Nicole Brambila, Move To The Head Of The Class!

She interviewed me at the marriage rights march in Rancho Mirage this afternoon and was good enough to include a mention of Ron's Log, which she calls an "online blog" (the search for the elusive offline blog begins!). She walked with us from The River shopping center along Route 111 to El Paseo. The TV news crews were at the beginning and end only. If we'd gotten hassled along the way it would have been a Desert Sun exclusive, but no such excitement happened.

It was a really small turnout. Certainly less than 10 people. Part of the reason is that since the last event was cancelled due to rain and the intervening holidays, interest and attention have waned. Also, it's the middle of the week, and I'm told that some people in this valley actually do work regular hours. The Palm Springs film festival started today, so every hotel in the valley is full and anyone in the tourist industry (that's everybody, basically) or volunteering at the film festival is busy with that. And then there's the matter of communication. I found out about the event from the Desert Sun. The website for those organizing to repeal Prop 8 had no information about it. I did get an email from them this morning which is cutting it pretty close for planning an event. At least one gay man came up to us and asked, in obvious frustration, how anyone could find out about these events.

There was a lot of supportive reactions from people in cars driving by (and one Starbucks employee on a smoke break) and a surprising shortage of negative reactions. The longest and most verbal confrontation came from the "middle-aged man" mentioned in Ms. Brambila's article. He started off by saying something like "Do something productive." I took that to mean that he thought Ron's Log would be doing more for the world if he were selling burgers and giving attitude to customers at Burger King rather than standing out on the street calling for respect for the 14th amendment. What terrible mistake in my life has led me to stand up for civil rights rather than work at a drudge job?

Over the course of the event a handful of men passing by explained to us our sexual preferences, usually in one word. I wanted to let them know that I was already well informed on my own sexuality, but they always drove away too fast.

On the corner opposite us a couple of women hung out playing with about a half dozen bassett puppies for a long time. I wish we could have been over there!