Battling Rallys at Utah State Capitol

By Brig Bagley


28 January 2014

Separated by just minutes, supporters and protesters of same-sex marriage gathered at the Utah State Capital to proclaim their views.  This time, however, the traditional marriage supporters were not over run by same-sex marriage supporters.  With such little advanced notice, as well as its early timing in the day, only around 300 gay marriage supporters showed up at the 5 pm rally.  At 7pm, though, about 700 people, including families, filled the capitol with signs exclaiming "Protect our Children" and "One man, one woman, it's genetics".

The "Stand with Children" rally took the well-known equality sign and literally turned it on its side, marking one bar blue for male, one pink for female.  The hashtag "#standwithchildren" is patched on top to make the statement clear.

The speakers at the rally emphasized a few points:

• Supporting traditional marriage does not mean hatred towards LGBT.
• Children have the right to both a mother and a father.
• The State of Utah has the right to define its own laws for marriage.
• Utah has the religious freedom to stand for its beliefs in traditional marriage.

One presentation was that of a man raised by two gay women that wished he had a father in his upbringing, Robert Oscar Lopez. See here.

A number of protesters went to the event, myself included, and held hands and signs to remind the participants that LGBT are real people with real love and real families.  Although most of us were peaceful, some decided to make a scene in the center of the seating, throwing glitter.  One man chanted during the prayer at the end of the meeting as well.  

Overall, the gathering was quiet without much battle. Traditional marriage people smiled at the protesters and made no qualms.  

Although people have every right to stand for their beliefs, it's void when those beliefs strip human rights and freedoms from others.  Praying in the state capitol to ask God to prevent citizens from government sanctioned benefits and rights to love is unacceptable. There are children in loving same-sex families that cannot receive the same equal opportunities as children with mixed-gender parents.  Until the rights with marriage are re-instituted to the State of Utah, families are being torn instead of built.