Supporters of marriage equality took over the grounds outside Dallas City Hall Friday tonight.

They’ve been urging Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to get onboard with a national pledge.

“We really feel that the mayor needs to speak out on this issue, needs to take a stand. We need his private beliefs to match his public policy,” said Get Equal Texas North Texas Coordinator Daniel Cates.

They want Rawlings to join other mayors across the country in signing the Freedom to Marry pledge. They say so far 100 other mayors have.

“I have a lot of friends that are in the LGBT community, and I have seen atrocities that happen to them over and over in this city, and in this state,” said protester Noam Zerzan.

There were some heated exchanges tonight as others came to protest the protesters.

“As a concerned citizen just supporting the biblical definition of marriage and just kind of stand for our Mayor,” said opponent Will Stanford.

Rawlings is scheduled to meet with the group Saturday morning. Last week, on his

“I decided not to sign onto that letter because that is inconsistent with my view of the duties of the office of the mayor,” Rawlings said in the post.

But the protesters think the mayor is out of touch.

“I think that some of his comments have actually been destructive, they’ve bordered on homophobia where he said these are issues that are no relevant to the lion’s share of the community that he serves.  I think that’s an unfortunate statement,” said Cates.

To them, gay marriage is an issue that starts local.

“He has the power to unite with us and when you unite with us and stand for equality for all human beings you send a message to your constituents, the state of Texas and to the rest of America,” said protester Shannon Kern.

A group of demonstrators gathered outside Dallas City Hall on Friday night to protest the mayor’s refusal to sign a pledge supporting same-sex marriage.

Mayor Mike Rawlings’ office said he supports gay equality and would further discuss his reasons for not signing the pledge during a meeting Saturday with about two dozen leaders in the gay community.

About 50 people with signs chanted, “Sign the pledge.”

“I am not here asking for equality,” activist Meg Hargis said. “A mayor can’t make me equal, paper can’t make me equal, a signature can’t make me equal. I was born equal. All we are asking is for Mayor Rawlings to acknowledge our validity and our equality as human beings — not just citizens, but human beings.”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m not very happy with our mayor right now,” activist C.D. Kirven said.

One person showed up to protest Friday night’s protest. The exchanges were spirited but peaceful.

The Mayors for the Freedom to Marry statement has been signed by a bipartisan coalition of more than 100 U.S. mayors, according to Freedom to Marry’s website.

In Texas, the mayors of Houston, Galveston, Austin, San Antonio, Shavano Park and Castle Hills have signed the pledge.

On Jan. 19, Rawlings posted this message regarding the request on his Facebook page:

“Upon taking office, I made a conscious decision to focus on issues that create a healthy, viable city and not on those that are partisan and social in nature. I was asked to pledge my support to “Mayors for the Freedom to Marry” in an effort to pressure state and federal entities to legalize marriage for same-sex couples. I decided not to sign onto that letter because that is inconsistent with my view of the duties of the office of the mayor.

To be a world class city, we must be inclusive towards all citizens, including the LGBT community. Personally, I support the LGBT movement and its efforts for equal rights that they deserve.”

Supporters of the pledge have left hundreds of comments on the mayor’s page urging him to join the mayors from other cities who have already signed the pledge.

In a statement issued last week, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said she also would not sign the pledge.

“The issue of same-sex marriage is one for the state, not local government,” she said.

Price expressed support for the gay community during her campaign and served as grand marshal of the city’s Gay Pride Parade last year.

They began by chanting, “Sign the pledge, it’s not too late, how long do we have to wait?” An hour later, they ended by singing, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

About 100 LGBT protesters gathered outside the main entrance of Dallas City Hall on Friday night, to call on Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to sign a pledge in support of same-sex marriage. With several TV news cameras rolling, the protesters waved rainbow flags, banged cowbells and held signs with messages like, “We the people. Gays need not apply.”

The protest, organized by GetEQUAL, came more than three years after one of the largest gay-rights demonstrations in Dallas history took place at the same location — in response to California voters’ decision to approve a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2008.

“All we are asking is for Mayor Rawlings to acknowledge our validity, our equality, as human beings,” Meg Hargis of GetEQUAL, who MC’d Friday night’s rally, yelled through a megaphone. “Mayor Rawlings, without actions your words are meaningless. We do not need your smiles. We do not need your words. We need you to act before history remembers you as the coward that you are.”

An LGBT protester, left, squares off with an anti-gay counterprotester.

Rafael McDonnell of Resource Center Dallas told the crowd he’s unsure what will happen Saturday when Rawlings is set to meet with about 25 leaders from the LGBT community in a private, invitation-only gathering.

“But I am going to tell you this,” McDonnell said. “We are going to try like hell to get him to change his mind.”

Rawlings agreed to meet with the LGBT leaders in response to outcry over his decision not to sign the pledge, which was unveiled by the group Freedom to Marry during a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C. last week. About 100 mayors from across the country have signed the pledge, including six from Texas. Dallas is the largest city in the U.S. whose mayor hasn’t signed. Rawlings has said he supports same-sex marriage but won’t sign the pledge because he doesn’t want to get involved in social issues.

Mark Reed, a national board member for GetEQUAL, kissed and hugged his husband, Dante Walkup, in front of TV cameras before yelling to the crowd: “Mayor Rawlings, this is the love of my life. We deserve to be equal.”

“In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends,” Reed said, quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The LGBT speakers were at times drowned out by a few anti-gay counterprotesters who stalked nearby in City Hall plaza and yelled through an amplification device. Some LGBT protesters engaged the counterprotesters, with the parties getting in each other’s faces at one point, but there was no violence. One of the counterprotesters who identified himself only as Melvin said he didn’t want to give his full name to avoid getting hate mail. Another counterprotester identified himself to Channel 33 The CW as Will Stanford.

Daniel Cates, North Texas regional coordinator for GetEQUAL, said as the rally wound down that he was pleased with the turnout.

“If he hasn’t gotten the message by now, I don’t know what we could possibly do differently,” Cates said of Rawlings.

“We’re not going to accept compromises,” Cates said, referring to the possibly that Rawlings will offer other concessions to the LGBT community. “We want him to do all those things — and sign the pledge.”

Saturday’s meeting is at 11 a.m. at Resource Center Dallas. Check back for a report Saturday afternoon.

More photos from Friday night’s protest below.

An anti-gay counterprotester, left, waltzes with an LGBT protester.

Daniel Cates of GetEQUAL

JOHN WRIGHT  |  Senior Editor
wright@dallasvoice.com

Activists from GetEQUAL plan a rally outside Dallas City Hall on Friday night, Jan. 27 to call on Mayor Mike Rawlings to change his mind and sign a pledge in support of same-sex marriage.

Meanwhile, Rawlings is set to meet privately Saturday, Jan. 28 with a group of 20-25 LGBT leaders to discuss his decision not to sign the pledge.

However, LGBT activists said this week that their beef with Rawlings, who took office last summer, now extends beyond the pledge itself.

They said they’ve been very alarmed by the language and tone Rawlings has used in defending his decision not to sign the pledge in the media.

Most recently, on Wednesday, Rawlings told WFAA-TV that the marriage pledge — signed by more than 100 mayors across the country, including from all eight cities larger than Dallas — was an example of “getting off track” and that the issue of marriage equality is not “relevant to the lion’s share of the citizens of Dallas.”

“Sadly, I think the more he talks about this in the press, the more he digs in as completely out of touch,” said Patti Fink, president of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance. “He’s really pissing off our community. We really have a much deeper, more profound problem than this pledge. … This mayor is naïve. We’re not irrelevant, and we are a part of the lion’s share.”

Fink noted that DGLA issued a rare warning against voting for Rawlings in 2011.

“We certainly hoped that he would prove us wrong when we put a warning on him last year, but I fear that perhaps that warning was well justified, because it certainly appears from this encounter that he puts business before civil rights, which was the essence of our warning,” Fink said.

Paula Blackmon, Rawlings’ chief of staff, said he wasn’t available for comment Thursday. Rawlings told Dallas Voice last week that although he personally supports marriage equality, he didn’t sign the pledge because he wants to avoid social issues that don’t impact the city.

Daniel Cates of GetEQUAL, which is organizing Friday night’s protest, also questioned Rawlings’ handling of the controversy. On Monday, Blackmon told Dallas Voice that Rawlings was skipping a “Meet the Mayor” community meeting in Kiest Park because it would be unfair to subject other residents to an LGBT protest. “He just does not want to put them through that,” Blackmon said.

Cates called such language “damaging and destructive” and said it smacks of “thinly veiled homophobia.”

Rawlings’ decision to skip the Kiest Park meeting appeared to backfire when residents who showed up called him “cowardly” for dodging the protest.

“I think he’s got the worst PR team on earth,” Cates said.

Cates said Friday’s “Sign the Pledge” rally, set for 7 p.m. outside City Hall, will include speakers and a chance for people to address personal notes, including family photos, to the mayor. Cates said he planned to hand-deliver the correspondence to Rawlings at Saturday’s meeting.

“The goal is really for our mayor to finally have his policy match what he says his personal views are,” Cates said. “We are going to continue to apply pressure, and that can stop whenever he wants.”

Cece Cox, executive director and CEO of the Resource Center, organized Saturday’s invitation-only meeting between Rawlings and LGBT leaders.

Cox said she reached out to the mayor’s office last week after his explanation for not signing the pledge “sent up about 100 red flags.”

Saturday’s meeting, which is closed to the media, is scheduled for an hour and a half. In addition to the marriage pledge, Cox said she hopes to address other LGBT-related city issues including transgender health benefits, pension benefits for the domestic partners of employees, nondiscrimination requirements for contractors and mandatory diversity training.

Pam Gerber, one of Rawlings’ prominent LGBT supporters during last year’s campaign, said she’s willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and she hopes something positive will come out of the meeting.

Gerber noted that even though neither DGLA nor Stonewall Democrats endorsed Rawlings, he appeared at a gay Pride month reception his first day in office and later rode in the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade.

“If he absolutely will not sign it, then how do we leverage this opportunity to bring something good about for our community?” Gerber said. “I’m not 100 percent confident that he won’t change his mind, because he is a good man who is incredibly well-intentioned. But if that’s the case, then we need to be pragmatic about it and figure out how to move forward and make gains for the LGBT community, instead of looking at the whole thing as all or nothing.”

Fink seemed less optimistic, and she said no matter what, it’s unlikely the conversation will end this weekend.

“This is an education hill we must climb together as a community and engage him as much as possible,” Fink said. “He is not leaving us behind because we are going to be pulling on the cuffs of his trousers every step of the way, and he will not marginalize the LGBT community of Dallas.”

The White House’s openly gay Associate Director of Public Engagement Gautam Raghavan and Senior Policy Advisor Miriam Vogel hosted the one-hour online event on Twitter. They responded to seven questions from people and groups—out of about a dozen questions submitted.

The LGBT activist protest organization GetEQUAL asked, “What steps will [the president] take to ensure LGBT Americans are fully equal under the law? And please don’t pivot to [Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell].”

Vogel and Raghavan responded that “POTUS is for DOMA repeal, inclusive ENDA and his administration has taken many steps to protect LGBT Americans.”

GetEQUAL pushed back, tweeting “That’s great—what is he planning to get done in 2012? Being ‘for’ those things doesn’t actually make us more equal.”

Vogel and Raghavan did not respond, a luxury of White House access through Twitter.

Nor did they respond to political blogger Joe Sudbay’s question, “When can we expect the President to finally evolve on marriage equality?” He noted that it has been 15 months since the president first indicated that he thinks his personal discomfort with the idea of same-sex marriage is “evolving.” Obama made that initial statement in a group interview with Sudbay and other political bloggers.

Immigration Equality asked about immigration reform to allow the partners of gay citizens to achieve legal residency the same as the spouses of straight citizens. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force asked about the administration’s willingness to support non-discrimination policies for federal contractors.

The full LGBT session can be viewed at whitehouse.gov or storify.com/whitehouse.

DALLAS – The growing controversy between Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and gay and lesbian groups in the city will spill on to City Hall Plaza Friday night.

The gay groups say they’re organizing a 7:00 p.m. protest of Rawlings’ refusal to sign a pledge to fight for gay marriage.

And Rawlings says although he’ll meet with them, he’s not backing down.

After being in Washington last week, Rawlings led the city council meeting again, determined to stick to city business.

“[W]e were getting off track and dealing with some partisan politics, some issues that I don’t think are relevant to the lion’s share of the citizens of Dallas, so chose not to do it,” Rawlings said.

During the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting, many large-city mayors held a news conference to sign a pledge by a group called “Freedom to Marry” to fight for gay marriage.

But Rawlings refused, upsetting Dallas gay groups.

“We’re going to continue to pressure him to change his position to match what he says his personal views are,” said Daniel Cates, a spokesman for the direct action group, GetEqual Texas. “This is an economic and health issue that impacts thousands of people that live in his city.”

A UCLA study of census data that found Dallas has more same sex couples than any other Texas city per 1,000 households. There are about 6,900 same sex couples in the city and about 9,700 in Dallas County.

But when voters passed the 2005 state constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage, two thirds in Dallas County supported it.

Rawlings says he understands somebody will be upset.

“What I want to try to do, is not make everybody happy, but to make sure everybody has access to me,” Rawlings said.

The mayor, who appeared in the Dallas gay pride parade, says he personally supports gay marriage and will meet with gay leaders Saturday.

That’s after gay groups demonstrate at City Hall Friday night.

Cates says they won’t give up.

“I think we’re going to continue to pressure him,” he said.

Dallas Mayor Cancels Community Event: MyFoxDFW.com

DALLAS – Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ appearance at a “Meet the Mayor” community event was cancelled Tuesday night and members of a civil rights group say they know why.

GetEQUAL TX planned to protest the meeting because Rawlings declined to sign the “Freedom to Marry Pledge” supporting gay marriage.

“It’s also going to send a message to the citizens of that city that they are in the eyes of the people that they put in power an equal citizen,” said Daniel Cates of GetEQUAL TX.

Through his spokeswoman, the mayor said signing the pledge was an inappropriate role for a mayor. His office also said the cancellation is due to “unexpected circumstances.”

GetEQUAL TX is now planning a protest at Dallas City Hall at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Cates said he rescheduled the “Sign the Pledge!” rally after Rawlings canceled his appearance at a neighborhood meeting in Kiest Park tonight to avoid the LGBT demonstration.

Meanwhile, Rawlings is setting up a meeting with LGBT leaders at Resource Center Dallas on Saturday to discuss his decision not to sign the pledge, according to the mayor’s chief of staff, Paula Blackmon.

Cates said GetEQUAL has agreed not to demonstrate during Saturday’s meeting at the Resource Center and will instead gather outside City Hall at 7 p.m. Friday.

“It’s just additional pressure, and we’re going to keep talking about it until he signs this pledge,” Cates said of the demonstration, adding that he also plans to participate in Saturday’s meeting. “We’re going to keep the pressure coming from all different angles.”

Rawlings has come under fire from some LGBT advocates for refusing to sign the pledge in support of marriage equality that was unveiled by Freedom to Marry last week during the U.S. Conference of Mayors Meeting in Washington, D.C. More than 80 mayors from across the country have signed the pledge, and Dallas is the largest city whose mayor hasn’t done so. Rawlings said he supports marriage equality but didn’t sign the pledge because he doesn’t want to get involved in social issues that don’t directly impact the city.

Blackmon said today that details of Saturday’s meeting at the Resource Center were still being finalized. Stay tuned to Instant Tea and Dallas Voice for more.