Daniel Solis came to Los Angeles from El Salvador while Juan Velasco made the journey from Mexico. They found each other here — and they recently held hands tightly and joined thousands of others who turned out to protest Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage under the constitution of the State of California.
The crowd gathered in West Hollywood on May 26, right after the California Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge on the legality of Prop 8, which passed in a statewide vote last November. The crowd included many gays, lesbians, bisexuals, as well as heterosexuals who support the right of gays to marry. Similar demonstrations took place in Long Beach, East Los Angeles, Fresno, Sacramento, and San Francisco, among other cities in the state.
Solis and Velasco say that they rode a wave of emotions within the crowd, sometimes feeling brave as they shouted their demands but falling into heartbreak at some points, resigned to the court's decision.
"This morning we sadly saw that the court maintains Proposition 8, and that harms us as a couple," Velasco says. "My boyfriend and I were planning our wedding because we want to make our relationship official, but they have hurt us with that resolution, and they've destroyed our dream."
The emotional wave continues on that day, and Velasco soon sounds hopeful once again.
"We're here to fight," he says. "There is strength in unity, and together we will be able to overcome these bumps. It's a matter of waiting a bit more — and we see that we are not alone in this struggle."
And so they will continue to seek a final step together after nearly two years in a committed relationship.
"During this time we have seen that we were made for each other," Velasco says. "Now we share everything as a couple. The only thing left is the civil process — that is the most important thing for our future. We want to share everything and protect ourselves in all aspects, like any married couple."
Solis and Velasco serve as a microcosm of the politics behind Prop 8. Backers of the amendment say that voters in California have twice voted to approve bans on gay marriage, calling that a sign of "mainstream" consensus. And many observers have claimed that large turnouts among Latinos who voted for the bans have been an important part of the electoral picture.
Supporters of gay marriage note that the vote became much closer in the 2008 ballot initiative on the constitutional amendment, reflecting shifts in society's attitudes on the question. Solis and Velasco, meanwhile, offer evidence of such change in the Latino community. The two say they struggled for years because their respective families had difficulty accepting their sexual orientations. That has changed in the last couple of years, they add, and they both now enjoy the full support from their families in their bid to marry.
"Each of us have experienced rejection from our family, because at the beginning they couldn't accept that we have different sexual preferences," says Solis. "But thank God that's now part of the past and we enjoy our love without fear or hypocrisies — because now they accept us as we are. We even have their support in these moments, and just like us, they will fight for the elimination of Proposition 8, which affects us very much."
A difference in the larger Latino community could also be seen the same day as marchers shouted "We want equality!" and "We want justice!" outside the Centro Maravilla Service Center in East Los Angeles. An estimated 200 demonstrators expressed their determination to continue their struggle until gay marriages are once again allowed in California.
"We have to realize that it affects us all — we're not just homosexuals and bisexuals, we're nieces and nephews, friends, cousins, godmothers, godchildren," said Ricardo Aviles, the son of immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador who is getting ready to begin college in Minnesota later this year. "We are family and it affects us all."
Aviles says that the topic of homosexuality is still taboo among many in the Latino community, but noted that demonstrations such as the one outside the Centro Maravilla Service Center show that a new perspective is emerging.
"With these demonstrations, what we want to show is that that taboo must be destroyed," Aviles says, adding that he has been the victim of rejection and discrimination many times — including instances involving friends and family.
"But I continue because I'm fighting for what I believe in and I'm doing it without violence," he says.
Aviles and other supporters of gay marriage didn't have as much star power for their East L.A. rally compared to the event in Hollywood, which drew a number of film stars. But they did have at least one local power player with them: Maria Elena Durazo, head of the politically potent Los Angeles County Federation of Labor/AFL-CIO.
"Unions represent the workers, no matter their religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation," Durazo told the crowd. "We fight for equality and against discrimination. That's why we will fight for equality until Prop 8 is eliminated, and inequality and hatred among people are eliminated.
Durazo closed with the famous "Si Se Puede" — or "Yes We Can" — chant of United Farmworkers Union founder Cesar Chavez.
Whether supporters of gay rights can overturn Prop 8 at the ballot box remains to be seen, although an answer could come fairly soon.
Backers of gay marriage rights have said that they will soon decide on starting the process of qualifying an initiative in support of gay marriage. A push could come as early as November 2010 election, or perhaps in 2012.
Mireya Olivera is editor of Impulso. Nora Estrada is a writer for Impulso.
Photos by Impulso
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