March Lends Support to Placerville's "Hate-Free" Proclamation

[Kadie]

March Lends Support to Placerville's "Hate-Free" Proclamation

Following a mayoral proclamation declaring Placerville a "hate-free" zone, a crowd of several hundred marchers took to city streets Sunday in a show of support. The demonstration further fueled the brewing El Dorado County controversy over homosexuality and freedom of speech rights.

More than 300 community members took part in the march, which started on the steps of the El Dorado County Courthouse and then proceeded down Placerville's Main Street. Organizers from the El Dorado County Human Rights Round Table billed the march as the largest human rights rally in the city's history.

The procession was the latest in a string of incidents triggered by the vocal emergence of a Garden Valley anti-gay group, which calls itself GayMarriageNO.

The organization, which describes itself as Christian-based, says it is "dedicated to the public advocacy of the natural family and...opposed to homosexual marriage...and the homosexual lifestyle." It elicited controversy when a truck carrying signs touting anti-gay messages began appearing along US-50 and near county schools last October.

more...
http://www.news10.net/storyfull1.asp?id=9306

[CountAllVotes]

1. gee good news from "Hangtown"

Hangtown aka Placerville ... :evilgrin:

:kick:

[VegasWolf]

3. Octorberfest Apple PIe! n/t

[VegasWolf]

2. The organization, which describes itself as Christian-based, says it is

"dedicated to the public advocacy of the natural family and...opposed to homosexual marriage...and the homosexual lifestyle." Do these christan biggots even understand the meaning
of hypocrisy?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. I have seen these guys...

when I drive to see my Mom in Tahoe.

They usually appear on the shoulder of Hi. 50 or on the overpass heading out of town. They tend to do it when all the "queer lovers" from SF are heading up to Tahoe for the weekend, and have to pass through town on that one highway.

Real "white trash" looking.

[David__77]

5. I was there! It was a great thing!

Placerville has been a hotbed of rightism, racism and reaction of all types. But most of the people protesting the bigots were locals. I went with a good friend who grew up in that area and we had a great time. Her friend that she brought was wearing a wedding dress to support marriage equality. We went to biker bar afterwards (of all things!), and a biker couple asked her why she was wearing it and when she told them, they were nothing but positive! You'd be surprised sometimes. We shouldn't be too stereotyping of people culturally...

[AlCzervik]

6. I live in Elk Grove and it's fast becoming all gop

i was really glad to read this story in the Bee.

[David__77]

9. Actually, Elk Grove is slightly trending Democratic...

...you might not think so, but it is true in terms of voting and registration now only slightly GOP-leaning. It's easy to feel isolated though. Laguna, in particular, actually leans Democratic a bit, with more social diversity. I would live in Natomas or Elk Grove, but never in Roseville or Folsom. They're far apart politically.

[Ducklord]

7. Ah, my old hometown...

...I spent most of my formative years living in Placerville (and its down-the-road neighbor, Shingle Springs). It's a part of the world that's been quietly modernizing its cultural identity for well over a generation. Downtown Placervile in particular, with its chi-chi antique shops and hipster java joints, is practically unrecognizable from the old-timey, yet rundown, central drag I frequented as a child.

There's even a Starbuck's.

Even so, progress isn't always smooth. Every now and then I hear a story about someone on the school board wanting to ban a couple of books, or do away with sex education, or somesuch stupidity. These efforts don't usually amount to much. For some reason, perhaps a quiet progressiveness, or maybe a desire not to be seen as a bunch of out-of-touch goobers, the good citizens of El Dorado County don't often stick their necks out on the hot-button issues of the day.

Which is why I was shocked and somewhat bemused by the small gathering of anti-gay marriage curmudgeons I saw lining the edge of Highway 50 last fall when I helped move my dad into his new house in Placerville. It was a stupid, ignorant, and spiteful display, to be sure, but it was also somehow, I don't know...quaint.

Of course, the fact that these yahoos have apparently been carrying on with these displays for months probably means that it's time for them to take a break. Don't they know that people move to the foothills to get away from all that political jibber-jabber?


A mighty mighty Bruin,
Mike Stemmle

[Neecy]

8. ah, Placerville...

I know the place well. My cousins live there, and every visit to them is, um, special. It's probably a result more of how they choose their friends rather than a commentary on the place as a whole, but in two hours in Placerville I meet more drug dealers and lowlifes than I normally do in several decades. Almost all of them are on public assistance of some kind, many have criminal convictions, all seem unsavory on too many levels to name. Still, as long as I was with my cousins the locals were more or less polite.

Unfortunately, the closest I've ever come to being gay-bashed was in this selfsame Placerville - on the way back from Tahoe, my partner and I stopped at a convenience store to get coffee for the drive back to San Francisco, and a couple of guys in a pickup truck tried to chat us up. When we showed little interest in splitting a six-pack with them in the parking lot, they turned abusive, screaming that we must be 'dykes' and moving toward us in a threatening manner. The guy in the store watching this came out and yelled at them, giving us time to get in our car and leave. I probably should have known better than to stop there.

I hope there *is* some progress there - it's much needed.

[Redstone]

10. So, if the town is a "hate-free zone"

and you run into your ex-wife (or ex-husband) there, do you have to step outside the town border and hurl insults at them across the town line?

Redstone

[diadem]

11. the article didn't mention the "white power" people...

...it was an ugly situation. Generally there are only the anti-gay wingnuts out by the highway (as if that doesn't make the town look backwards enough). They have two big box vans with anti gay marriage graphics. But yesterday they were joined by people carrying signs about white men- I can't remember exactly what the signs said but they were clearly "white power" folk (I need one of those googly-eyed emoticons here) El Dorado County is approximately 70% red...and we have three Starbucks now in P'ville.

[Ducklord]

12. Don't get me wrong...

...Placerville (and most of the surrounding communities) are, as mentioned, pretty darned Republican. And there remains a virulent good ol' boy streak that occasionallly rears its not-so-pretty head.

Still, the increasing influx of new homeowners from the relatively-cosmopolitan Sacramento has been a wonderfully moderating influence on the area.

That, and the readily available weed,
Mike.

[diadem]

13. Yes, the area is changing

...I've moved here from a liberal area and actually like living here very much despite occasional culture shock. The protests on the highway really gave us a black eye...I hope those people will just climb back under their rocks.

Hey, Ducklord, you're a Bruin! Ponderosa, right? I work as a substitute teacher sometimes- very polite students at that school.