Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Marriage Equality May Lose in California

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Don’t let it happen.

The polls are still close, but some polls are shifting toward Team Homophobia. Why? The glbt community has been outraised by around 10 million. A recent, deceptive ad has been very successful for equal-marriage foes and they’ve had the dough to run it early and often.

While Team Homophobia has the backing of the deep pocketed Mormon church, along with their many eager volunteers, the natural money raisers for the glbt community in this situation just aren’t stepping up. Brad Pitt and several celebrities have contributed big dollars, but by and large the LA and Silicon Valley elite just haven’t stepped up.

I can’t think of anything more dangerous to the glbt movement than losing this November battle. If we lose in California, not only will it break the hearts of millions, but it could entirely stall the movement and put the fear into politicians in places like New York, preventing the expansion of our equal rights where we could win in the legislative arena for the first time.

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Please donate to defeat Prop 8 in California and forward this blog to all your friends. I know the economy is bad right now and many of us have emptied our wallets for Obama, but if Prop 8 passes in California, its national implications will be disastrous. Even $25 will go a long way.

Crossposted at Ryan’s Take  

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    • sometimes our pro-equality oganizations make these cutesy, nice commercials. We’ve got to show that there’s something serious at stake here and go after Team Homophobia.

    • Little Girl: “Mom, guess what I learned in school today?”
      Mother: “What, sweetie?”
      Little Girl: “I learned how a prince married a prince and I can marry a princess.”
      Professor Richard Peterson, Pepperdine University School of Law: “Think it can’t happen? It’s already happened. When Massachusetts legalized gay marriage, schools began teaching second graders that boys can marry boys. The courts ruled that parents had no legal right to object.
      Voiceover: “Under California law, public schools instruct kids about marriage. Teaching children about gay marriage will happen here unless we pass Proposition 8. Vote Yes on 8.
      ——————————–
      OK, there are several problems with this ad —

      * Bringing up Massachusetts, where equality hasn’t resulted in a rise in the destruction of the family, an increase in the incidence of homosexuality in children or rampant sexual lawlessness is absurd and undermines their argument.

      * The ad is correct in asserting that parents have lost in the courts when attempting to use a personal objection to extending civil rights to gay and lesbian couples, but that objection shouldn’t hold water in a court of law. Are the pro-8 people saying that if parents don’t like seeing an interracial couple in a textbook, they should be able to ban that as well?

      * If it’s all about the children, then what is the fallback position of the pro-8 people in regards to the already strong domestic partnership laws in the state, which, if Prop 8 passed, would merely mean that inclusive teaching about DPs would receive equivalence in the classroom to marriage. We already know they object to that as well.

      So this is really about the revoking the civil right of a group of Californians for no other reason except personal objections to the use of the word marriage to describe it? Please.

      Come on No On 8 people — this ad deserves a smackdown. Its posturing is ludicrous.

      Now, all that said — the framing of the ad is well-executed, and for the folks on the fence, it’s benign enough to have an impact. That’s what we’re fighting against — inertia, and the fact that the last high-profile public statement by either presidential ticket was Joe Biden and Sarah Palin agreeing that they are against same-sex marriage.

      This makes it hard to create a 30-second commercial that can peel back the gulf of differences between the tickets on equality matters, and what the negative impact of the long-term strategy (marriage will be decided in SCOTUS and they all know it) on the shorter-term strategy of extending rights in states where it is politically feasible. This is extremely tough to do in an election year. I have no idea what the perfect pitch needs to be to break through to the average voter out there.

      Do you have suggestions as to how to frame a response?

      Thx Pam from whom I lifted this entire comment.

        • King and King?
          Come on. That ad was an accurate representation of exactly how events unfolded here in the commonwealth.
          I wish that the story was a lie but that is the way it went down. If people find that sequence of events to be “scary” than maybe there is a reason for that which you dont care to address.

          • to say that schools will be forced to teach a particular curriculum.

            <

            p>

            King and King?
            Come on. That ad was an accurate representation of exactly how events unfolded here in the commonwealth.

            <

            p>What you skip is the fact that King and King only became an issue at one school. As in Massachusetts, a lot of this would be up to individual teachers or school districts. To say that legalizing marriage equality would result in a change of the curriculum, thus, is a lie.  

            • How long should I suppose it would be before school boards find themselves on the recieving end of one lawsuit after another should they not find themseleves enamoured to the idea of ammending their curriculums to match the desires of the likes of the people now occupied with things like Californias prop 8?
              We arent all children you know. Human nature, particularly american style, is just so predictable.

                • An endless list of lawsuits is certianly a worthy objective to pursue and seeing such I can now understand your rush to lable the obviously factual presentation given by proponents of Cal Prop 8 as being “lies”.

                • you didn’t respond to Laurel’s issue.  The yes on prop 8 people lied, 100% LIED, about church’s losing their tax exempt status.  You and I both know that isn’t going to happen.  We’ve had marriage equality here in Mass for several years now and nothing of that sort has happened.

                  <

                  p>As to their other subject of discussion….sure, kids might learn about same-sex marriage in their diversity discussion along with inter-racial marriage, single parent homes, etc., but they are trying to play on fears and ridiculous notions that kids are ‘indoctrinated’ into being gay.  It’s a shameful political ploy.  

                • Don’t distort what I said. I didn’t say court cases were a ‘noble goal,’ I just said that they’re inevitable. We shouldn’t, in society, create policies (or not create them) merely in fear of lawsuits. If it’s a contentious enough issue that people will sue, they’re going to sue either way. I’m not cheering for more courts, I’m saying we should try to be right than scared off.  

          • if they don’t perform gay marriages.  That is patently false, and will never happen because of the 1st Amendment.  Clergy and churches know this, but too many are to mislead their followers in the service of their bigotry.  It is disgusting.

            <

            p>Nomad 943, has the catholic church in MA, for example, lost it’s tax exempt status?  We know they refuse to marry gays.  Well, have they?  NO!  Because, churches can legally and do discriminate when it comes to deciding who they will marry.

            • The ad you posted and that I am commenting about, refered to the recent innovation of presenting that great literary work “King and King” to 2nd graders in our local public schools. Certainly a subject worthy of comment and presented factualy in your posted ad.
              I have no comment or interest in the activities of the RCC nor did I express one.

              • who posted the ad mentioning the lies the anti-gay campaign is using.  Then you asked “what lies”.  I’ve told you.  You avoid a direct reply.  Why?

            • That ad didn’t mention churches at all, and contained no lies.  Did you post the wrong ad?

              <

              p>The No ad DID contain a lie, it said that it wouldn’t effect what is taught in schools, and that’s a lie.  In Massachusetts, the Goodridge ruling changed what was taught in schools, there were quotes from teachers saying “now we can teach about gay marriage, because it’s legal now”.  Of course the law effects what is taught in schools.

  2. The importance of donating cash to help defeat Prop 8 cannot be overstated. I know we’re all tapped out from the current presidential campaign and the last how many years of supporting marriage equality in Massachusetts. But every dollar matters. As Ryan says, losing this one will be awful for our movement; winning, however, may very well strike a blow from which our opponents will not recover.  

  3. I thought I might drop in a friendly reminder that I’ll be in California Oct 14-21 working on the No On Prop 8 campaign.  It would be great knowing that I’m riding in on a wave of progressive cash as I anticipate the endless hours of tedious phone calls I’ll be making. đŸ˜€
    —————

    <

    p>My right to marry may be taken away by popular vote in California this November, and I have something to say about that!  I’m heading down to San Jose to work with the Vote No On Proposition 8 campaign to help keep marriage legal for same-sex couples in California.

    <

    p>California Proposition 8 Ballot Language

    ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.
    INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

    Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

    Fiscal Impact: Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact to state and local governments.

    <

    p>This past spring, the CA Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to get civil marriages.  In response, anti-equality forces are working overtime to strip us of this right.  They wish to amend the CA constitution in a way that will reverse the court decision and keep civil marriage a special right for heterosexuals.  Constitutions are in place to insure the rights and freedoms of citizens, not deny rights to unpopular minorities.

    <

    p>My partner & I don’t live in California, but the outcome of the Prop 8 vote will profoundly affect us.  California is home to 10% of the US population, and is the 7th largest economy in the world.  What happens there will certainly influence future events in states teetering on the brink of marriage equality: NY, NJ, CT, NH, VT & WA.  The Prop 8 fight has been called, rightly I think, our Gettysburg.

    <

    p>The anti-equality campaign has so far outstripped us 3-to-2 in funds raised, and has used churches to organize legions of volunteers.  So I’m dedicating my week of Oct. 14-21 to knocking on doors & making phone calls to ask voters to vote “no” on Prop 8.

    <

    p> Will you help support my effort?  Some good ways are:

  4. make a donation to the Vote No on Proposition 8 campaign.
  5. contact friends and family in CA and ask them to vote “no”.  Ask them to put up a yard sign or put a bumper sticker on their car. Ask them to write a letter in support of marriage equality to the editor of their local newspaper.  Ask them to volunteer for the campaign at the nearest campaign office.
  6. Florida and Arizona are also voting on anti-equality constitutional amendments in November.  If that hits closer to home for you, please consider supporting their equality campaigns too.  Florida Amendment 2 info and action ideas available here and here.  Arizona Proposition 102 info and action ideas here.

    7. <

    p>Similar anti-equality amendments have already passed in 26 states.  Don’t let them vote us off the island…again.

  7. Polls in AZ, CA & FL all indicate that the anti-gay amendments will pass in all three states.  The LDS and RCC are systematically organizing their parishoners to get the amendments passed.  Where is the UCC?  Where is the Episcopal church?  Silent.  Where is the constitutional lawyer who talks about change?  Silent.

    • There’s more Catholics just in LA (~1.5 million) than UCC members in the whole US (1.2M.)  Add in the heirarchical, top-down structure of the RCC (contrasted by the bottom-up, cat herding UCC) and the RCC is able to direct much more focused attention to anti-marriage activity.  65+ million Catholics in the US funneling money towards Question 8, then add in that the LDS is CA’s 2nd largest denomination, and the numbers game gets even worse.  

      <

      p>That being said, I expect many individual UCC churches in CA are doing what they can on a grass roots level.

      <

      p>http://www.ucc.org/news/uccs-s…

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