"No More Mr. Nice Gay"

There were several incredible signs at yesterday's Anti-Prop 8 Rally in Federal Plaza here in Chicago - - and I will be posting them little by little in the coming week or so - - but as we started to march to Millennium Park, I saw this this woman's sweatshirt, which sums it all up.

She was walking with her boyfriend and said that the words came to her on the train ride to the rally. A Jennifer Beals-inspired sweatshirt has never looked so good.

The rally was good, there were many inspiring speakers and the plaza was filled with people young and old, gay and straight of all shapes, sizes and races, but after we made it to Millennium Park, the entire crowd ran into Michigan Avenue and stopped traffic. That's when I left.

I understand our anger, I understand wanting to do something that shouts, "We demand our rights!," but stopping traffic, in my opinion, is at cross purposes for what we really want.

The poor guy driving north on Michigan Avenue trying to get home or the bus driver just trying to get his riders to the next stop may or may not have a strong opinion about gay marriage one way or another, but stopping him dead in his tracks and forcing him to wait in traffic for however long it takes the crowd of homosexuals to get out of the street does nothing but piss him off.

And pissed off people aren't likely to take our side. Pissed off people are likely to do just the opposite.

Be angry, be filled with rage, but point that rage at the right people, at the right institutions. Demand our rights from someone who can actually DO something to help us achieve them.

Pissing off average citizens who have nothing to do with our struggle isn't going to help us or our cause. It's only going to make our fight harder. That's what I think, anyway.