Nashville Prop 8 Rally a Huge Success!

Hundreds of people gathered at the Metro Courthouse in Nashville today to protest California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage, and to advocate for equality for Tennessee's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Pictured above is Nashville Pride president Pam Wheeler with friends marching around the Public Square. More photos from the event can be found here.

I would put the number at close to 300. TEP signed up 62 people who weren't already on our list and we couldn't get to everyone, especially after the march started. People were still joining the event when I left at 1:45.

Representatives from the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition and the Nashville steering committee of the Human Rights Campaign were also on hand to support the rally. Carissa and her friends did an incredible job of organizing the event.

One of the most impressive aspects of the event was the number of young people who had never been involved in GLBT advocacy before. I would guess 75 percent of the participants were people I had never seen at any events before. I hope that they can turn their energy to efforts in Tennessee.