Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Activists Plaster Boise With "Heteros Only" Stickers
(Link) Hoping to give flashbacks of yesteryear's racial prejudice, stickers were slapped onto the city's public fountains and bus benches as straight folks turf only. Clueless legislators stratch their heads and go back to touting an anti-queer marriage amendment.
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By Scott Logan
KBCI News
Stickers saying "Heterosexuals Only" were placed on bus benches and public drinking fountains in downtown Boise and at the Statehouse Monday morning.
A group of gay and lesbian activists, who spoke to KBCI-Local 2 News on condition of anonymity, put up the 150 stickers to protest the legislature's passage of a proposed constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage in Idaho, which voters will face in November.
"This was an issue we cared a great deal about," one activist told Local 2 News. "It affects us personally, it affects friends and family of ours."
The group says it used the "Heterosexuals Only" stickers to symbolize "Whites Only" and "Colored Only" stickers from past discrimination in the history of the American civil rights movement.
"In the struggle for human rights, an iconic image of that struggle has been signs that exclude classes of people," an activist said. "You know, 'Whites Only' on drinking fountains, or blacks to the back of the bus."
The group also said it selected Monday March 6 because it was the anniversary of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march during the civil rights struggle.
Boise police reported no incidents or arrests, although the gay and lesbian activists said they were prepared to be taken into custody.
"You could make the case we were littering, or doing something more aggressive," an activist said. "Realistically, we have to be worried because there is some risk. I think we all have come together and decided the risk is worth taking a stand. I hope people will realize this...is a model of resistance that falls into a historical basis and they won't decide to be extremely punitive."
At the Statehouse, some legislative leaders disapproved not only of the way the group chose to express its message, but they also said the message itself is wrong.
"Because I think everybody has the same rights here in Idaho and we're not taking any body's rights away," said Sen. Bob Geddes, (R) Soda Spring, president pro tem of the Idaho Senate.
The stickers were easily removed, and were up only a short time. The gay and lesbian activists hope their symbolic message lasts longer.
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