The weather was pretty rotten, but the rain held off until we were done (well, except for a few sprinkles, the deluge showed up a couple hours later). And although the weather undoubtedly kep some people away, several hundred people showed up to rally against the evil Marshall/Newman Marriage Amendment at George Mason University.

This amendment, if you’re not aware (and if you look at my site much that would be tough) would not only ban gay marriage, but civil unions, domestic partnerships and any legal relationship that a judge decides has a quality or effect of marriage. Just what that means isn’t clear. Nobody really knows because, ironically, these legislators who so abhor "activist judges" will force judges to decide what marriage qualities are.

In Ohio, some of those judges have decided that domestic violence protections are a benefit of marriage. The same thing could happen here. Domestic partnership benefits are almost certainly at risk considering that Senator Cucinelli said that was one of the targets of this amendment.

The rally started with a prayer vigil and the 20 or so protesters who decided that bigotry is to be celebrated decided to try and chant over a prayer. What part of "christian values" did they miss the class for?

The most amazing thing was the diversity of the attendees and the speakers. White, black, asian, gay, straight, bisexual, transgendered, christian, jew, and probably lots of others that I wasn’t obviously able to identify. The speakers ranged from college students to veterans of the 1690′s civil rights movement. Each had a different view on just how bad this amdnement is.

The election is only a month away. Remember to vote no on question #1!

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This was the 5th summer picnic for Equality Fairfax though my first time at one. I missed last year’s because I was on the airplane to Bonaire when it happened. This year I was able to plan a bit better and was on hand to enjoy the event and grab a few photos at the same time.

This was a great picnic! Lots of people showed up with kids and dogs and food. The weather cooperated though the shade was a welcome commodity. It was especially nice to see Delegate David Bulova and his family along with candidate Andrew Hurst and his kids. It means a lot to our community when they would come spend their day at something that is by design a purely social event and not politically oriented.

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Along with some others from Equality Fairfax, I participated in the Capital Pride Parade. I had never marched in any parade before and helping to carry the "Virginians: We Can Win!" banner was a treat!

I only managed a few photos because I was an active participant, but I’m going to have to get better photos of this at some point in the future!

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The town of Vienna has its annual street fair at the end of May and Equality Fairfax had a booth to get out the word about the evils of the marriage amendment.

The outcry against the amendment was gratifying and it gave me hope for November.

From a photo perspective, there wasn’t much to photograph and I had to leave for another event as soon as my shift was over so I didn’t get many photos.

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I’ve managed to fall behind on photo posting. Again. But, the efffort to catch up has begin! Here are some photos from the Mount Vernon Wine Festival. Equality Fairfax bought a block of tickets and I was lucky enough to go along.

The festival was a lot of fun…got to taste a lot of good wines and enjoyed everyone’s company.

Click an image below to enlarge it or view the set on flickr.