Community Corner
Carrying on the Mantle
For the daughter of one St. Louis Park resident, Saturday's Capitol protests were part of a family tradition.
For St. Louis Park attorney Bill Starr and his daughter Becca, Saturday's protest at the Capitol against a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage—which will be up for a —isn't the first protest they've been to together.
In fact, it's something of a father-daughter tradition.
"You know, I'd been feeling really guilty that I hadn't come yet" to protests earlier in the week, Becca Starr said. "I couldn't find my friends today, but I knew that if I called my dad and said 'we need to go right now' he'd be (at the Capitol) in 10 minutes."
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"But she wouldn't go with me to Madison," Bill Starr said with a moan.
Bill Starr said he has been turning out for civil rights and anti-war protests since before he started practicing law in the mid-1960s. But he came out on Saturday for family—Becca Starr is lesbian.
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"For my daughter," he said flatly. "Whatever right I have, she should be able to enjoy as well."
But then, he cracked a smile.
"I've suffered through marriage, and she should be able to, too," he said with a laugh. "Don't tell my wife I said that."
The younger Starr, a child psychologist, said the proposed amendment leaves her with mixed emotions.
"Oh, I'm angry, frustrated, sad, anxious," she said. "It feels like they've got more important things to worry about."
The elder Starr nodded in agreement.
"We also have the Preakness and the Rapture to worry about today, too," he said with a grin.
These days, Bill Starr said, he doesn't get out to protest marches and rallies as much as he used to.
"I spend most of my time with the Lutherans of Wayzata. We're not very activist out there," he said. "I definitely feel inspired (by other protesters), though."
Becca Starr also said that the relative youth of the protesting crowd inspired her Saturday, but noted that the younger protesters seemed to be more naive than other, older activists.
"They've never really had to fight for their rights before," she said.
Bill Starr agreed.
"The thing about the protests of the '60s, you could feel the crowd inside you," he said. "Also, the songs of the '60s were just so much better than the songs people are singing now."