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Loading ...Battle to reverse Prop 8 begins
12.17.2008 3:38pm EST
(San Francisco) LGBT groups have begun efforts to put a repeal of Proposition 8 on the 2010 ballot.
Prop 8, passed by voters in November, bars same-sex marriage in California. The constitutionality of the measure will be taken up by the state Supreme Court in 2009, but LGBT groups say they are taking no chances on how the court will rule and have begun making plans for a ballot measure that would reverse the ban.One group announced Wednesday that it will air five 30-second commercials to run throughout Inauguration Week in January.
The group, GetToKnowMeFirst.org, said the spots will run in both urban and rural markets throughout California. They are currently being previewed on the group’s Web site.
“It’s important that our fellow Californians see the faces of the real families that are directly affected by the passage of Proposition 8,” said John Ireland, the group’s organizer.
One of the spots in the campaign will feature Sonia and Gina, a couple who are raising a son and daughter, ages 6 and 3.
“Don’t take my family’s rights away. Get to know me first,” Sonia says in the ad. “Our families may look different from yours, but we’re not. We need the same things… like marriage… so we can protect and provide for our kids.”
Another spot will feature Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, two of the original plaintiffs in the marriage lawsuit that led the California Supreme Court to legalize marriage for same-sex couples in May 2008. That ruling was overturned by the passage of Proposition 8 in November.
Two of the ads will also be in Spanish. One profiles a Latina couple and the other profiles a family with triplets, headed by two men.
The spots were financed and produced by Power Up, an award-winning LGBT cinema incubator based in Los Angeles.
The final results of the November election were certified this week, showing that Prop 8 won by 599,602 votes. The results showed that the 52-48 percentage point spread held from early results on election night. It was approved in 43 of the state’s 58 counties.
Meanwhile, in another development, the American Civil Liberties Union has blasted a high school for ordering a 16- year-old student to remove a T-shirt opposing Prop 8 the day before the election.
The T-shirt that Mariah Jimenez wore to class at Big Bear High School on Nov 3 said ”Prop. 8 Equals Hate.”
A teacher ordered her to remove the T-shirt. When Jimenez refused she was sent to principal Michael Ghelber’s office.
The ACLU said that Ghelber told the student to either remove the T- shirt or remain in his office.
Jimenez reluctantly changed shirts and returned to class.
The ACLU in a letter to schools superintendent Carole Ferraud said that Jimenez’s federal and state constitutional rights of free speech had been violated.
The letter said that Jimenez deserves an apology. Ferraud had not responded by Wednesday morning.
So how long will this go on? Will gay marriage be subject to voter discretion with each election cycle?
I don’t care about propositions anymore because they don’t secure anything. What we need is a final court decision that decides once and for all where gay couples stand, not the majority voters each election cycle, pro or con.
Gay people shouldn’t have to live with the insecurity of their marriages being legal or not every couple of years!
Get rid of Federal level DOMA, at the same time working on repealing Prop 8 and other antigay amendments. Repealing Federal DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act that would solve some more problems at the US border and within the US territory.
But what about Obama’s “affair” with anti-gay homophobe Rick Warren?
Maybe we can bankrupt the LDS church this time!
2010? Yeah right! How about 2016 or 2017!
Does anyone really thinks that between the blue dog democrats ,the republicans and a President such as Obama who’s more than happy to accommodate and pander to homophobes while at the same time labeling himself as someone progressive we are going to see any reverse of Prop 8’s. Not in Cal and not in any other state. Massachusetts and Connecticut is as good as it’s gonna get for now.
Rick Warren giving the Invocation at the Inauguration is only the start. Obama is only beginning to pander to the homophobes that he needs to get reelected, if he wants another four more years in the White House.
Sorry ACLU, but I actually agree with the high school who asked the girl to remove her political t-shirt. Maybe college is ok for free-speech, but I believe the line should be drawn when it comes to such “controlled” environments like grammar and high schools.
Voters in 16 (not 15) of California’s counties voted no on Prop 8
No.
We don’t have another $50 million to waste at a time when all LGBT organizations, including those who take care of people with AIDS, are having to cut their budgets.
Even if we win in 2010, the konstipated konservative kristianist kultist krazies (KKKKK for short) will just come back with an anti-marriage-equality amendment in 2012, and they will be at an advantage because that’s the next *presidential* election and there’ll be a bigger voter turnout.
We need a definitive ruling from the California Supreme Court. If THEY go against us (doubtful, after they made the ruling legalizing same-sex marriage to START with), THEN we need to consider other options.
What we DON’T want to do is argue the case before the *US* Supreme Court before Pres.-Elect Obama has a chance to appoint some egalitarian Justices to counterbalance the Opus Dei Roman Catholics, who are currently a majority on the Court.
And yeah, Rick Warren giving the Invocation at the Inauguration REALLY sucks. He has said PUBLICLY that “gay relationships CAUSE AIDS” (emphasis added). He’s a homophobic hater, and the fact that he wants to expand evangelicals’ focus to global warming, etc. in no way excuses or diminishes his homophobia.
Bud Burgoon-Clark
San Diego CA USA
Sorry guys…2010 is the earliest we can do it. So all of our wonderful families…will have grown children by then!..Well talking anyway.
For those who don’t know…that’s just when we could vote again, that’s all… But we want the campaign up and rolling from NOW! Till THEN!
WOW! What an amazing show of faith we seem to have in the CA supreme court’s decision process! What a COMPLETE waste of time and money. Voters are NOT going to repeal this little hate measure folks. Methinks it’s best to wait to see what the supremes have to say about this little piece of hate legislation first. To see the california Gay/Lesbian community LOWERING themselves to enact and engage in such a worthless measure truly SICKENS me! Talk about pitiful desperation! I bets the crackpot jesus freakos are laughin’ in the pulpit. PLEASE folks DO NOT support this lame ass attempt. To do so only shows us LOWERING ourselves to “their” level! We WILL defeat prop H8 through the proper legal channels where it NEEDS to be defeated.
Thanks, they are good spots. Exactly what we needed last year!
Uh, 2010?!?
Does anybody REALLY want to wait that long?
Lest we forget, the California Supreme Court had already legalized equal marriage on grounds that denying it was unconstitutional. I therefore don’t think it’s going to take very long for them to overturn this propaganda on their own.
I’m not saying I’m 100% correct, I could very well be wrong. But, I just don’t see that court allowing Prop 8 to stand.
And while this repeal starts, Congress has voted to let Rick Warren, a major supporter of Prop H8 and homophobic Rethuglican gadfly, to give the inaugural invocation. Oh, did I mention that Dianne Feinstein voted for Warren to give the invocation?
2010?!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW ABOUT NOW !!!!!!I AM SOOOOOO TIRED OF WAITING ! AREN T YOU ALL TOO? !!!