Activists Arrested in San Diego Prop 8 Sit-in

Protester Brian Baumgardner is handcuffed after being arrested during a sit-in for Gay Marriage at the County Clerk’s office on Thursday. Photo by Sandy Huffaker Jr./Sign On San Diego

Reports of more civil disobedience actions from the LGBT community. From Sign-on San Diego.

On the day hundreds of gay and lesbian couples statewide planned to obtain their long-awaited marriage licenses, a crowd of about 50 people gathered at the county clerk’s office Thursday to protest a federal judge’s stay of a federal ruling that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

“We believe that county officials and the Attorney General have the authority and the obligation to allow marriage licenses to proceed based on both federal court findings and that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional and the governor’s filings in Prop. 8 cases,” Tyler Dylan-Hyde said. “We are asking you to do what’s right.”

Three heterosexual couples had approached for their scheduled appointments this morning. The group refused to move and allow the couples access to the office.

Call me a radical, but I’m a fan of no Justice, no peace strategies myself. (Protestors in fact shouted: “We shall not be moved. No equality. No business as usual.”) I see these actions as a helpful addition to the public discourse, but by no means a replacement. We can still work, in the courts, at the ballot box, in the halls of Congress.

But, the political disenfranchisement of LGBT community and our disadvantage of being a small minority make such tactics an uphill battle. It’s so easy to ignore our community’s call for equality, in the media, in the political sphere. And, of course, there are always so many more important things going on…

The forces that fight us are relentless, tireless, Machiavellian and do everything in their power to remain covert. While many of our allies remain feckless and disengaged. We need to demonstrate how important these goals are to our community. Our civil rights are at stake, the government’s obligation to treat us equally under the law.

And we’re not afraid to take our fight out into the sun, into the spotlight, because we’re right. Our actions will be vindicated by history, as have the similar actions of those who came before; fighting unjust wars, the right for women to vote, and the right for men to be men, not property.

I salute these activists.

GetEqual tweeted 12 were arrested, this report says 3 arrested, 6 “later removed.” Investigating. Sure more details will become available soon.
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