Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The Massachusetts State House sits atop Beacon Hill, bordered by the Boston Common, Suffolk University, and hundreds of aging brownstones containing thousands of apartments and condominiums. When a hot-button issue hits the legislature, protestors gather by the hundreds before the marble steps with banners and placards to make their case known. One determined gentleman can be found on the opposite street corner daily, American flag in hand, shouting at anyone who'll listen about whatever the topic of the day is. If the legislature isn't in session, he'll be out there shouting anyway.
Beacon Hill residents are used to these frequent and often raucous protests. In a neighborhood as densely packed as this one is, the demonstrators are easily dismissed as just one more inconvenience. In fact, they often provide as much amusement as annoyance. Whether its teachers demanding more pay, policemen demanding contracts, Roxbury residents demanding better bus service, or any of the various groups who appear to have no agenda at all, most Bostonians can view the crowds as the product of freedom of speech at work in all its glory. While whatever crowds normally gather along Beacon Street are generally spirited, they are without fail polite and respectful of the needs of pedestrians and commuters to make their way through one of the city's central thoroughfares.
Not so with the gay marriage protestors who have sprung like termites from woodwork. With the controversy in full swing this month, the usual crowd has swelled to a throng that many days has spilled off of the State House steps, into the street, into the park, and around the side streets and alleys. Advocates from both sides, during the past month, have apparently decided that they own not just the small assembly area before the building, but the surrounding neighborhood as well. They feel free to harass passersby and drivers alike.
Article comments
1 - RJ Elliott
Have you had your ass grabbed yet, by the male pro-gay marriage protestors? Has your wife been offered a trucker hat?
2 - Mac Diva
Here at ground central for gay marriage, Portland, things have been fairly restrained, Scott. I've gone to the county building where marriage licenses are granted for four days since March 2. Marriages between people of the same gender are being performed there, usually outside. There are protesters, some pro, but mainly anti. A few of the antis have been taken away by police, but I don't know if they were actually arrested. Things could change tomorrow, now that the governor and the attorney general have said the statutes should be interpreted to forbid same sex marriages. Both sides may become more emphatic about their views.
3 - Scott Pepper
Neither myself nor my wife have been assaulted by anyone on either side yet, RJ, nor has anyone else, to my knowledge. I'm more concerned with the inherent danger of a mob scene less than a block away from my front door than any overt attacks. As this photo gallery demonstrates, both sides, pro- and anti-, are equally virulent.
The worst days have been when the so-called Constitutional Convention is in session.
Maybe it's because I missed out on the 60s, but, for my part, I've never understood the point of protests or demonstrations like this. More often than not, I find myself less sympathetic to the cause of groups that shut down city streets and suck my tax money away with the need for added police and security.
4 - Mac Diva
The point is to say this is happening to real people and other equally real people care. I don't believe the civil rights bills of the 1960s would have passed without pictures of people being beaten by police, bitten by police dogs and knocked down by fire hoses. Thousands of lynchings had made no difference, but relatively few moments of video and still photos on television did.