About an hour into it, I started to get annoyed. Not by the movie, although I was disappointed to see so many attractive women in the same movie Not kissing each other, but by the twenty minutes of noise outside our apartment. Living in a metropolitan area, you get used to noise. But this was an unusual amount of car doors slamming and yapping and kids screaming. I couldn’t stand it.

     Our front door opened to a family using our driveway as a rest stop and sitting on our porch. The doors to their big, white SUV were open and they were just chillin and smokin and talking really loudly. Their kids were running around the truck screaming. It was like that movie trick when  you open a door to another world where all this stuff is going on and you just watch, wide eyed in amazement. 

     Our neighborhood is. . . ok. We’ve had some illegal activity around. We pay more attention these days and we definitely don’t want a bunch of strangers hangin on our doorstep. I mean, I would never in a million years even think to do that. Go to a park or a business. McDonalds has a big funhouse to play in, go there! It was an intrusion. 

     “Oh hi, sorry”, they said when they heard the door. And they continued to sit. “Uh, We’re trying to watch a movie. Go somewhere else.”, said my girlfriend, Morgan. One girl in the truck had a brain and said, “Mom, let’s go.”, while two other girls went into a giggle fit. Morgan was shocked and stood there staring at them until they packed up and left five minutes later. 

Seriously, c’mon.

Several things lead us to our sign slogans. My fiance struggles with recovery from addictions and a troubled childhood every day and I, like many, have lost my job. Unemployment is very slow to come for me and last week we were robbed. Add that to the economic downturn and the fact that our love is not recognized or approved of by many, and you’ve got one hell of an angry lesbian couple.  But, we didn’t want to let our anger at the world affect our message or others. Let’s take the high road. And, besides, all the complaints wouldn’t fit on our cardboard.  

Since we didn’t know what the court would decide on Prop 8 and we wanted to get a head start on our signs, we focused on the simple and true either way. A positive message that would keep our heads in the game.

My fiance, Morgan, the artist that she is, went all out. A sturdy used cardboard posted on a piece of sustainably managed, tree-farmed select pine was a great base for her pencil outlined acrylic medium. She bought some bright polyester and plastic flowers from the Fabric Barn and used wire to attach them to the edges. Beautifully, it framed her slogan of “Peace Love and Equality”. A positive message that will endure the test of time as there will likely be more protests in the future. A very pretty sign with an even prettier woman holding it.

I was having a bit more trouble coming up with something without knowing the court decision. I had an idea but wanted to wait. I have a hard time with many fill-in-the-blank situations. A comedian at heart, I always yearn to fill in something random or silly. Other ideas included: “Your mom is married”, “Seperate and lift” and “I like walking”. After a funny hour of brainstorming, I couldn’t get over myself enough to think of something seriously useful and positive. So, when the decision ended up being to uphold Prop 8, I went with my gut, “Seriously, c’mon”.

When we got to the protest route, I found that my gut was thinking what a lot of others were thinking too. Sure, I got a few glares, but mostly, people laughed. We commiserated over the same emotion and were brought together in these times when we all feel a little beaten down. 

The combination of our two signs made for a great reaction. It seemed to evoke the “Can’t we all just get along” in all of us. It also reminded me that my girl and I are made for each other and we’ll be loving and supporting each other and our community for as long as we both shall live whether California approves or not.”

Note from Editor: This piece was written by Joanna Stanford, one of our new writers. We loved her title (and her sign at the prop 8 rally) so much we decided to make it the title of an ongoing column. A place where Joanna, Shout writers and others can voice their experiences, frustrations and stories that, well, make us think “Seriously C’mon”.