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Meet in the Middle Walk
Review By: Leon Velasco & Joshua M. Ross
My partner Joshua Ross and I were the first couple to arrive in the sign in station for
Selma
carpool. The group there was very kind, supportive and welcoming as we walked up to the booth. Everyone as they arrived was very friendly and accepting of us although we all had never met before. As we carpooled to
Selma
the group we traveled with was very anxious to get there although we were all still a little half asleep.
At the pep rally, Joshua and I found the speakers to be very motivational and emotionally moving. A few moments we found ourselves choking back on our tears of joy and inspiration. The unity of love, faith and hope that our efforts can and will make a difference at a pivotal point for history.
During the walk Joshua felt that with each step he was becoming more involved in history in the making. He felt as though he was reliving history with the spiritual presence of other civil rights leaders. I was very transfixed on making each step echo with the voices of others unable to be present at the march. I was very emotionally charged with holding Joshua’s hand in moments of the Medias’ presence to display our unashamed love and commitment to each other. There was some opposition but only a handful and it was very insignificant; such a train engineer gave us thumbs down as it passed blaring its horn, a man in a black truck had driven past us in same direction with a Yes on 8 sign roped to his truck bed door. As we past warehouses in
Fresno
a man with a bullhorn got religious on us as we passed him by chanting.
Walking under the
Fresno
sign at Van Ness Ave, we found our second wind and the extra burst of energy well up from the inner depths of our being to make it through to City Hall. Once we were greeted by the enormous welcome applause of gratitude and appreciation, we found more power and strength in our weakened voices to shout out loud our chants for a better tomorrow.
After the completion of the walk we were greeted by complete strangers and given greetings of; “Congratulations” and “Job well done.” We felt very energetically charged through out the rest of the day although we were battling fatigue to the max. We feel that in our involvement as a couple it solidified our union as a committed gay couple; in the hopes of one day becoming a legalized married couple in our great State of
California
.
When we got to my car to head back home we found a fake $1000.00 bill with religious writing on it and my antennae was bent outward as if someone tried to break it off and since it was too difficult left it bent past passenger fender. I believe that this was in retaliation of what I had put on my rear window, “Marriage 4 ALL ! !” with all gender symbols M/W, W/W, M/M. Me and Joshua traveled on Highway 99 from Tulare to Fresno for rally, back to Tulare and back to Fresno with this on my window the whole time through out the weekend.
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