UPDATEDâ A notice distributed by the Los Angeles Police Department released late Tuesday raises the prospect that the long awaited âDay of Decisionâ on Proposition 8 has been scheduled. The document, obtained by Queerty, is an email thatâs been sent out to local Los Angeles residents and businesses informing them of a âProp 8 Decision Day & Rally Marchâ planned for April 20th, next Monday.
The permit was filed by Christopher Street West, the group responsible for Los Angelesâ gay Pride Parade and a frequent coordinator of gay rallies in the West Hollywood area. Calls to CSW were not returned as of the time this story went to press, but it does appear from the email that CSW knows something we donât.
Hereâs a text version:
âLOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
NOTIFICATION OF PENDING
FIRST AMENDMENT EVENT
Attention E-Policing Subscriber:The following information pertains to an upcoming Special Event Permit Application recently filed with the Los Angeles Police Department Board of Police Commissioners. This notification is provided in an effort to minimize the impact the event(s) may have on your neighborhood and/or business. If you have any questions concerning the details of this event, please contact the applicant (below) or the Los Angeles Police Department, Special Events Permits Unit, at (213) 847-1640.
4/20/2009
Prop 8 Decision Day Rally & March
TIME 7:00 PM â 11:00 PM
ASSEMBLY: Santa Monica Blvd between LaBrea and Highland Avenue (Secondary Assembly Loc). (March to begin from original assembly loc in City of West Hollywood)
ROUTE:
East of Santa Monica Blvd;
North on Cahuenga,
west on Hollywood Blvd;North on Highland Ave;
West on Franklin Ave;
South on LaBrea to Santa Monica Blvd (City limit). (March to continue west into City of West Hollywood).
CONTACT: CHRISTOPHER STREET WEST (CSW) [Redacted]â
Gay civil rights groups across the country have been eagerly anticipating the long-awaited decision to the Prop 8 hearing held in early March, though most legal experts expect the court will uphold the Proposition, which constitutionally banned same-sex marriage in California last November.
Maybe weâre reading too much into the document, but it doesnât get more clear than calling an event âProp 8 Decision Day Rally & Marchâ, does it? The question is, why has Christopher Street West kept this news to itself? A massive coalition of grassroots LGBT activists going under the name Day of Decision has protests and rallies set-up that will be finalized as soon as a date is determined, but as of press time, the group seems unaware that a dateâs been set.
The idea that a gay organization would not immediately share this news with other gay groups so that they could have time to organize is surprising to say the least. We seriously considered the possibility that this was just some random Prop. 8 rally and march, but after rereading it a few timesâ and looking at the planned protest march route, which mirrors some of the November Prop. 8 demonstration routes, itâs obvious that this planned event is meant to be large in scope.
So, there you go folks. It seems at least one major gay rights group thinks Monday, April 20th is the day, though weâd really like to know why theyâve shared this information with the LAPD and not with their fellow gay orgs. Well, catâs out of the bag. Get organized.
UPDATE:
So, it turns out that the notice was a âclerical errorâ on the part of the L.A.P.D. We still think itâs sort of strange that the LAPD would schedule a rally and march without a date set, but this seems to be a week in which gay and lesbian issues keep getting messed up by âham-fistedâ computer snafuâs. Apologies to CSW for assuming they were holding out on us. Email follows.
â On Wed, 4/15/09, LISA TURVEY wrote:
From: LISA TURVEY
Subject: Prop 8 Rally and MarchInternet Unit,
Per our previous conversation, the following notification should be sent to all
E-Policing Subscribers who received the erroneous date information related to
the Prop 8 Rally and March on 4-14-09:NOTIFICATION OF DATE CORRECTION FOR THE âPROP 8 DECISION DAY RALLY AND
MARCH:âDue to a clerical oversight on the part of the Los Angeles Police Department,
Special Events Permit Unit, the event date of April 20, 2009 was published
erroneously and sent to E-Policing subscribers throughout the Hollywood Area.
This notification is intended to clarify the fact that the date of the Prop 8
Decision Day Rally and March has not yet been determined. Please disregard any
previous notifications concerning the date of this event. Once the date of the
event is known, a follow up email blast and notifications will be provided. We
sincerely apologize for any misunderstandings or inconveniences related to this
matter.If you have any questions or concerns regarding this notice, please feel free
to call Sergeant Lisa Turvey, Special Events Permit Unit, at (213) 847-1640.Thank you.
Sergeant Lisa Turvey
Los Angeles Police Department
Emergency Operations Division
Special Events Permit Unit
1149 South Broadway, 5th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 847-1640
Fax (213) 847-1797
[email protected]
Mad Professah
We won’t know until Friday at 10am if the Court is going to issue the ruling on Monday. It’s possible that the Court could announce today that the ruling is coming on Thursday.
This will be true every week until June 3rd.
Jonathan
Damn, 4/20… poor choice of day: everyone I know will be stoned off of their asses and wayyyyyy too apathetic/lazy/hungry to rally in any way.
Though it’s unrelated, the day is also Hitler’s birthday and the Columbine anniversary…
Chris
This means nothing. The CSWest couldn’t know when the court is going to release the decision — if the LAPD had an internal memo with that date I might believe it.
Sam
Yeah. Unless they’ve got a ringer on the court, CSWest doesn’t know when this is coming any more than the rest of us.
petted
Its better to do a rally or to before the ruling, as long as they are done peacefully, cause they should get some air time and it can keep marriage equality in the front part of people’s minds which of course falls under the hearts & minds heading.
Left Brain
The only one who knows when the court wiull rule is the court itself. You can look at their website for their calendar and rulings:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/#forthcoming
The NCLR will send you a text alert when the court posts on its website. Sign up form located here: http://www.nclrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=nclr_getinvolved_mobilealerts
Andy Thayer
Don’t spread false rumors. The reality is that no one aside from the court itself knows when the decision will come down. So someone pulls a permit, and puts an erroneous date on it? Big deal. Those who believe it’s necessarily coming on 4/20 will be like religious nuts who say the end is coming on such-and-such-a-day. They’ll have to find a new religion the day after. Anytime between now and June 3rd folks — that’s the only thing we can count on right now.
Elijah
Who CARES?
WHEN are gays going to realize that, as my Mother used to say, we’ve run the rally idea into the ground and broken it off?
NOTHING will be achieved by yet another gay circle jerk like this….in fact, directed at the court system, it’s likely to be COUNTERPRODUCTIVE as it plays into the hands of the Right Wing propaganda about “activist courts” who aren’t deciding on the legal merits of a case but on the will of the mob of the moment.
Before someone ejaculates, “We have to show them we’re angry.” HELLOOOOOO, we think they know that already. Anger without action is nothing but another homo hissy fit.
Blacks rallied FOR DECADES for full equality but nothing substantially changed in their daily lives until they DISRUPTED the status quo with civil disobedience.
Gays rallied for AIDS to be taken seriously but nothing substantial happened until ACT UP disrupted the status quo with civil disobedience.
Please alert us when gays start actually start ACTing like they mean it.
Alec
@Elijah: What kind of civil disobedience would you recommend?
DXO
Police sent this follow-up email today:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: E-Police Newsletter
Date: Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Subject: Notificatioin of Pending First Amendment Event
To: [email protected]
NOTIFICATION OF PENDING
FIRST AMENDMENT EVENT
NOTIFICATION OF DATE CORRECTION FOR THE “PROP 8 DECISION DAY RALLY AND MARCH:”
Due to a clerical oversight on the part of the Los Angeles Police Department, Special Events Permit Unit, the event date of April 20, 2009 was published erroneously and sent to E-Policing subscribers throughout the Hollywood Area.
This notification is intended to clarify the fact that the date of the Prop 8 Decision Day Rally and March has not yet been determined. Please disregard any previous notifications concerning the date of this event.
Once the date of the event is known, a follow up email blast and notifications will be provided. We sincerely apologize for any misunderstandings or inconveniences related to this matter.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this notice, please feel free to call Sergeant Lisa Turvey, Special Events Permit Unit, at (213) 847-1640.
Thank you.
Please do not respond to this email, replies are not monitored
Important Telephone Numbers | EMERGENCY CALL 911
CITY-WIDE DIRECTORY 311 | NON EMERGENCY 1-877-ASKLAPD
for additional Crime Prevention information, Log on: http://www.lapdonline.org
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To unsubscribe from LAPD e-policing click here
zeke
The process for California’s Supreme Court to issue it rulings is to first notify the plaintiffs and their attorneys in the case 24 hours prior to making their decision public. I don’t see them contacting Christopher Street West, or anyone else for that matter, before first contacting those who filed the challenge to Porp 8 with the court and have a vested interest the ruling.
As Florida’s DOD Coordinator/Organizer, I’m in constant contact with Robin Tyler, plaintiff in the case and co-organizer of Day of Decision with Andy Thayer. I spoke to her just yesterday, she has not been notified of any ruling being reached or even a possible date it will be forth coming. Christopher Street West pulling a permit to hold a rally/march April 20th, is certainly premature and doesn’t reflect the actual date the ruling will be made public. As for those considering organizing an action in their cities, there is in fact still time and we encourage you to do so. Presently there are 43 confirmed city actions taking place in 13 States, Washington, D.C. and 1 Canada City action. Please go to http://www.dayofdecision.org for complete list of actions, to sign-up to be an organizer, have your city action listed, tools for making flyers and for any assistance you may require.
When the plaintiffs and attorneys receive notice the courts ruling will be made public in 24 hours. We have a system in place to immediately alert our organizers, by email blast, phone and/or text message,
For individuals, groups or orgs in Florida who wish to organize an action, please feel free to contact me directly R. Zeke Fread at: [email protected].
Steve
Queerty gets it wrong again!
Elijah
The kind of civil disobedience I would recommend? It depends on people that have been trained in nonviolent civil disobedience techniques who are willing to be arrested and a separate legal team to subsequently bail them out and defend them in court, if necessary. [It’s typical for people to spend no more than a few hours in jail and have their trespassing or whatever charges dismissed or receive a modest fine.] The beauty is that it rarely takes large numbers. Sometimes one or two people can create the same disruptive result that would require many more in other scenarios.
PRIME DIRECTIVE: focus on the fact that the goal is not to try to change minds [that usually takes YEARS when it succeeds at all] but to change BEHAVIOR, i.e., promoting or funding or voting for homohate. For example, the illegal “Whites Only” lunch counter sit ins by blacks didn’t make the clerks/owners suddenly love blacks. They changed behavior, and, in turn, that changed behavior helped many change their minds. Nevertheless, as gay black civil rights icon Bayard Rustin said:
“Our job is not to get those people who dislike us to love us. Nor was our aim in the civil rights movement to get prejudiced white people to love us. Our aim was to try to create the kind of America, legislatively, morally, and psychologically, such that even though some whites continued to hate us, they could not openly manifest that hate. That’s our job today: to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest antigay sentiment.”
——
SUGGESTIONS:
Well-publicized [but not pre-announced], nonviolent sit-ins refusing to leave until forcibly removed from the offices of local, state, and federal antigay legislators/administrators. Make such removal as difficult as possible by chaining yourselves together and to various objects such as doors and large furniture. Prevent people from coming in/exiting. Commandeer the person’s receptionist/secretary telephones, answering calls, “You’ve reached the office of AntiAmerican Bigot ___________. Please support someone else. In the name of the Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness, I’ll transfer you now, and immediately transfer the call to the office of a progay legislator, his/her progay election opponent if he/she exists, or the gay group most actively involved in the particular issue. A separate, simultaneous group, not doing anything to get arrested, would be leafletting outside the office/building explaining what was happening and why.
SAME with the offices and personal residences of leaders/groups in the Antigay Industry including churches, the latter while emphasizing that it is NOT “anti religious freedom” but “pro separation of Church & State” Inclusion in the action of nongay supportive clergy would be crucial to minimizing their further lies about “Us” & “Them.” One of the things that helped accelerate the 60s black civil rights movement were the many images of clerical-collared ministers and nuns of all races side by side.
[The fact that the rabidly antigay Archbishop of San Francisco who actively conspired with Mormon leaders to pass Prop H8 has, to the best of my knowledge, not even had a protest sign come within 10 feet of him, is an outrage.]
Don’t just urge boycotts [which almost never work to any effective degree], but SHUT DOWN for a day the business as usual of homohaters. Example, the Hyatt Manchester in San Diego owned by a man who gave $125,000 to Prop H8, the subject of calls for boycotting for months. Block the entrances with people chained to its doors. Flood the lobby with people shouting “Your money is supporting a Bigot!” Commandeer the front desk and in-house reservation telephones, answering calls, “You’ve reached the Manchester Bigot Hotel. In the name of the Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness, I’ll transfer you now, and immediately transfer the call to another San Diego hotel known not to have given any antigay money.
Don’t just bitch on blogs about the Bill O’Reilly’s of the world. In the 70s, just one man, Philadelphia’s Mark Segal, changed the way local and network news and entertainment programs covered/did not cover gays, including Walter Cronkite and Johnny Carson. He found a way to sneak into their studios and, for instances, chained himself to cameras and disrupted sometimes live broadcasts by shouting about their bigotry. Since then, and similar incidents, and 9/11, TV and radio studios are more protected but NOT impenetrable.
A handful of determibed people using a few phones and Speed/Redialling can totally disrupt the work of whomever by flooding their offices/homes with repeated calls. When someone answers, say, “I’m calling to find out why _______ is an AntiAmerican bigot denying equality to millions of fellow citizens.” Typically the secretary or other staff person who answers will try to be polite and “take a name and number.” Don’t allow the dodge. Simply say you’ll call again and hang up and REDIAL. Eventually you might get someone to attempt to dialogue with you but simply reply, “That answer is unacceptable.” Hang up and REDIAL.
As far as I know, such phone disruption isn’t even illegal. You can doing it from the comfort of your hope, neither needing to shower or get dressed.
REMEMBER: the goal is not to try to change minds but to change BEHAVIOR.
Elijah
Correction to polical Freudian slip. LOL
“You can [do] it from the comfort of your hoMe, neither needing to shower or get dressed.”
Mike
Elijah, one you missed that I’ve seen used is to get a group of people to send the same email over and over again to legislatures (like a few hundred times per person).
Storm Christopher
Take along some teabags. The teabag parties look fun, but if anyone’s being treated unfairly, it’s gay people. We pay the same taxes as straight people, but we don’t have the same rights. Let’s take this tactic and turn it against our foes just for fun, but also to make a point. I’m going to co-opt this teabag idea, and I urge other gay people to do the same. Pencil in some pink triangles on your tea bags and write in “Equal Rights Now” or the message of your choice. Send these teabags to the right-wing homophobes standing in our way, be they politicians or religionists. Or just pass them out.
Brianna
There’s also such a thing as a “virtual sit in.” You get a large number of people to visit a website at a specific time in order to make the website run slow, or go offline.
There’s a brief wikipedia article on it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_sit-in
I’m not sure I agree with the message. Sounds like censorship to me. But I don’t know.
Elijah
Actually, a direct link between homophobia and wasted tax dollars has been repeatedly documented. One study alone, published by the US General Accounting Office in 2005, estimated that the first 10 years of “cost the Department of Defense about $95 million … to recruit replacements for servicemembers
separated under the policy. Also, the Navy, Air Force, and Army estimated that the cost to train replacements for separated servicemembers by occupation was approximately $48.8 million, $16.6 million, and $29.7 million, respectively.”
But the tea bags are just another protest stunt that the government will ignore UNLESS combined with disrupting business as usual.
mb00
@Elijah: I agree with you wholeheartedly.
I was in my early teens when the AIDS epidemic broke out and nothing being done about it until ActUp went out and did what they did. They were angry, as we’re all angry about this now. But we’ll never get anywhere if we continue with push-over rallies. That’s why they keep knocking us down, because we’re push-overs.
We have to SCREAM it out, we have to fight FIRE with FIRE. Only then will they see how important this is to us.
“Hasta La Victoria Simepre (until victory always)” – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
Elijah
That is…first ten years of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
parisinla
We (the organizers of the rally) have a very close relationship with CSW, who has graciously allowed us to use their permits and the LAPD as well as the City of West Hollywood, and West Hollywood LA County Sheriffs Department. They all understand what the situation is with the court’s open ended decision date and we are working together to make sure that this event is successful and safe for everyone involved. This is why permits were pulled in advance without a hard date (april, 20 was a shock to me), so as not to be surprised when the moment came.
Im glad queerty is on top of this. CSW, Out West (and its affiliates) will all be putting out communications the moment we hear abou the decision.
Noone but the supreem court knows the date of the decision. We are all sitting on the edge of our seats.
fern
@Elijah: Congratulations on your comments at least somebody with a backbone. Don’t cry, SCREAM.
CaLi_BoY
its about time….
jan
Wow, what a unique spin I just read on prop 8. Originally I was totally for gay marriage, now I am not so sure….take a look @
http://www.whatsablog.com and see what you think. You may not need to do any civil disobedience after reading this blog……..
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Iâm having a small problem I can’t get my reader to pickup your rss feed, Iâm using google reader fyi.