Year one rally demands action

SAN DIEGO--Though it was postponed from its original date due to inclement weather, the One Year Later rally on January 30 drew a respectable crowd of activists whose voices couldn't be dampened.

San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality (SAME) and the San Diego branch of the International Socialist Organization worked together to form a coalition, including members of the Green Party, Sí Se Puede and others, to organize a demonstration calling on President Obama to stop making promises and start taking action towards equality for LGBT people.

At the rally, speakers from different movements condemned the Obama administration's lack of action in creating an America where all people are treated as equals regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. One speaker questioned whether the Declaration of Independence was a museum piece, or if the government truly believes in "liberty and justice for all."

Chuck Stemke, a member of the ISO, drew in passersby when he pointed out the contradiction between Obama's lip service to the LGBT community and his agnostic attitude to California's Proposition 8 and his support for marriage being between a man and a woman. "LGBT votes made it possible for Obama to take the White House," Stemke said. "It is not our job now to save Obama--rather, it is our job to make it impossible for him not to support the LGBT community."

Perhaps most impressive about the rally was the solidarity shown by members of various political movements standing together to demand equal rights for all. As a speaker from Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays put it: "It is up to the people on the leading edge of any movement to set the example."

This was one of the most hopeful messages of the day: That as working people, we won't be divided by our differences, but will unite and fight for a better world for all.