant all that much.  Somehow when you get that many gays together, it always turns into a celebration.  Maybe it's just that we're so happy to be in each other's company.  Maybe it's that it just feels good to be visible.  (Or maybe it's the cute guy cheerleaders of Cheer LA.)

We came upon the 101 Freeway overpass and saw a crowd of celebrants draped over the railing, literally cheer-leading the commuters into honking for gay marriage.  We made our way to the edge and a huge Vons semi came barreling down the left lane. 

"GET THE TRUCK!" I yelled, my fist jerking downward in the air.  "PULL IT!  PULL IT!" My crowd gets the hint and joins in with the motion.  We can see the look on the trucker's face--I can only imagine his amazement driving towards the sea of rainbow flags and sunburned, ecstatic faces.  He waits until he's just below us and pulls the horn as he blazes through the tunnel.

You'd have thought the Kings just scored on a shoot-out in overtime for the play-offs. We repeated this about a thousand times until the 50 of us became 400 of us nearly encircling all four railings overlooking the bustling freeway.

My friends needed to leave.  I couldn't tear myself away.  It was my first rally and I had some making up to do.  We stayed for 3 hours and caught a second wave of cheerleaders from those who had followed the march to it's anti-climactic end at Olivera Street and had come walking back towards their cars.  There were inevitable lulls in energy exacerbated by the dry heat and thick smokey air from the fires burning through southern California.

But it never failed-- a trucker would always come along to rev us back up.  Cement trucks, rubble-haulers and oil tankers alike would always give us the horn.

I suppose we do have a lot to be angry about. My friend's Jeff and Mykel who were just married in San Francisco are wondering if the state will decide to honor their commitment. My friends Armistead and Christopher who've been together for years are wondering the same thing. And to know that fundamentalist churches once again funded the bulk of the anti-gay rhetoric does boil my blood.

But yesterday I marveled at one thing more than any other: our sincere desire to celebrate each other.

As I left the railing and stumbled back towards my truck, arms aching and cheeks sore from cheering, I walked through the historic old hispanic neighborhood near Olivera. Three Mexican guys huddled beneath a shade umbrella for "Star Tours" bus-lines were recalling the days events with sincerity and optimism.

"Man.  I never knew there were so many faggots."

Job well done.

Comments

[Adam]

Way to go Matt! I saw you guys up there as I drove underneath you. Gave you a big old long honk and waved like crazy! I just wished I had the time to stop then and join you all.

[Rick]

Thanks for sharing that Matt!! I really liked that, very nice to see gays and straights getting together for a good cause!! We queers are not going away no matter what they try to do to us!! They may have won the battle but we'll win the war!!

[Arthur Graves]

Why can't I get marry. BUt I can have a marry guy try to pick me up in a bar.

[giff]

As a gay man who is also a Mormon, I find the way the gay community has singled out one religious community to be hateful and misleading. The church, did not fund any campaign. Its members, however, did contribute in huge amounts. To wage a war of hatred against the places that a religion holds as sacred, and to scream hurtful insults at the church as a whole is nothing more than adding more to the misunderstanding that caused this vote in the first place. The gay community embarrasses me by their reaction. I have been with my partner for 16 years, and I don't need a ceremony to prove anything. Becoming a hateful mob does nothing to further the gay rights cause, but instead, fuels further the solidarity of those who stood in your way this time.

[C.C.U.]

"giff": Your organization (sorry, I won't dignify the cult by calling it a church) directed its members to donate their money and time to the measure which banned civil rights for us. Their contribution (to the tune of $25 million at least) tipped the scale enough to defeat justice. The outrage toward Mormon, Inc. is more than justified.

[Chuck]

@giff: It's always the same old same old with gays like you. You call it a misunderstanding that caused this vote in the same place???

Bullshit. The Church and your "institution" (I won't glorify it either) has been firing rockets at the gay community since it's inception. But, oh, how the likes of you haters, bigots and discriminators cry when we finally say we've had it and aren't taking any more of this shit from the likes of them.

You want to worship your sky-daddy and take orders from your enslavers, that's just fine with me, but don't you dare rank us out for not being willing to be dominated, bossed around and told how to live our lives.

In lanugauge that you can understand, in case this is to complicated for you to get...

Butt the fuck out!

[Thom]

Imaginary friends are so much fun, huh?

I much prefer us railing against the multiple churches who funded the hate and fueled it with their rhetoric, rather than the race war FOX News is trying to start to hurt Obama's initial acheivements.

Let's target the churches, the true sources of evil and not a guy trying to get elected in a homophobic, racist and sexist society or those who we ignore or slight because of skin color far too often.

FUCK MORON, er MORMON,RAH!

[Jack]

The protests should more properly target the DNC offices. It's obvious the Democrats didn't do enough to support gays on this issue.

[Jack]

How could Prop 8 pass, while Obama won California?

The DNC and the black churches should be targeted for protest, shouldn't they? Going after the Mormons is a waste of time.

[Jonathan]

im jonathan im a gay christian and God loves us for who we are becuase he looks at our hearts he knows us induvidually by name and evey hair on our head or lack thier of lol but in all seriousness he says come JUST AS YOU ARE. HE ALSO SAYS LOVE ONE ANOTHER FOR IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOThER THEN PEOPLE WILL TURLEY KNOW YOU ARE MY DESIPLES

[Mangydawg]

The major problem with what is going on is the supposed division of church and state-which should be enforced, which as everyone knows it isnt. The church leaders believe the gays have caused the straights to marry less, have fewer children and more children out of wedlock. I kid you not, this was espoused by a "churchleader" on Fox News. I think maybe they are trying to point the finger elsewhere when they know the problem is themselves. One example would be all the church leaders that are pediphiles. Again the gays are portrayed in this light also, ie all gays are pediphiles. Where is this idea coming from? In my opinion the churches. As a gay man with a partner of 7 years, pediphiles sicken me. As a religious gay man I believe in God but I do not believe in most if not all churches.