Defending Fairness in California
For more than thirty years, committed same-sex couples in California have
sought the freedom to marry. Their "radical" goal? To be able to enjoy the
same rights, responsibilities, and protections for themselves and their
children that many heterosexual couples take for granted. Twice, since 2005,
coalitions of civil-rights and religious allies successfully worked with
state lawmakers to pass legislation to extend the freedom to marry, only to
see those bills vetoed.
On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on
same-sex marriage. In a 4-to-3 decision based on precedents six decades old,
the justices held that a fundamental right to marry is
embraced by the state constitution and that this right extends to gay and
lesbian couples. Even Governor Schwarzenegger, who had vetoed the
marriage-equality bills, vowed to vote against any attack on the ruling.
Sill, opponents of equality and fairness had been gathering signatures for
three years for a ballot measure that would add language to the state
constitution to eliminate the freedom to marry.
Refusing to lose hard-won rights or allow the state constitution to be
defaced in the process, supporters of equality continued to raise money to
stop the attack on fairness. In June, that attack finally took shape as a
ballot measure that qualified for the statewide Nov. 4 ballot: Proposition
8.
Organizations such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Equality
California and the Equality for All Campaign, HonorPAC, and the Ballot
Initiative Strategy (BISC) have rallied to stop Prop 8. These organizations
and their supporters have unleashed a tremendous outpouring of activism and
generosity aimed at defending fairness in California.
Progressive Victory has played a role in several events in 2008 to raise
awareness and money to defend fairness and equality in California. Details
about four such events can be found below.
Come Together to Create Change
Denver, Colorado
August 24, 2008
Scores of activists, leaders, and elected officials from around the country
gathered in Denver to kick off preparations for the Task Force's 2009 National Conference on LGBT Equality. Sponsors of the event included the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU), Gill Action, Brett Family
Foundation, and United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW).
Another sponsor and featured guest at the Denver gathering was
Charlene
Strong of Seattle.
Strong lost her late partner Kate Fleming in a flash flood that inundated
their home in December 2006. Compounding the agony, she was initially barred
from accessing her partner's room at the hospital and later from
decision-making about her burial. A new documentary film "For
My Wife" follows Strong's path from those tragedies into visible and
effective activism on behalf of partnership-recognition and marriage
equality. Washington state governor Christine Gregoire seized on the
injustices Strong had suffered and embraced her when signing new state
domestic-partnership bills in 2007 and 2008. Strong has joined the Task
Force in defending marriage equality in California and urging state voters
to reject Prop 8.
Photos of the event are below.
(National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
executive director Rea Carey)
(National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Board Member and Progressive Victory
President Hans Johnson)
Got Change?
Progressive Solutions vs. Right Wing Gimmicks
Washington, D.C.
July 31, 2008
Voters in four states will vote this November on
antigay ballot measures.
Arizona, Arkansas, California, and Florida have the opportunity to reject
attacks on the dignity and equality of LGBT people. The California fight, in
particular, is closely watched as a signal for the fate of future efforts to
extend fairness and the freedom to marry to committed same-sex couples.
For more than ten years, the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC) has
crafted programs and created coalitions to stop fraud in the democratic
process and to build progressive expertise in the arena of ballot measures.
BISC's leadership has helped stop proposals lashing out at workers, women,
the middle class, and consumers or threatening education, the environment,
and equality under law. BISC is the single most important group addressing
ballot measures on the entire national political landscape.
At a July event held in the courtyard of the United Auto Workers (UAW)
Washington Office, BISC honored Christine Chavez, a dedicated advocate for
equality and leading foe of Prop 8 in California. Chavez is the
granddaughter of United Farm Workers union co-founder Cesar Chavez and a
formidable activist for labor and civil rights in her own right.
More than 100 people came together to honor Christine and raise funds to
support BISC.
Photos of the event are below.
(Helen Gonzales, Hans Johnson,
and Laura Esquivel)
(Helen Gonzales, Laura Esquivel,
and Christine Chavez)
Honor Our Past, Empower Our Future:
A 30th Anniversary Celebration of Defeating the Antigay Briggs Initiative
Los Angeles, CA
June 22, 2008
In 1978, California state senator John Briggs sought to win a Republican
primary for governor by sponsoring a far-reaching attack on gay people. His
initiative, which survived his failed primary campaign and qualified for the
Nov. '78 ballot, would have forced the investigation, punishment, and
termination of any educator who treated the existence of gay people with
tolerance or respect.
For the first time in U.S. history, gay and lesbian grassroots activists
mobilized on a large scale to alert voters to the unfairness, cost, and
consequences of the Briggs Initiative. Even Ronald Reagan denounced the
measure. Public opinion swung against it, leading to its defeat by voters by
a 4-to-3 margin.
Thirty years later, more than 150 people gathered in Los Angeles to
celebrate the defeat of Briggs, to raise money to defeat Prop 8, and to send
the message that it will face the same fate as the Briggs Initiative.
Sponsors of the event included the California Teachers Association,
SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, SEIU Local 721, and
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.
Photos of the event are below.
(Phillip De Blieck, Rev. Troy Perry,
Hans Johnson, and Luis Lopez)
(Hans Johnson, Dolores Huerta,
and Luis Lopez)
(The board of Honor-PAC, the California statewide
Latina/o LGBT political action committee, with
H-PAC advisory board member Dolores Huerta)
Celebrating "ĄGaytino!" and the Role of Artists
in the Labor and Civil-Rights Movements:
Reception for Dan Guerrero on the occasion of his premiere at
the Kennedy Center and the dawn of marriage equality in California
Washington, D.C.
June 22, 2008
Dan Guerrero has made a career of uniting showbiz and politics. His
powerful one-man stage memoir traces his own trajectory from East Los
Angeles to New York and back again. And his fusion of the labor,
civil-rights, and gay-rights movements extend a path blazed by his dad, the
"father of Chicano music," Lalo Guerrero. Guerrero and his partner Richard
Read join the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force California Committee--No
on 8 in urging voters in their home state to reject the attack on freedom
and fairness and stop Prop 8.
If you would like to help, please click here to protect the freedom to marry
in California and defeat Prop. 8.