Proposition 8, DoMA and the Supreme Court (tags)
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage passed by California voters in November 2008, and also the provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) that defines marriage under federal law as only between one man and one woman. But the current Right-wing Court is likely to uphold Prop. 8 as constitutional and leave the battle for marriage equality to state-by-state political and social campaigns.
S.A.M.E. Hosts Victory Celebration for Marriage Equality Protesters (tags)
The San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality (S.A.M.E.) held a victory celebration September 21 at the Bamboo Lounge in Hillcrest after San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith dropped all charges against the Equality Nine, protesters who were arrested at the San Diego County Clerk's office August 19, 2010 for showing up to request marriage licenses or support others doing so, including same-sex couples who had appointments. The event featured five of the Equality Nine and also Queer-rights pioneers Leo Laurence and Pat Brown, who led militant Queer-liberation demonstrations in San Francisco months before the Stonewall riots.
Where's OUR Religious Liberty? (tags)
The recent controversy over whether institutions owned by the Roman Catholic Church should be required to include birth control coverage in the health insurance they offer employees, the attempt in Virginia to require women seeking abortions to submit to medical rape, and the radical Right's reaction to the 9th Circuit appeals court ruling that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional raises the question: why does it seem as if only bigoted Right-wing churches have "religious liberty" in this country? Why are America's officially tolerated spiritual belief systems seemingly limited to those of the Roman Catholics, Mormons and Southern Baptist Convention?
Prop 8 Struck Down by Federal Court (tags)
Yesterday (February 7, 2012) California proposition 8 voted on in the 2008 November 4th election stating that “Only marriage between a man and a woman will be recognized,” was overturned by the federal court. A victory for human rights, regardless if one is gay, straight, bisexual, anything in between or beyond. This battle between supporters and those opposed has been going on for over three years. Yet the fight for equality has been going on far longer than that.
Two Hard Cases, Two Bad Laws (tags)
The November 14 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of so-called "Obamacare" and the November 17 decision of the California Supreme Court that the proponents of Proposition 8 have legal standing to appeal it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court are both disasters for the progressive community. But they also highlight the conflict between general principles of justice progressives should support and tactical positions in specific cases that may work to our short-term advantage but cause us problems later on.
Back to the Ballot - Queer Activists Debate Whether to Seek Repeal of Prop. 8 (tags)
With the court challenge to Proposition 8, California?s voter-approved ban on legal recognition of same-sex marriages, mired in potential legal wrangling that could take years to resolve, Equality California (EQCA) revived their plans to take the issue back to voters and seek an initiative to repeal Prop. 8. But the 70 or so activists at the EQCA town-hall meeting in San Diego June 3 split over whether that?s a good strategy ? or whether EQCA, primarily a lobbying organization, is the right group to run such a campaign.
Over 100 San Diegans Demonstrate for Marriage Equality on Eve of Court Hearing (tags)
Over 100 San Diego supporters of marriage equality took to the streets in Hillcrest Saturday, December 4 as part of a statewide mobilization, "Unite to Make It Right," two days before the scheduled Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on the legal challenge to Proposition 8, which banned legal recognition of same-sex marriage in California. The event consisted of two rallies and a march in between, and speakers called for more militant activism and more aggressive challenges aimed at President Obama and other elected officials who have talked the talk of Queer equality but have done little or nothing to bring it about.
“Equality Nine” Marriage Rights Demonstrators to be Arraigned Sept. 30 (tags)
The “Equality Nine” — Michael Anderson, Brian Baumgardner, Sean Bohac, Felicity Bradley, Kelsey Hoffman, Mike Kennedy, Zakiya Khabir, Chuck Stemke, and Cecile Veillard — are activists with the San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality (SAME) who were arrested at a sit-in outside the San Diego County Clerk's office August 19. They're scheduled for arraignment at the San Diego County Courthouse, 220 West Broadway downtown, Thursday, September 30, and they want supporters to come to the plaza outside the courthouse at noon that day to show support.
Zenger’s Newsmagazine Editorial on Proposition 8 Decision (tags)
Written before the most recent development in the federal case challenging Proposition 8 — the good-news, bad-news decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to delay same-sex marriages in California until at least December, but also to consider the all-important issue of whether the supporters of Proposition 8 even have legal standing to appeal — this editorial from the summer 2010 print edition of Zenger's Newsmagazine shows what a roller-coaster this issue has been and how the Queer community needs to be militant and ready for a long-term battle for full equality before the law, including marriage rights.
Court ruling online: Gay & Interracial Marriage Issues the Same (tags)
The Court ruling at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/files/09cv2292-ORDER.pdf is a history lesson that makes it clear that the fight over gay marriage is the same as the fight over interracial marriage and that religion has no place in our secular Constitution. In 1948, California legalized interracial marriage; in 1967 the US Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage. The hysteria over children and preserving marriage was the same for interracial marriage as it is for gay marriage. The backers of Proposition 8 are clearly religious idiots trying to turn back the clock of history. Judge Walker's stay of his own ruling pending appeal should be lifted immediately so gay marriages can proceed in California immediately.
Imperial County Enters Court Case Against Marriage Equality (tags)
The Board of Supervisors of Imperial County voted 3-2 last December to intervene in the federal court case challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8, which defines marriage in California as between one man and one woman. According to marriage equality activist Fernando Lopez, Jr., the board's attempt to intervene in support of Prop. 8 — which the court neither accepted nor denied before the case began — was significant because, by involving a government body in the case on the side of Prop. 8, it would allow the Prop. 8 supporters to appeal a ruling against them even if the state of California chose not to.
Queer Democrats Can’t Agree on Marriage Strategy (tags)
The predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club discussed whether to seek the repeal of Proposition 8 in 2010 or 2012 at its regular meeting September 24 — and turned out to be as divided on that topic as the rest of California’s Queer community. The two major statewide Queer organizations, Equality California and the Courage Campaign, have taken totally different tacks on the issue. The Courage Campaign not only favors 2010 but is already organizing for the earlier date, while Equality California’s leaders are convinced that 2010 is premature. Both the club’s invited panelists and its own members differed widely on whether to go in 2010 or 2012, and both proposals for the club to take action on the issue were voted down by wide margins.
Marriage Equality Follies (tags)
The split between California's two leading statewide Queer equality groups, the Courage Campaign and Equality California, over whether to seek the repeal of the anti-marriage Proposition 8 in 2010 or 2012 is criminally stupid and a disaster for the Queer community. The Courage Campaign is energetically moving to create “facts on the ground” to force the rest of the community to join it in a premature push for a 2010 ballot initiative that will almost certainly lose. A later initiative would give the community more time to organize and build support — but a unified effort for 2010 would be better than a continued division that might produce not one, but two, losing initiative campaigns.
Stewart Alexander: Same-Sex Marriage Rights Can’t Wait (tags)
The leadership within the Peace and Freedom Party wants a measure to support same-sex marriage on the ballot in 2010. Kevin Akin says, “The fight for human rights is back on the ballot for 2010, and if it fails, then 2012.”
SAME Meeting Challenges Queer Establishment, Democratic Party (tags)
The San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality (SAME) hosted a meeting at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center June 23 that was billed as a response to Proposition 8 and a discussion of the future of marriage equality in California — but it also turned into a radical response to the Queer establishment in general and the Courage Campaign in particular. Lesbian activist Robin Tyler, who was one of the lead plaintiffs in the suit that briefly won marriage rights for same-sex couples in California, criticized the strategies and tactics of the Courage Campaign and denounced the Democratic party as having screwed over Queer people for 35 to 40 years, She called for the Queer community to cut ties with the Democrats once and for all.
Don’t Rush Back to the Ballot on Marriage (tags)
The Queer community in California is asking itself the wrong question in the current debate over whether to try to repeal Proposition 8 at the ballot box in 2010 or 2012. Either date is too early, Mark Gabrish Conlan argues in this editorial from the July 2009 Zenger’s Newsmagazine. Rather than launch a premature initiative drive we will likely lose, organizing around this issue needs to occur outside the electoral process and take the form of nonviolent direct action and public education efforts to convince a majority of Californians that denying legal marriage to same-sex couples is an intolerable form of discrimination.
One and One-Half Class Citizen (tags)
The California Supreme Court decision on May 26 upholding the validity of Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage voters approved in last November’s election, but also ruling that the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages in California between June 15 and November 4, 2008 were still legal, left the same-sex couples who got married in time (including this author) in an anomalous position. We can’t really call ourselves second-class citizens because our marriages are still in force, but we can’t call ourselves first-class citizens either because other couples with love and mutual commitment equal to our own can no longer follow suit. In a sense, the voters and the courts have granted us “special rights” we neither wanted nor expected.
Queer Democrats Debate Proposition 8 Response (tags)
The wounds were still raw from the California Supreme Court decision upholding Proposition 8, the state’s voter-approved ban on marriage for same-sex couples, when the predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club met May 28 and debated how the club should respond. The members heard from attorney Charlie Pratt, who had been at the sit-in at the County Administrative Center's marriage license bureau the day before and had been singled out for special harassment by police, and also discussed whether and when the Queer community should mount its own ballot initiative campaign to repeal Proposition 8.
Over 70 Activists Stage Marriage Equality Sit-in at S.D. County Clerk’s Office (tags)
Over 70 marriage equality activists occupied the office of the San Diego County Clerk Wednesday, May 27 as a protest against the California Supreme Court’s ruling that Proposition 8, which restricts marriage in California to one man and one woman, is constitutional. Michael Anderson and Brian Baumgardner led the action by demanding a marriage license, and other Queer couples followed suit. The event ended peacefully, with no arrests, when the crowd dispersed an hour after the official closing time of the building.
Over 4,000 Rally in San Diego Against Prop. 8 Decision (tags)
Over 4,000 people attended a march and rally in San Diego on May 26 denouncing the California Supreme Court's decision upholding Proposition 8, the initiative banning same-sex marriage in California, while simultaneously keeping in force the estimated 18.000 marriages between same-sex couples during the 4 1/2 months the court's previous ruling allowing them was in effect. The mood of the action was a combination of sorrow, hope and determination to put the issue before California voters again and campaign at the ballot box for the repeal of Proposition 8.
Prop 8 Challenge Legal Team to Hold Press Conference Following Supreme Court Ruling (tags)
(Los Angeles, May 22, 2008) — The California Supreme Court has announced that it will rule Tuesday, May 26, 2009, on whether Proposition 8, passed by a slim majority of voters on November 4 and eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry, was a valid amendment to the California Constitution.
San Diego Hosts Meeting on Same-Sex Marriage Equality (tags)
The San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center hosted a town-hall meeting April 2 to discuss the future of marriage equality in the wake of the upcoming California Supreme Court ruling on Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in the state. Speakers included Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, other professionals and grass-roots activists like Fernando Lopez, whose group is organizing people to go talk to individuals one-on-one to make them aware of how Queer people suffer from not having access to civil marriage.
Assemblymember Marty Block Defends Prop. 8 Stance to Queer Democrats (tags)
Assemblymember Marty Block appeared before the San Diego Democratic Club March 26 to explain why he voted against a legislative resolution instructing the California Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8, the initiative passed by voters last November to restrict marriage in California to opposite-sex couples. Block said that, as a former judge, he didn't think it was appropriate for the legislature to tell a court what to do about a pending case, whether it's the Right telling judges to uphold restrictions on abortion or progressives telling the court to preserve same-sex marriage equality.
Commentary: State Supreme Court Hears Prop. 8 Cases (tags)
Not everything that is unjust is therefore unconstitutional. That's the lesson the progressive community should learn from the California Supreme Court's oral hearings on Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage recently approved by a narrow majority of California voters. Instead of relying on the courts to secure our rights, we should be doing education, direct action and other tactics to win majority support for equality.
Over 500 Turn Out for Marriage Equality Demonstration (tags)
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and his Lesbian daughter Lisa (pictured) led off the San Diego installment of "March Forth on March Fourth," a series of rallies and demonstrations held statewide on the eve of the California Supreme Court's oral hearings on the legal challenges to Proposition 8. Mayor Sanders endorsed same-sex marriage equality last year after deciding he couldn't tell his daughter that her relationship was less important than his.
San Diego ACLU Addresses Repressive Ballot Initiatives (tags)
The San Diego chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) held its annual membership meeting February 13 and gave over the program to Delores Jacobs of the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center and Vince Hall of Planned Parenthood to discuss the long-term implications of Propositions 4 and 8 on last year's ballot. The measures attacked women's reproductive choice and Queer rights, respectively, and Jacobs and Hall noted that the radical Right uses proposals like these not only to gain membership and contributions but to drain the coffers of progressive organizations so they have less money to provide services to women and Queers.
Photos from The Post Proposition 8 Demonstrations (tags)
Photo Collection from The Los Angeles Anti Prop 8 Protests
Pat Boone and Proposition 8 (tags)
1950's wimp-rocker Pat Boone recently published an article on the Right-wing Web site World News Daily comparing demonstrators protesting the passage of Proposition 8, which elimnated the right of same-sex couples to marry, with the terrorists who attacked hotels and religious centers in Mumbai, India. To this author, it's appropriate that Pat Boone should be expressing such bigotry and prejudice because he began his career taking advantage of bigotry and prejudice by ripping off great rock songs by African-American artists and having bigger hits with them than their creators did.
“No on 8” Actions, Discussions Continue (tags)
The fight against the anti-marriage Proposition 8 has lasted quite a bit longer than the election, in which the same-sex marriage ban passed by a five-point margin. Queer and allied activists are still holding demonstrations against the initiative and meeting to discuss where the fight will go next. But their discussions are stronger on building communications strategies than actually plotting a course to reverse the ballot measure.
Proposition 8 Rallies Energize Queer Community (tags)
Rejecting the "safe" namby-pamby campaign against Proposition 8 that kept Queer people in the closet and lost anyway, young Gay activists are mobilizing on the Internet and holding mass rallies and marches to offer militant resistance to the anti-marriage initiative. Leo E. Laurence, who started the first Gay-liberation group in San Francisco in January 1969 (five months before Stonewall), finds these new activists reminiscent of himself and his colleagues in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
Massive Movement Erupts in Opposition to Proposition 8 (tags)
Ex-slave and Abolitionist Fredrick Douglas famously observed that power cedes nothing without struggle. The history of civil rights movements in this country also demonstrate that even the most fundamental democratic gains are temporary at best without vigilant struggle that can potentially challenge the power of the rulers against the ruled. Nothing has ever been gained and secured by simply relying on the institutions of the state and its politicians. Any implementation of progressive measures on their part has only been the product of independent mass mobilizations that have kept their forces in the streets until the sought after gains were won. We have again been reminded of this by the recent passage of Proposition 8 in California, a bigoted mean-spirited ballot measure aimed at denying gays and lesbians the fundamental democratic right to marry whom they wish. Last June, after decades of constant organizing, educating, and protesting on the part of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people and their supporters, the California Supreme Court was compelled to legalize same sex marriages. The purpose of Proposition 8 was to overturn this gain, leaving 18,000 same sex marriages performed in California since June in question. However, social movements aren't like films that can be run backwards and then replayed in the exact same way. The narrow victory of Proposition 8 (52% against, 48% opposed) has resulted in the opposite of its intended effect. It has re-energized the struggle for LGBT rights to a major degree, so that many are calling this movement “Stonewall II” after that inaugural rebellious act of the modern U.S. gay rights movement fighting for their rights in 1969.
Massive Movement Erupts to Overturn Proposition 8 (tags)
March on Sacramento! Demand that Marriage Licenses Continue to Be Issued in All Counties in California! Demand the Immediate Overturn of Prop. 8!
Anti-Proposition 8 Protests in San Diego (tags)
The statewide wave of protests against the passage of anti-Queer, anti-marriage, anti-family Proposition 8 hit San Diego November 7 and 8 with a nighttime rally in Balboa Park November 7 and a march from Hillcrest to North Park, through San Diego's most Queer neighborhoods, the next day.
Rancho Cucamonga Youth Demonstrate Against Proposition 8 (tags)
October 25, 2008 RANCHO CUCAMONGA - Student leaders of local high school Gay-Straight Alliances banded together this Saturday to demand equality for LGBT people and spread awareness about the insidious proposition 8. They were joined by teachers, community members, and families. Prop eight, if passed, would eliminate the legal right for same-sex couples to marry. Earlier this year, the California Supreme Court decided that the right to marry was guaranteed by the state constitution, and could not be superseded by initiative.
Marriage: Some Good News, More Bad News (tags)
The October 10 Connecticut Supreme Court decision endorsing marriage equality for same-sex couples was good news, but it was far overshadowed by the devastating new poll results on Proposition 8, which seeks to overturn the similar ruling last May by the California Supreme Court. Not only has Yes on 8 taken the lead, but they've done so by organizing younger voters — whom marriage equality supporters had assumed would be a bulwark of their coalitiion.