Long Beach Raises Pride Flag In Opposition To Prop. 8
LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — The City of Long Beach raised a pride flag Tuesday as a sign of solidarity in support of same-sex marriage.
"The City Council unanimously supported gay rights and opposed Proposition 8," Mayor Bob Foster said.
The ceremony comes on the same day that the United States Supreme Court heard the controversial case surrounding the legality of Proposition 8. A decision is not expected until June.
"My children and certainly my grandchildren are going to look back on this and say, 'What the heck was everybody fighting about,'" Foster said.
"I hope that everybody just really, really understands that this is not a gay rights, this is a human rights issue," said Angel Macias who married her wife in 2008.
Macias and her spouse were among the last of the 18,000 gay couples to marry in California before the passage of Prop. 8 in Nov. 2008.
The approval was followed by statewide protests and lawsuits challenging Prop. 8's legality.
"Today is just a historic moment for Long Beach," she said.
The flag will fly for two days while the hearings in Washington, D.C. continue.
A vigil will be held against Prop. 8 at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Long Beach City Hall and at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.
