Generation Equality

19 Nov

I left work early the night before, since I knew the noon start would be a little hard for me, to say the least. Still, even though I knew I’d be up late on Saturday, too, it was well worth attending. The residual good vibes got me through a long night, and I was pleased at the positive bent of the rally, since hating on Mormons has grown a little tired.

Knowing that most of my local friends were sound asleep, I was prepared to attend the rally alone, but I was thrilled when Poolboy announced he and his two boys wanted to share in the moment. I joined them before the rally to drink coffee and make the signs shown in these photos. All in all a great time, and the kids were thrilled to let everyone know about equality. (There was a funny moment on the lawn of the Wisconsin State Capitol when they started hitting each other with their equality signs, and I yelled out “Hate crime!”)

Even though you’d expect at least some people stuck unexpectedly in traffic (like this New York City driver, thanks Joe My God) to be a little upset in Madison, this wasn’t the case. Everyone was celebrating. Well, almost everyone. The combination of sleep deprevation, sheer happiness, and making sure I kept my eyes on the kids prevented me from noticing the small group of college-age women who — Poolboy told me this later — said something like, “Oh my god! Can you believe they’re making those little boys hold those signs?!” Really. That was disturbing to them? I mean, first, who can say the message of “equality” is a bad thing for kids? Hell, at least it helps them with their math skills, right? Even so, the notion that we should protest hate with love is something I’m happy to pass on to the next generation. Especially, since this is what we’re up against.

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One Response to “Generation Equality”

  1. Poolboy November 20, 2008 at 11:51 am #

    Well written! I am filled with so much pride to be the father of the boys marching for equality and not the one's wearing the God hates Fags t-shirts. It brought tears to my eyes to see the bigotry and hatred being passed on to innocent children. Yes it too bothered me when the college girls sipping their starbucks lates and seeing my boys walking by felt the same way and had the need to verbalize their judgement,saying how wrong it was to make those poor children carry those signs. I didn't take it personally though since I know how my sons and I discussed fully our reasons for wanting to join the march. We had some pretty intense discussion about our friends and classmates with two mommies or two daddys, divorced parents, adopted parents,and why any of them should be deemed right or wrong, treated differently, or given a different set of rights and rules than the other. What truely brought tears to my eyes was seeing the picture of the young boys wearing God Hates Fags T's, and thinking what discussions their father may have had with them. With Faith,Hope,& Love I hold onto the virtues of kindness, fairness, and equality that will prevail. ~Hollywood Poolboy Daddy

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