This Week in the Mercury

Sold Out

Columns

Sold Out

The Specialty Store


Blood, Honey, and a Trojan Horse

Film

Blood, Honey, and a Trojan Horse

Angelina Jolie Brings a Dog into the Bosnian War



  |  

Monday, October 26, 2009

Portland / Politics A Tale of Three Protests

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 4:18 PM

Man, Saturday was the day to be in downtown Portland. The day kicked off with a noontime protest by Portland Equal Right Coalition, a group I wrote about last week that wants Democrats and big LGBT groups like Basic Rights Oregon to demand marriage equality now rather putting the issue on the ballot in 2012 or later.

The 200 or so allies marched from the North Park Blocks through the Pearl and down Broadway shouting, "Obama! Obama! Let mama marry mama!" A man in a tight black turtleneck and rave pants nearly disrupted the march at one point, running alongside the protest shouting, "Rapists! Sexual perverts!" and other slurs. A burly marcher started shouting back at the lone counter-protester and was restrained by a man in a Utilikilt until police stepped in and not-too-politely told the counter-protester to scram.

DSCN0603.JPG

As the marriage equality marchers bore down on Pioneer Courthouse Square, their chanting melded with the bongo drums of war reverberating in the plaza: the soundtrack to the Portland version of 350.org's international day of climate action. A fleet of anti-12 lane Columbia River Crossing protesters rolled in on bikes to join the several hundred environmental protesters and school kids laid on the ground, spelling out the number "350" on the brick. I hung out to talk to some representatives of Portland General Electric hyping their company's renewable energy plans but ducked out after someone calling himself "Saturn Man" tried to get the crowd to join in his butt-shaking "shiny hiney" dance.

Adriane DeJerk of Stop the CRC.org


From there I headed over to the central library and happened to stumble head-on into the Zombie Walk, which turned out to be a protest of its own sort. Amid the Corgi Zombie and Hipster Zombie were signs demanding brains and food. It was, by my count, the largest protest of the day.

DSCN0625.JPG

 

Comments (3) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
How about a "shamble" lane for the zoms on CRC?
Posted by Jim Lee on October 26, 2009 at 6:20 PM · Report
2
And I played Left4Dead all day, so I did my part.
Posted by NIG GER on October 26, 2009 at 9:09 PM · Report
3
Must have been busy day for a climate-conscious lesbian zombie.
Posted by meerkat on October 27, 2009 at 11:02 AM · Report

Add a comment

Our Friends

Our Enemies

/images/adoftheweek.gif

ad of the day

The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.go


post an ad

All contents © Index Newspapers, LLC

115 SW Ash St. Suite 600
Portland, OR 97204

Contact Info | Privacy Policy | Production Guidelines | Terms of Use