Focus on the Family mobilized a political rally against gay couples — and in favor of antigay politicians — on the National Mall in Washington yesterday.
Gay observers (two friends of mine) counted approximately 25,000 attendees — far short of the 140,000 to 170,000 that organizers said were in attendance. And a reporter for The Washington Post found the crowd comfortably spaced out over just three city blocks; past rallies of 100,000 or more people have packed a space of 10 to 14 blocks.
Several people in the crowd were quoted saying they would vote for President Bush solely because of his “personal faith.”
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) responded:
“When people have a chance to really examine what this is all about, it becomes clear that marriage equality for same-sex couples is sound family policy and sound fiscal policy — and as we’ve seen in Massachusetts, the sky has not fallen.” said Sam Thoron, PFLAG’s national president and father of a lesbian daughter.
Hopefully other news media will provide their own independent crowd estimates.
How bout a source for that overcount by Focus
Sorry, there were 10 billion attendees. Don’t forget all those cockroaches, of course.
>Gays Like Cockroaches Cardinal Says
>(Mexico City) A prominent Mexican cardinal denounced legalization of same-sex weddings in an interview published Tuesday, saying it would be like considering cats or cockroaches part of a family.
https://www.365gay.com/newscon04/10/101204mexCard.htm
Another Xian nut case
The observers were two friends of mine. The Washington Post reporter also observed the undercount, but was exceedingly timid in describing it. The Washington Blade for this week was already printed when the rally was held. I’m curious to see what other media say about the crowd total.
An encouraging but irrelevant sidenote;
The local NBC affiliate here in DC, as part of their morning news, includes an agenda of local events. Number one on their list for October 15 was the rally—characterized as an “Anti-Gay Rally.”
That was the first time I ever saw the anti-gay side characterized as “anti-gay” instead of by some less-honest euphemism like “pro-family” or “pro-Christian.”