Prop 8 News from Stop8.org: Advocate

Ten Questions for Jerry Brown Saturday, 09/04/10
Advocate

My role is exactly the role that a predecessor followed, [former California attorney general] Tom Lynch: When Prop. 14 was passed in 1964, overturning fair housing laws in the state, he did not defend it. And in fact, the California supreme court invalidated the popular initiative -- one that was passed by many more votes than Prop. 8. So it's the same principle position of upholding the federal Constitution when it conflicts with a ballot measure.

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White House Statement on Proposition 8 Thursday, 08/05/10
Advocate

"The President has spoken out in opposition to Proposition 8 because it is divisive and discriminatory. He will continue to promote equality for LGBT Americans."

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Prop. 8 Challengers See Promise in Supreme Court Decision Wednesday, 06/30/10
Advocate

In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the view that gays and lesbians are an identifiable class in the eyes of the law -- a characterization that anti-gay-marriage forces have vigorously fought and that attorneys challenging California's Proposition 8 see as a crucial element of their case.

In a Tuesday letter to U.S. district judge Vaughn R. Walker, Theodore J. Boutrous, who argued against Prop. 8 in the high-profile case Perry v. Schwarzenegger alongside lead plaintiffs' attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies, wrote that "sexual orientation is not merely behavioral," and that, as the Supreme Court found Monday in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, "there is no distinction between gay and lesbian individuals and their conduct."

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Attorneys Preview Closing Argument Strategy in Prop. 8 Case Friday, 06/11/10
Advocate

Regarding one of Walker's thornier questions -- how a ruling striking down Prop. 8 as unconstitutional would affect the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- Olson said, "Even if you assume that DOMA is constitutional, it's still critical to eliminate state discrimination that prohibits gays and lesbians from marrying. This is the last area in our country where we have state-sponsored discrimination."

During the call the attorneys reviewed their systematic attempt in court to dismantle Prop. 8 proponents' primary arguments: that marriage was intended for the purposes of procreation, that it has always been between a man and a woman, that changes in marriage laws are better handled via the political process, that gays and lesbians in California are already afforded domestic partnership rights, and that allowing gays to marry would endanger heterosexual marriages.

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Minter's Take on the Prop. 8 Trial Tuesday, 01/26/10
Advocate

One of the defendants' strategies is to divert attention from the real issues in the case by casting themselves, incredibly, as the victims of alleged persecution. Prop. 8 targeted gay people in order to strip them of a fundamental right. And yet the defendants have fixated on alleged incidents of harassment of Prop. 8 supporters during the campaign. In fact, they have even gone so far as to suggest that Prop. 8 passed in part because voters reacted negatively to alleged "violence" by Prop. 8 opponents. Given the damage inflicted on LGBT people by antigay stereotypes and bigotry, it is shameful that the defendants would engage in such obvious appeals to that very bigotry, but of course, such a strategy is on par with everything they have done throughout and since the campaign. While we are optimistic that the ninth circuit will reject such claims for the bogus antigay baiting they are, the public may in fact adopt this narrative as accurate, which would be dangerous and distressing.

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Poll: Gay Marriage Trailing in Maine Sunday, 09/20/09
Advocate

A new Research 2000/Daily Kos poll in Maine suggests that the state's marriage equality law would be repealed if the issue went to voters today.

The survey of 600 likely voters between September 14 and 16 posed two questions pertaining to marriage equality, according to Daily Kos. In each instance, a greater percentage of respondents with a firm opinion chose an anti-equality position, although a pivotal percentage remained undecided.

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The Lesson of Danny and Marilyn Friday, 09/11/09
Advocate

Advances in Iowa and Colorado -- where it took a coordinated and determined coalition of progressive voters and donors to oust antigay state representative Danny Carroll and Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave -- are a perfect model for the first step in winning full federal equality. But what comes next? The Gill Action Fund's Tim Gill and Patrick Guerriero have it all mapped out.

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Paterson Re-ups N.Y. Marriage Pledge Friday, 09/04/09
Advocate

New York governor David Paterson recommitted himself to including same-sex marriage on the agenda if he has to call a special session this fall in order to shore up the state's budget woes.

"I am anticipating a special session and I am anticipating this is one of the issues that we will address," Paterson told The Advocate Thursday night, shortly after leaving a meeting that included representatives from the Empire State Pride Agenda, the Human Rights Campaign, and Gill Action Fund. State senator Thomas Duane joined the discussion by phone.

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Maine Moves Into High Gear Friday, 08/14/09
Advocate

Marriage equality opponents led by Stand for Marriage Maine turned in 100,000 signatures -- 45,000 more than necessary -- at the end of July to qualify for the ballot. If they are certified by the state, as everyone expects they will be, Maine's vote on a so-called "people's veto" of the marriage law will be the first such vote on the right of gay couples to marry since California's highly contentious Proposition 8 showdown, which banned same-sex marriage there.

The Maine picture is rife with both similarities and differences to California: Like Prop. 8, analysts expect the battle to be the most expensive referendum campaign held in Maine, though totaling closer to several million dollars rather than the $85 million spent in the Golden State; while it is also a popular vote, Mainers will be weighing in on a law enacted by their legislature rather than a decision rendered by their high court; and although the same company that led the successful fight to ban gay marriage in California -- Schubert Flint Public Affairs -- is also running the opposition's show in Maine, the landscape is a bit different, dominated less by air space than by word of mouth.

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All Eyes on Maine Thursday, 08/06/09
Advocate

As LGBT activists discuss how and when to restore the freedom to marry in California, dramatic events are unfolding on the other side of the country that will greatly affect our fight for marriage rights here and ultimately across the rest of America.

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Hope and History Wednesday, 08/05/09
Advocate

He looked like a hero, and that was the problem. His apparent integrity frightened us at first. Then it became the reason we chose him. We voted for Obama because he appealed to our better angels, because we wanted to be better.

And it worked. One of the most profound and least remarked-upon effects of this presidency is the speed with which doubt that America was "ready" for a black president has come to seem absurd. That doubt, which was nursed by people of all races, has been exposed for what it is: a delicate hatred, or self-hatred, on its very best behavior.

We have him to thank for shattering that hatred, for showing us that, without knowing it, we were ready to do the right thing. Now it's our turn to return the favor.

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2010? 2012? The Fight in California Continues Wednesday, 07/29/09
Advocate

Despite a weekend summit that brought together more than 150 marriage equality activists, consensus over the timing of an attempt to repeal California's Proposition 8 at the voting booth remains elusive. But that hasn't stopped some gay groups from preparing for the earlier option.

Reactions to the heated LGBT Leadership Summit, organized by Marriage Equality USA and held in a San Bernardino, Calif., church, ranged from "pretty good" to "utter failure." A straw poll conducted at the end of the summit favored a 2010 ballot initiative 93-49.

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Black, Reiner Back Fed. Prop. 8 Suit Thursday, 06/04/09
Advocate

Director Rob Reiner and Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black are among the board members of a newly formed legal and policy group behind the federal challenge to Proposition 8.

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Overturning Prop. 8 at the Ballot? Tuesday, 05/05/09
Advocate

At a gay rights organizing camp held this weekend in Oakland, Calif., and hosted by the Courage Campaign, leading activists made it clear that they're in the beginning stages of a campaign to overturn Proposition 8 at the ballot.

In her closing speech at the camp on Sunday night, Torie Osborn, one of the founders of "Camp Courage," told the attendees, "We are who we've been waiting for. If not now, then when?" Rick Jacobs, founder and chair of the Courage Campaign, expanded on Osborn's message, saying on the Unite the Fight blog that his group is planning in advance of the California supreme court decision that will either uphold or overturn Prop. 8, the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in the state.

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Antigay Group Hiding Mormon Cash? Monday, 05/04/09
Advocate

The nonprofit National Organization for Marriage -- better known as the people behind the widely panned "Gathering Storm" commercials and as friends of "opposite marriage" supporter Miss California, Carrie Prejean -- is required by law to release its financial reports. According to the marriage-equality group Californians Against Hate, NOM is skirting that law, refusing to make its IRS 990 forms public.

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New York Marriage Bill Gets GOP Boost Thursday, 04/23/09
Advocate

The development may be particularly important in the senate, where Democrats hold a slim 32-30 majority, four Democrats have already said they will vote against the marriage bill, and equality advocates will need to pick up several GOP votes in order to pass the legislation. Strategists expect the legislation to sail through the assembly, which already passed an identical bill in 2007 by a vote of 85 to 61.

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Congressional Leaders Mull Partial DOMA Repeal Wednesday, 04/15/09
Advocate

Legislative aides familiar with the discussions say a handful of congressional leaders have been hashing out the details of the legislation, which would accomplish two goals: repeal section 3 of DOMA as it relates to the federal government's ability to confer some 1,100 federal benefits on same-sex partners; and provide a way for same-sex couples living in states that do not allow them to marry legally to access the same federal benefits afforded to heterosexual spouses.

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New Hampshire Holds Same-Sex Marriage Hearing Wednesday, 04/15/09
Advocate

The New Hampshire senate judiciary committee will hold a hearing today on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. If approved, New Hampshire would be one major step closer to becoming the sixth state to recognize marriage equality (including California, whose same-sex marriage ruling was later overturned by Prop. 8, the constitutionality of which is currently under consideration by the state supreme court). A full senate vote is expected later this month or in early May.

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N.Y. Gov. to Renew Same-Sex Marriage Push Thursday, 04/09/09
Advocate

New York governor David Paterson said on Wednesday that he would reintroduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage.

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NAACP Calls for Overturning of Proposition 8 Monday, 02/23/09
Advocate

"Our mission statement calls for the 'quality of rights of all persons.' Prop. 8 strips same-sex couples of a fundamental freedom, as defined by the California state supreme court. In so doing, it poses a serious threat to all Americans. Prop. 8 is a discriminatory, unprecedented change to the California constitution that, if allowed to stand, would undermine the very purpose of a constitution and courts -- assuring equal protection and opportunity for all and safeguarding minorities from the tyranny of the majority."

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Play Nice, Folks: Why confrontation is exactly the wrong approach when it comes to getting what you want. Friday, 02/06/09
Advocate

In 1991 a group of activists from the radical gay group Queer Nation infiltrated the set of The Arsenio Hall Show and interrupted the comedian's opening routine, demanding to know why he didn't invite more openly gay guests to be on his program. The audience booed the hecklers, and the stunt represented the last gasp of the in-your-face tactics that gay activists had utilized since Stonewall. In the 1980s, when a whole generation of gay men was dying and no one seemed to care, we needed angry, brash gay activists to wake up the rest of the country. But we don't have to scream at Arsenio Hall to interview Gus Van Sant anymore -- and not just because Arsenio is washed up. That confrontational approach is as dated as the slogans on the Queer Nation T-shirts: Queer Liberation Not Assimilation. We need a gay movement that reflects its amazing successes, not its continuing frustrations.

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Colombia Rules Gay Couples Must Be Granted Same Rights as Straight Thursday, 01/29/09
Advocate

The court's decision means Colombia's gay couples will be awarded dozens of rights that straight, unmarried couples have enjoyed for years and follows other recent rulings that have won the nation's same-sex couples inheritance, pension, health, and social security rights.

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Postcards to the President Tuesday, 01/20/09
Advocate

The support of my peers and allies has come in overwhelming abundance. As is my style, Postcards to the President will start with a celebration: kickoff parties in both New York (January 28 at Therapy) and West Hollywood (January 25 at Here Lounge) from which thousands of postcards will be signed and sent. From there, a grassroots effort has begun to spread through college campuses and nationwide LGBT communities that are starting to get on board with this initiative.

But I only know so many people. I can only make a certain number of phone calls and send a certain number of e-mails a day. I submit my story to you because we are not done yet. I urge you to stand with me, to write with me, to put your ideas into motion. I urge you to set up booths and send postcards and celebrate our existence and continue being involved.

I am one person with an idea. Will you help me?

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Harrumph! Thursday, 01/01/09
Advocate

Proposition 8 ended up passing, of course, prompting protests across the country. "It's great that people feel passionate about this," he says 10 days after the election, when I ask whether the upswing in gay activism pleased him, "but do you really think a rally on the Boston Common does one thing to change anything? I would prefer people channeled that energy -- whether it's for marriage equality or employment nondiscrimination -- into mobilizing and trying to persuade those who disagree with them. Notice that the NRA never marches. This is my continual debate with people in the gay community, many of whom want to hold rallies instead of doing political lobbying."

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TV Ads Promoting Repeal of Prop. 8 to Hit California Wednesday, 12/17/08
Advocate

Part of an effort by the group GetToKnowMeFirst.org, the five 30-second spots will run in both rural and urban markets. The ads feature gay families describing their experiences and urging their neighbors to "get to know" them before judging them.

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Your Handy Activist To-Do List Wednesday, 12/03/08
Advocate

...we asked five leading LGBT activists for their suggestions on what you can do personally to end your second-class status.

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