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Loading ...LAPD Chief Donates To Campaign Against Calif. Anti-Gay Amendment
07.23.2008 3:39pm EDT
(Los Angeles, California) Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton is the latest high profile personality to write a check to help defeat a proposed amendment to the California Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.
The donation to Equality California was made by Bratton and his wife, former Court TV anchor Rikki Kleiman and came at the suggestion of celebrity publicist Howard Bragman.Bragman married longtime partner Chuck O’Donnell last week. When Bratton asked Bragman what the pair would like as a wedding gift the high powered pr man said they wanted a donation to help preserve same-sex marriage in California and Bratton agreed.
“The Constitution guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Bratton told the Los Angeles Times. “I see no reason why gays can’t pursue happiness through marriage.”
Bratton is not the only friend of the couple for forgo traditional wedding gifts to donate to Equality California. Lesbian tennis great Martina Navratilova also wrote a check. So did actor Isaiah Washington.
Washington has been a big supporter of LGBT rights after running into flack over homophobic remarks backstage last year at the Golden Globes. Bragman is Washington’s agent and has been helping him make amends.
Bragman told the Times that he did not have to twist any arms to get support to defeat the proposed amendment which will appear on the ballot in November.
“Our marriage changed that for people who know us. Our love, respect and commitment has the power to change hearts and minds and make an ethereal concept real,” he told the paper.
The California Supreme Court in May struck down a law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. The ruling went into effect in June. Since then several thousand same-sex couples have married in the state.
This month the Court declined to hear a challenge to the ballot measure.
Public opinion polls show California voters narrowly approving of same-sex marriage.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged to fight against the proposed amendment.
I don’t know if folks across the nation knew how close we came to having an anti-gay-marriage amendment placed on the ballot in Massachusetts. With consistent, sometimes small effort over time, we were able to beat it back. The type of effort that Robyn talks about really work: writing a check here and there (even small ones), volunteering time, writing letters, meeting with legislators, talking to your neighbors, putting up yard signs, and supporting pro-gay candidates against anti-gay incumbents…it really works! Maybe not right away, and there may be some setbacks. But eventually, it works.
I don’t know if folks across the nation knew how close we came to having an anti-marriage amendment placed on the ballot in Massachusetts. But, by getting involved in little ways, sending a check now and again, writing letters, visiting legislators, and by doing these little things week after week, month after month, we were able to beat back the amendment effort. What Robyn suggests really works. It might not work immediately, and there may be set backs along the way, but doing this “grunt” work within the system, and keeping at it, really pays off in securing our rights.
Congratulations to Chief Bratton. Yes, I dug deeply. Five figures worth. Gay people are entitled to be free of the denigration and denial of their humanity by churches who always have to have someone to hate (Jews, Blacks, etc have been previous victims). And the other part of this is Machoism – where some people see gays as challenging manhood. And for the churches who are opposed, all they care about is that as gays become recognized as just another good part of our society, people will understand the lies of the church, leave them, and the power of the church – all they really care about, will be rightly destroyed.
This story is a reminder to all of us to dig deep into our pockets and send the largest donations we are able to Equality California (http://www.eqca.org) which is working to protect marriage equality in California; to MassEquality (http://www.massequality.org) which is working to make it possible for EVERYONE to marry in Massachusetts and also to bring marriage equality to the other New England States; to Equality Arizona (http://equalityarizona.org) which is fighting an amendment; and to your own state’s equality organization. You can find it by googling the word “equality” plus the name of your state. Please give. Believe me, the folks who are opposed to marriage equality are donating money to THEIR groups. We need your help.