We need to have gay men’s choruses compete with NOM at some of these tour venues. These choruses are some of the best resources we have.

On August 13, NOM is scheduled to be in Harrisburg, PA. Philadelphia has a wonderful gay men’s chorus. Let’s take up a collection and send them out there on a bus. It’s not that far away.

On August 15, NOM is scheduled to be in Washington, DC. There is a gay men’s chorus right there in Washington. Get them to the venue.

Other venues may or may not have choruses within a reasonable distance, but I don’t know about those places.

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I don’t mean to ignore lesbians, but I don’t know if they have any choruses.

It is highly unlikely that Tara has any “homosexual friends” in her inner circle. Likely she means the guy who cuts her hair, the cousin of her neighbor’s sister who she sees at the neighbor’s christmas party, and that guy she knew in high school.

And it is very unlikely that any of her “homosexual friends” actually confide their feelings, opinions, or marital intentions to her. Rather, Tara has decided that these people for whom she has no personal animus MUST not want marriage because only the bad gays want marriage.

Thanks for the first hand report and for the effort of putting together a response to NOM.

I love that you guys sang the National Anthem. Especially since they decorated their bus with a flag theme.

I believe “We shall Overcome” or a group prayer would be highly effective. Regardless of religious beliefs it would be fighting fire with fire.

Who exactly are these gay people who don’t want marriage? I know alot of gay people, and I have yet to hear one of them say they don’t want it. Perhaps, not for themselves (and that’s a very small minority), but they don’t want to deny it to other people!

Oh, Mags. Just because there are a lot of people, doesn’t make your argument correct. That’s the Argumentum ad populum logical fallacy.

I believe our cause is just, but this means that we have to take the high road with these things, as difficult as it is. There’s tremendous power in peaceful resistance.

I do also like the idea of organized “sing-ins”. I think we tried in Columbus a couple times and even managed to get out a version of the Anthem, from what I recall. An in-tune version in harmony would be even more impressive (no offense guys! :-P love ya all!)

- The whistles were actually just a whistle, brought by one particularly spirited participant. She was blowing on it for maybe 5-10 minutes near the beginning of the event, and maybe once or twice after that. It wasn’t a specifically planned protest method, and many people on our side found it a bit annoying as well, however well-intentioned.

- I was going to start a round of “We Shall Overcome” a couple of times, but always seemed to get sidetracked at the last minute by some new development. I was serving as a video documentarian for the event, so I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. It is a brilliant idea, though, and I hope people do that at future protests. We did sing a little “We Are Family” but some of the younger attendees didn’t know the words. (Scandalous, I know, but…well, kids. I was just happy to see them there.) We also closed the show, so to speak, with an inspiring rendition of the national anthem.

- This event was literally pulled together in a matter of days, so it wasn’t the most organized protest in the world. We didn’t have everything planned out to the second, but we were fortunate enough to have drawn an intensely passionate and eloquent group of people of all ages. I am incredibly proud of everyone who came today. They were positive and inspiring, and I was honored to be among them under the blazing sun.

For what it’s worth, I totally wish I’d thought of the gay men’s chorus idea five days ago. We might have been able to make it happen if I had. I’ll definitely remember it next time. Regardless, I want to congratulate everyone on a job well done.