Denver, Colo., Aug 25, 2008 / 16:41 pm
Around 5,000 Latinos gathered in Denver on Sunday afternoon to show their support for marriage and the family, making the gathering the largest to-date. While far smaller protests received local media coverage, the rally has been virtually blacked-out by the news media.
The historic rally, which was organized by the Alliance For Marriage, drew thousands of enthusiastic Latinos from the greater Denver-metropolitan area and included speeches by Catholic and Evangelical leaders from Colorado, California, and Arizona. Police estimates placed the crowd for Viva La Familia! at 4,000 to 6,000 people.
Speakers for the event included Rev. Sam Rodriguez, Jr., the President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Luis Soto, the Executive Director of Centro San Juan Diego, which is run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver; Alejandro Bermudez, the Director of Catholic News Agency; and Rev. Eve Nunez, President and Founder of the Arizona Latino Commission.
Mr. Soto encouraged the crowd, saying, "Viva la Familia! reminds us all that the most important social institution is the family."
Entertainment was provided by the famous Mexican performer Cepillín, who has been a TV star in 18 countries for many years. The event also featured the Catholic recording artist Ge'La.
The unprecedented gathering of Latinos went uncovered by the local news media. Instead, local news channels chose to cover a demonstration by about 1,500 anti-war protestors and a martial arts training session for protestors from the anti-war group Re-create 68, which was held in preparation for their first demonstration.