Live Report from Gay Marriage Rally in San Francisco

Just left the civil disobediende rally going on outside city hall in San Francisco. Here's a quick run-down of the events of the morning.  A prayer service for Prop 8 supporters was held this morning at St. Francis Church near the Castro, with many interfaith ministers in a variety of beautiful rainbow sashes. After the rally, a march formed, with faith leaders, community members, and several of the Sisters in attendance.  We had a police escort, and we marched right up Market Street, stopping traffic, probably 5-600 strong.  We sang "We Are Marching in the Light of Love", "We hall Not Be Moved", and chanted "Gay, Straight, Black, White, One Struggle, One Fight".  I'm not ashamed to say I cried a couple times on the march, overwhelmed with the feeling of being a part of something bigger than myself, and being among such a supportive crowd.  We don't get that much back home. As we reached the Civic Center, we met up with the crowd already there, and waited, nervously, for 10 AM to roll around.  There were families, couoles, straight allies, and many more; there were also maybe 20 anti-gay marriage opponents carrying signs like "Gay = Pervert", obnoxiously using the HRC symbol for "=" QWhen the decision came out, scores of people poured out with paper copies in hand, reading it furiously.  Strangely, no one thought to address the waiting crowd; instead, they turned to talk to reporters. Five minutes later, the news had started to penetrate the crowd - the court upheld Prop 8, but also upheld the 18k marriages, just as expected. The boos erupted immediately, followed by cries of "Shame on You, Shame on You" to the court. The crowd started to move, led by One Struggle, One Fight, who had planned a civil disobedience action in case Prop 8 was not overturned. On the way, we ran onto a straight couple marching in support of our rights.  Mark and I hugged them and thanked them profusely, and we both cried. Since about 10:30, the crowd has been entirely blocking the intersection of Van Ness and Grove, and the police almost immediately rerouted traffic and cordoned off the area. Protesters sitting down have a lawyer's phone number written in indelible ink in case they get arrested, and the crowd is thick around them, still chanting "What do we want? Equality. When do we want it? Now"

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