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Originally Posted by Tdogg
But still, the light turnout is puzzling. I know the events are advertised pretty widely, but maybe it's not enough?
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I don't know how much publicity the latest events in Sacramento have gotten, but in order to have a big turn-out there has to be a lot of excitment generated.
I've told this story before on this forum, but when I lived in Minneapolis in 1982, news got out that Jerry Falwell was coming to town to hold a Moral Majority rally at the Auditorium. We only had about a week's notice. I was part of a small group of activists who organized a protest. We printed up thousands of 8X11 fliers and immediately began to leaflet all the gay bars in the city. Using a staple gun, I covered over half the telephone polls in South Minneapolis from Loring Park to Lake Street with hundreds of fliers of the protest. I put a 3'X5' poster at the entrance of the city's most popular gay disco with huge words announcing; JERRY FALWELL IS COMING TO MINNEAPOLIS!!
When Jerry Falwell arrived at the auditorium for the "God and Country" rally in April 1982 he was met by a very loud crowd of over 1,000 protesters. The protest dominated the local news and even made the headlines in Milwaukee. The media attention of the protest overshadowed Falwell's message. He was so bothered by it that on a national talk show the following week he mentioned the "angry mob of militant homosexuals" that greeted him in Minneapolis.
My point is, to have a successful protest you have to generate a lot of enthusiasm and excitement with
lots and lots of publicity. The more excited people are, the bigger the turnout.
Rick