Boston-area college students rallied in Cambridge on Sunday against Proposition 8, the voter-approved California ballot question that banned same-sex marriages in that state.
Between 125 and 250 people attended the first in a series of protests to advocate for a change in California's legislation and to lay the foundation for a nationwide movement for homosexual equality. Cambridge resident and college student Ryan MacNeely independently organized the protest.
"[The protest] was just a result of frustration with the church and its influence over government," MacNeely told the Daily. "You have states banning gay marriage, you have churches getting involved in government affairs. You need to have better leadership in Washington."
The rally began at noon in Cambridge's Technology Square, near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tufts alum and Massachusetts State Rep. Carl Sciortino (D-34th Middlesex) gave a speech to kick off the event. After the remarks from Sciortino (LA '00), protesters marched to Harvard Square, chanting and waving signs.
According to MacNeely, Sciortino imbued the crowd with positive energy and enthusiasm. "It got us excited to go out there," he said of the speech.
"Everybody was honking their horns," MacNeely said. "We talked for a few minutes and then we took off and started marching."
The protest, which responds to a referendum that passed on Tuesday, was organized on short notice. But MacNeely, who attended Boston Arch-itectural College for three years and hopes to transfer to MIT, said he believed the event was surprisingly successful. "Overall, it was great. I was so overwhelmed by the support and the energy," he said, adding that turnout could have been significantly larger if there had been greater time for planning and publicity.
MacNeely promoted the rally with postings on several LBGT blogs and the creation of a Facebook.com event. He also organized a number of friends to pass out fliers publicizing the protest.
He stressed the importance of motivating individuals in order to mobilize a national protest. A goal of Sunday's rally was "to promote individual thinking and protest without the help of grassroots organizations," MacNeely said, adding that not being a member of a major grassroots group "doesn't mean you can't speak out [for] what you believe in."
Regarding his motivation for organizing the protest, MacNeely said, "It's about time I just used what I was thinking and voiced it in public … If you're not taking action, then it's not going to get done."
Sunday's rally was the first in a series of protests MacNeely has planned against the ban in California. "There's going to be one every two weeks in the same place. It's not going to stop until the legislation changes," MacNeely said.
MacNeely is helping coordinate a protest at Boston City Hall this Friday in conjunction with the activist group Join the Impact. It will coincide with Proposition 8 rallies in other major U.S. cities to be held at the same time.
On Nov. 23, MacNeely will organize a Cambridge protest similar to the one held Sunday.
MacNeely said that he hopes the chain of protests in Cambridge will help to trigger a larger movement for equality across the country. "I'm going to try to mobilize people in other cities," he said. "It's a new civil rights movement."
He continued, "I'm just really hoping that people get involved on a scale that hasn't been seen since the '60's."
Despite the fact that same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, MacNeely said that protest is important because it allows the commonwealth to act as a role model for other parts of the nation.
"We have to set an example. We have to tell people [same-sex marriage] is not wrong, it's not bad," MacNeely said. "We're really fortunate to have this opportunity."
