Protest for Equal Marriage Rights Anticipates Anti-Gay Marriage Deluge
Sun. October 5, 2003 12:00 AM
Chicago, IL -
Led by a large banner reading "Gay Marriage is Our Right!," a couple hundred protesters rallied and marched in Chicago Saturday night in a event organized by the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network (CABN), an affiliate of www.DontAmend.com, a national group formed to counter the drive for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
It was the nation's first pro-equal marriage rights protest since June's Supreme Court decision, and represents the first "salvo" from Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans people and our allies against an anticipated anti-gay marriage deluge beginning next weekend. Besides CABN, representatives of Chicago NOW, PFLAG, and Church of the Open Door also spoke from the podium.
The march pointedly went through both Boystown, the city's gay bar district, and a nearby straight bar district next to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. March organizers and city officials were concerned about reaction in the latter neighborhood as the Cubs are in the playoffs and had finished playing a playoff game a few hours earlier. Several city officials, who asked to remain anonymous, cited worries of "drunken Cubs fans" causing violence, but there were no significant incidents and most of the fans reacted very positively to the march, which was led by a large banner reading "Gay Marriage is Our Right!"
It was the nation's first pro-equal marriage rights protest since June's Supreme Court decision, and represents the first "salvo" from Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans people and our allies against an anticipated anti-gay marriage deluge beginning next weekend. Besides CABN, representatives of Chicago NOW, PFLAG, and Church of the Open Door also spoke from the podium.
The march pointedly went through both Boystown, the city's gay bar district, and a nearby straight bar district next to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. March organizers and city officials were concerned about reaction in the latter neighborhood as the Cubs are in the playoffs and had finished playing a playoff game a few hours earlier. Several city officials, who asked to remain anonymous, cited worries of "drunken Cubs fans" causing violence, but there were no significant incidents and most of the fans reacted very positively to the march, which was led by a large banner reading "Gay Marriage is Our Right!"