Prop 8 Protesters
Take It to the Catholics 

More than 200 protesters gathered in front of Los Angeles's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Sunday as part of a continuing spate of demonstrations against the narrow passage of California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriages.

Initially billed as a "quiet vigil of peace" in an e-mail to local media from a group called the Latino/a LGBT Coalition, the event was more similar to recent Prop. 8 demonstrations, complete with a variety of signs with slogans like "No to H8," "Where There Is Hatred, Let Me Sow Love," and "How Would Jesus Vote" as well as loud chants, whistles, and even one protester dressed in a chicken suit. The outfit may have alluded to the farm safety-related Proposition 2, another ballot measure put in front of state voters last Tuesday that was approved by a wide margin.

"Two, four, six, eight, separate church and state," a group of about 75 protesters chanted as they demonstrated on a sidewalk directly outside the cathedral's downtown Los Angeles grounds. Another 120 or so protesters stood across the street from the cathedral, waving signs and soliciting honks from cars passing by.

One protester, Alejandro Cuevas, said he was demonstrating in front of the cathedral because "it is important to make a statement that we are also human, that we deserve the same rights as everyone else."

Cuevas, who was raised Catholic, said it was hard for him at a young age to learn his church taught homosexuality was a sin.

"But if we are all created in the image of God, how can we be wrong?" he asked. "That's why I'm here. Hopefully they get the message that we are tired of being silent, that we're here and we're not going away. We are part of society, and society needs to adjust to us."

The demonstration coincided with the end of the Cathedral's 12:30 p.m. Mass, which led to a meeting of several hundred surprised parishioners walking by the demonstrators. Apparently unbeknown to demonstration organizers, the 12:30 p.m. Mass was a Spanish-language service, which may have accounted for the many blank stares at the English-language signs and chants.

Several parishioners shied away from speaking to The Advocate, indicating they didn't speak English, but others, including two nuns, declined to give a comment. One parishioner who did stop to speak was Alexis, a young man who was holding his girlfriend's hand as they walked by the protesters.

"They have their rights, you know," he said. "They're human beings." When asked if he thought same-sex couples should marry, he said, "Oh, yeah, they should."

"It's OK with us," an elderly female parishioner said, waving her hand at the demonstrators as she walked to the cathedral's parking structure.

One protester, who asked not to be identified because she volunteers at the cathedral, said the lack of Spanish-language messaging at the demonstration did not lessen the impact.

"I don't think the message is necessarily lost," she said. "Just because this was a Spanish Mass doesn't mean people aren't educated. They know what is going on. I know in that Mass of 3,000 people, I know there are supporters, just like I, as a volunteer of the cathedral, am a supporter of No on 8."

Cuevas agreed.

"They know we are here," he said of the Spanish-speaking parishioners. "Many of them know how to read [English], and their kids know how to read, and if we get this message in their kids' heads, their kids will know."

About an hour after the Mass concluded, a group of several hundred additional protesters marched to the cathedral from a rally in nearby Lincoln Park in east Los Angeles. Organizers then jumped up on the steps of the Los Angeles County administration building, across the street from the cathedral, for a series of impromptu speeches.

One speaker and rally organizer, Fredy Ceja, said demonstrating in front of the city's premier Catholic landmark was important for the growing No on 8 movement and integrating the larger cultural Latino "familias" or family.

"It's symbolic," Ceja told The Advocate. "For far too long the Catholic Church has stood against Latino familias, and us incorporating LGBT into the familia is very important. In the end we're all familia, and it is not fair to leave behind some members of the familia because of what some people term as different."