Kansas City News Blog

By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI

Just a few hours after President-elect Barack Obama told tens of thousands of people in Chicago’s Grant Park that his victory proved the United States was still a land of opportunity and equality for all its residents, voters in California came down on the other side of history.

The passage of Proposition 8 — a ballot initiative amending the California constitution to outlaw marriage for same-sex couples — sparked spontaneous protests across the Golden State last week, sending thousands of gay, lesbian and allied residents into the streets to march for equal rights.

Now opposition to Prop 8 has become the catalyst for a massive coordinated rally from coast to coast, including Kansas City.

Nettie Alford, vice president of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of Kansas City, says she has received an outpouring of messages from local residents saddened and angered by Prop 8’s passage. Less than a week after Election Day, an Internet effort called Join the Impact suggested protests across the country: “Let’s move as one full unit, on the same day, at the same hour and
let’s show the United States of America that we too are united citizens equal in mind, body, spirit and deserving of full equality under the law!”

Alford says she got instant support from a number of local organizations, including Promo and the local ACLU, who wanted to put Kansas City on the map when thousands rally this Saturday. “This is the largest demonstration that has ever been tried for the LGBT community,” Alford says. “How powerful that, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, across the nation, people will be standing for their equality, acting for equal rights. ”

To join the stand, meet at J.C. Nichols Fountain (47th Street and J.C. Nichols Parkway) at 12:30 p.m. this Saturday. Bring signs with “strong but positive messages,” Alford suggests. And be part of, what organizers hope will be, the largest — peaceful — show of force since Stonewall.