For a complete update on all things Prop 8, check out Towleroad's Prop 8 super post.

I'm listening to Whoopi on The View right now, and she is talking about the protest last night. (Isn't it amazing that so many of us are turning to her right now to see what she says? She has become one of our voices -- more on that later.) Whoopi is saying, "If you don't know how you feel about gay marriage, go out and meet the families, go out and see what it is they really want." Amen.

Last night's protest was bracing. In a lot of ways.

It started at 6:30 (although I hear quite a few people arrive earlier), and I got there around 6:45. A thick river of bundled-up people marched down from the Mormon Temple, bent to file across 61st, and pool in Columbus Circle.

I moved in and out of the marchers, from the street to the curb and back. It was cool out, not yet cold, and serious out. There were alot of people, almost like a parade, but minus, for the most part, the abandon at a parade of a fesitival. Pockets of different chants dotted the route that wound beneath the enormous red CNN sign and headquarter. We were being seen. One of the protest marshalls kept shouting, "We're at 12,000 people! 12,000! Head down 61st! 12,000!"

More after the jump.

When I was deposited in Columbus Circle, I searched for a place to park myself and protest. I moved around, trying to see where the speakers were (I'd heard that Whoopi was going to be speaking), trying to find a place to focus my attention. Almost everyone else was doing the same. Most of the quieter protestors gathered around the more vocal ones, and groups of the chanters and listeners marked each corner of Columbus Circle.

As I roamed from corner to corner, I noticed that there was no real center, no focal point to direct the justified anger and the buzzing energy of the crowd. We had no leader. We have no leader.

Let me say now that I think what Michelangelo Signorile and Corey Johnson, Ann Northrop, and all of the other organizers did was remarkable. And I think the results of what they did have pointed us in a new direction. And that new direction is highlighting the areas we need to work on, as a community.

We are walking through a perfect storm of religion, race, and sexuality. Has this ever happened? And has it ever happened at a moment that has proven that fighting the good fight pays off? We have elected Obama. We know we can make things better. But where do we start?

I think we need to focus on the perfect storm itself. Homosexuality has not inoculated the gay community against the treatable diseases of the larger culture we inhabit. Last night was a very white, very male experience. Why? Why were there so few people of color? Why were there so few women? Why were we focused on what the Mormons did when there are so many other churches equally responsible? (I'm not the only to have noticed this - Andy Humm of The Gay City News noted these issues last night as well.) We don't do anyone any favors by pretending that the gay community is flawless and the rest of the world is evil. We need to address our problems head on so we can figure out how to solve them. And show them how it's done.

Andy Humm also wrote: "No speeches. No leaders. But lots of anger." I think the lack of leadership is what allows for a blurring of our message. The failures of the No on Prop 8 campaign came as much from a fractured gay leadership as it did from plain old bigotry. More from Humm:

Mark Monford, columnist at the Chronicle, called the response of the No side to the attack ads by the Yes people "utterly limp," writing, "As one of my politically savvy Chronicle colleagues put it, 'No on 8 was a bad campaign. Bad, bad, bad. Inept, amateurish, incompetent, and, above all, guilty of committing the first and worst sin of politics: taking the voters for granted."

And Dan Savage, bless his heart, has become a default voice, and he's doing as much harm as help. His "Black Homophobia" post was a bad idea, and his appearance last night on CNN made us look hysterical and unfocused.

We need to keep protesting, keep fighting, and become even more focused.Obama told us to get our own leader. So let's begin that search by leading by example. Let's use the enormous success of last night's protest to give us the energy we will need to make our community what it's always promised to be - a safe place for everyone.

boy culture has an extensive picto-history from last night's NYC Prop 8 protest.

The Village Voice blog has more pics and a breakdown

Boy in Bushwick came out and marched

Joe.My.God. was there as well.

Michelangelo Signorile sums up the evening:

Corey Johnson did a phenomenal job organizing the protest, doing all the legwork and working nonstop for several days. Don't forget that we came up with the idea for this protest -- Corey and lesbian activist Ann Northop and I -- on instant message and on telephone late on Saturday night. We put it up on Facebook and then it just blew up. Ten years ago we'd work in ACT UP for six months to get maybe two thousand people to demonstration. With this one, within five days 10,000 to 15,000 , as most reports seem to concur, were inspired to show up and voice their concerns at the Mormon Church for its having raised 20 million dollars to pass Prop 8. Enormous thanks to ACT UP veterans who saw this thing growing, realized it could be a big success or a big disaster if not properly executed, and jumped in to help with logistics, police negotiations, marshall training and media relations: Brian Zabcik, Jay Blotcher, John Voelker, Drew Beaver and Ron Goldberg.

After expressing our outrage at the Mormon leadership at the temple, we marched down Broadway to Columbus Circle, with those at the front carrying a 70-foot banner created by rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker. Looking back you could see the crowd going back for blocks.

I was absolutely blown away by the turnout and so excited to see so many new, young faces. I think Prop 8 has galvanized a generation, spawning new activists in a way nothing else has.

I just heard on Michelangelo Signorile's Air America radio show that Whoopi Goldberg is going to be speaking at the protest tonight once the march reaches Columbus Circle. Whoopi has maintained an admirably clear head in all of this.

I've said this before - an African-American woman speaking about gay civil rights is a powerful and poignant instrument of civil rights.

This got me thinking about Jasmyne Cannick, an African-American woman who writes for The Daily Voice: Black America's Daily News Source. Jasmyne has a post today that suggests African-Americans were not correctly targeted in the No on Prop 8 ads: "So let's recap, no Black people for the No on 8 campaign ads (using Samuel Jackson's voice doesn't count) and Black people in the Yes on 8 campaign ads. And Black people made up 69 percent of the Yes vote you say?" Cannick writes in an article in the SF Chronicle:

I am a perfect example of why the fight against Proposition 8, which amends California's Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, failed to win black support. I am black. I am a political activist who cares deeply about social justice issues. I am a lesbian. This year, I canvassed the streets of South Los Angeles and Compton, knocking on doors, talking politics to passers-by and working as I never had before to ensure a large voter turnout among African Americans. But even I wasn't inspired to encourage black people to vote against the proposition.

The blame for the failure lies with all of us. The No on Prop 8 committee failed in its approach to get the right information to the right people. The LA Times asks, "Where were the gay leaders? It's hard to imagine the civil rights movement of the 1960s succeeding without Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X, or to imagine the women's suffrage movement without the likes of Susan B. Anthony."

Below, is the video accompanying Jasmyne Cannick's post. It shows how the idea of gay marriage as a component of civil rights was twisted and re-shaped into something almost unrecognizable. Let me be clear - I am not saying in any way that African-Americans are to blame for the passing of Prop 8. This video is an indication of how some of those who favored it viewed its relation to civil rights. Imagine if there had been a similar ad that was AGAINST Prop 8?

Nathan wins Top Design

The kind of bacteria in your gut may be making you fat. So eat your Activia!

Ryan Kwanten gets nekkid again on "True Blood." (NSFW) The more he gets naked, the more I'm gonna post about it.

3G tethering coming to iPhone

Another kind of Butt Bandit

Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton dies

Seann William Scott talks about squirting during sex. (Video - posssibly NSFW)

More Whoopi: We Have Finally Become Part of the Fabric of the United States of America

Tom Ford to direct movie based on Christopher Isherwood book

"Clash of The Titans" to be remade!

Click below to jump to the full size players or click here to launch them in a new window. Or just hang out and watch them in The Media Bar next door.

Daily Song:
ABBA's S.O.S. We're sending out a signal . . . .


Television:
Whoopi on The View yesterday. When Whoopi said she feels like she can finally set down her suitcase? Man, that really got me.



Politics:
Okay, remember that scene in the first "Lord of The Rings?" When Gandalf says, "You shall not pass!" Yeah, check this out. And remember that Gandalf eventually came back better than ever.

Movies:
Steve Guttenberg jogs naked through Central Park. He used to be in the movies, so . . . although that does not explain why, when he was a movie star, he wore his shorts so high up.

Music Video:
Patti LaBelle
"You'll Never Walk Alone"
Ah, Pork . . . .

Click below to jump to the full size players or click here to launch them in a new window. Or just hang out and watch them in The Media Bar next door.

Daily Song:
ABBA's S.O.S. We're sending out a signal . . . .

Television:

Whoopi on The View yesterday. When Whoopi said she feels like she can finally set down her suitcase? Man, that really got me.

Politics:

Okay, remember that scene in the first "Lord of The Rings?" When Gandalf says, "You shall not pass!" Yeah, check this out. And remember that Gandalf eventually came back better than ever.

Movies:

Steve Guttenberg jogs naked through Central Park. He used to be in the movies, so . . . although that does not explain why, when he was a movie star, he wore his shorts so high up.

Music Video:

Patti LaBelle
"You'll Never Walk Alone"
Ah, Pork . . . .