# The people across the street. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 11, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536 "2004-10-11T00:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ReuvenB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/1 "2004-10-11T00:06:57Z")
Note: This is not about neighbors. This is about the people across the street from the Georgia Capitol this afternoon. In front of the capitol there was a rally for civil rights (protesting an amendment to the Georgia constitution banning Gay marriage and civil unions), and the people across the street were counter protesting. Normally, I have no problem with people expressing their views. This is a free country, first amendment rights, all that. But you people didn’t have a permit. You didn’t have a permit to stand in front of the capitol, where you originally tried to assemble. You didn’t have a permit to go across the street and protest on that church’s property. That’s trespassing, and you’re lucky they didn’t have you arrested. If that wasn’t enough, your rhetoric certainly was. I don’t care if two plugs don’t fit together. I’m not a plug. I don’t want to hear you assert that all homosexuals practice bestiality, or that all homosexuals are pedophiles, or that all homosexuals like gerbils. Hell, I don’t even know what you were getting at with that last one. Speaking of hell, I also don’t care that you think I’m going to burn in fire and brimstone for all eternity. I’m Jewish. I get told that a lot. So go away. We don’t really care. You’ll probably win on Nov. 2, but at least we fought the good fight. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/2 "2004-10-11T09:25:37Z")
Ah, gerbils. I was once picketing against Fred Phelps and I had one of his ten year old grandchildren taunt me about gerbils. That man is a monster, filling little kids heads with such garbage. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/3 "2004-10-11T09:33:59Z")
You need a permit to protest? ---
**Author:** ![ReuvenB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/4 "2004-10-11T09:57:47Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > You need a permit to protest? You need one to protest on the steps of the capitol. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/5 "2004-10-11T10:30:59Z")
Your _papers_, please. Schnell! ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/6 "2004-10-11T10:33:54Z")
I don’t understand the OP. They were protesting against a gay marriage amendment? Yet they were denigrating gays like that? That’s odd. ---
**Author:** ![ReuvenB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/7 "2004-10-11T10:37:16Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Your _papers_, please. Schnell! You don’t need the permit to _be_ there, it’s for bringing a loudspeaker or other sound amplication thing. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/8 "2004-10-11T10:41:42Z")
What if you brought an opera singer? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/9 "2004-10-11T10:43:16Z")
Or yell in unison with signs? ---
**Author:** ![ReuvenB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/10 "2004-10-11T10:51:09Z")
I wouldn’t know. Maybe I’ll ask the next time I’m over there. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/11 "2004-10-11T11:41:57Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > What if you brought an opera singer? What if you weren’t a one-note asshole? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/12 "2004-10-11T13:09:41Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > I don’t understand the OP. They were protesting against a gay marriage amendment? Yet they were denigrating gays like that? It took me a re-reading, but the OP is addressing the counterprotesters, the ones that showed up to protest those who are against the amendment. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/13 "2004-10-11T13:39:44Z")
> [@Ferret Herder](#): > > It took me a re-reading, but the OP is addressing the counterprotesters, the ones that showed up to protest those who are against the amendment. Whoosh! I think **Reeder** was being amusing. I was surprised, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/14 "2004-10-11T14:24:13Z")
> [@Rysler](#): > > I think **Reeder** was being amusing. I was surprised, too. Mm, quite likely. Maybe I’ll have to re-read that post too… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/15 "2004-10-11T14:36:31Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > What if you brought an opera singer? Where are you gonna find an anti-gay opera singer? They’d alienate two-thirds of their audience. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-people-across-the-street/268536/16 "2004-10-11T17:03:52Z")
I hear the lungs on a sentient giant squid are pretty potent 😃 I agree with Liberal, this time. However, %99 of the population doesnt want to have it both ways, so may as well consistently enforce the law.