“Rally for Equality” in downtown Nov. 7

Tomorrow, Nov. 7, local activist group Just Us For All, formed after the We Are Not Bashful march earlier this year, will hold a rally in downtown Asheville, intended to “expose inequality and its effects on the LGBTQ community.”

According to a statement from the group, the rally, beginning at 1 p.m. at the Vance Monument, proceeding with a 2 p.m. march to the First Congregational Church of Christ, including speeches by the Rev. Joe Hoffman, Susan Poole and Asheville City Council member Gordon Smith

The rally will focus on opposition to allowing marriage and benefits for same-sex partners, specifically the possibility of a statewide Defense of Marriage amendment banning same-sex marriage (along with civil unions, domestic partnerships and other similar arrangements). So far, North Carolina is the only Southern state without such a law, as proposed amendments have failed to make it out of committee in the General Assembly for five consecutive years.

— David Forbes, senior news reporter

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18 thoughts on ““Rally for Equality” in downtown Nov. 7

  1. rhymash

    We had better stand UP for All of our “RIGHTS”. The NC Lawmakers would like nothing better to allow only STR8 WHITE MEN the right to vote.
    SEE U THERE!! I’m sure the street preachers will be there!

  2. UnaffiliatedVoter

    Why didnt the NC democrats do this for their supporters when they had POWER?

  3. straight white male

    Gotta love the straight white male hate. As if they keep everyone down and are responsible for all the ills of society. Never mind that people don’t take responsibility for themselves anymore and lay blame at others. Never mind that white males pay most of the taxes. Never mind that white males are discriminated against in most facets of society.

    I don’t know what I did to anyone because I’m a straight white male but if you have a problem, you can come see me personally and tell me to my face.

  4. eric

    What does being a straight white male have to do with anything? Its a moral issue. If you believe in the bible you are probably against homosexuality; if you don’t you’re probably not.

  5. Cheshire

    Historically, heterosexual white males are the privileged, with others as an afterthought. Women’s rights, slavery, racial segregation, marital matters, workplace benefits, etc. Heterosexual white males have had the privileges all the other equal-rights campaigns fought and fight for the entire time…they’re taken for granted. Calling “discrimination” as a heterosexual white male is little more than the feeling of the unequal rights gap closing to where it should be: a level playing field for everyone.

    Personally, I’ve vowed years ago never to get legally married until same-sex couples can. I’ll have a religious ceremony to satisfy family, but it won’t be legally binding in the eyes of the state. I’m not better than other people, so I don’t feel I deserve benefits they are barred from having by a government solely because they’re not heterosexual.

    ~another white male who prefers relationships with women.

  6. Ken Hanke

    I don’t know what I did to anyone because I’m a straight white male but if you have a problem, you can come see me personally and tell me to my face.

    A pretty interesting assertion from a screen name, don’t you think?

  7. Piffy!

    I’m okay with the closeted ones. It’s just the uppity gays that oppress my freedom.

  8. Real equality for all God’s children must be getting closer if straight white males can sincerely complain “that white males are discriminated against in most facets of society.” They just might begin to know what it feels like.

  9. dpewen

    Victor, how are uppity gays oppressing your freedoms? What is being taken from you?

  10. e. c.

    Rally for this, march for that, whatever strikes you and gets you those federal grants!!! and you people wonder why nobody wants to acknowledge your “cause” or the “cause of the week”. If I were a downtown business owner (legitimate, of course), I think I could figure out why my business is dropping thru the floor. Who the heck wants to go shopping in an atmosphere of bullying and aggressive, loud, disrespectful crowds who have nothing else to do with their lives!!

  11. Ken Hanke

    Who the heck wants to go shopping in an atmosphere of bullying and aggressive, loud, disrespectful crowds who have nothing else to do with their lives!!

    You mean like those street preachers?

  12. dpewen

    ec, I do not know who you are referring to. You obviously do not go downtown since I do not see any of this and I live downtown. Perhaps you are referring to the Walmart crowds?

  13. Piffy!

    [b]whatever strikes you and gets you those federal grants!![/b]

    What ‘federal grants’?

  14. WitchDoctor

    You know, federal not-for-straight-white-male grants, like the ones black people use to get there free cars.

  15. Ken Hanke

    Those poor, oppressed straight white males

    My heart would bleed for them, but they don’t like that either.

  16. lookatmeimsoshiny

    Lovin’ this thread! Just like to add that I think the guy who posts under the name of “straight white male” and feels oppressed should really take the bull by the horns, get all his buddies together & form…wait for it…wait for it…drum roll please: “The Asheville Poor, Oppressed, Straight White Male Dance Troupe”! Ta da! & He could just call it “APOSWMDT” for short. Rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it? And this new oppressed(?) minority(?)could hold auditions for their Dance Troupe (financed by Halliburton, of course-‘cuz as I said before the Troupe is dirt poor!)and then this Troupe could perform shows for the rest of us right in the square! With cakes & pie and pony rides!(and ONLY a $50 charge per man, woman & child) What fun!

    And then who knows? Maybe “APOSWMDT” will become Asheville’s Next Big Thing! Pretty soon, you’ll overhear shiny trendsetters around town saying “Hey, did you catch the APOSWMDT show last night? Hell to tha yes! Man, they were so tight they absolutely KILLED it!”. And then Glennn Beck can come to Asheville, part the Red Sea and then spew Nazi rhetoric like a freakin’ fountain while the “Asheville Poor Oppressed Single White Male Dance Troup” (APOSWMDT) does interpretive dance. Fabulous!

    You know what? Oh my gosh! Somebody call Bush and Cheney and Rove, and tell them we’ve found the WMD! It’s hiding amongst the letters of Asheville’s hottest new Dance Troupe! Who knew?

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