The National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) appearance at the Wisconsin State Capitol today was lots of hype and not much substance. The organization dedicated to “protecting marriage” for the heterosexuals had only a few supporters appear at 12 noon at the top of the Capitol steps, while counter-demonstrators marched from the UW-Madison campus to the Capitol Square, and, after waiting for the defenders of marriage to show up, finally up the Capitol steps to drown out the few NOM speakers who did show.
Counter-marchers organized by Fair Wisconsin chanted some entertaining slogans: “NOM go home!”, “Gay, straight, black, white, we demand our civil rights!”, and “Hey!…Obama…Let momma marry momma!” Capitol police kept the few NOM speakers behind a cordon, and asked counter-demonstrators to keep the Capitol steps partially clear to allow for people-movement, but otherwise were calm and did not stop pro-equality demonstrators from marching, chanting and generally disrupting the out-of-staters.
So much for the sanctity of marriage people. What should really worry the NOM people is the demographic of the crowd who showed up to oppose them. Many in the Fair Wisconsin crowd…maybe 300 or so?…were young, confident and ready to document the whole event with cameras and microphones. They probably aren’t going to go away anytime soon. Wisconsin’s 2006 marriage amendment may have been a large battle lost, but the LGBT community definitely has a good chance of winning the war.
Great to hear.