Anti-Gay Ballot Initiative Will Remain on November Ballot in California
Filed by: Nancy Polikoff
July 16, 2008 4:30 PM
The California Supreme Court ruled this afternoon that the ballot initiative to amend the state's constitution to ban same-sex marriage will go forward as planned. Numerous gay rights groups were involved in the litigation trying to stop the initiative. The decision of the court was unanimous.
Of course this is a huge disappointment, but that should not detract from acknowledging the brilliance, creativity, and courage of the lawyers who filed this suit, especially lead counsel Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. How fitting, in fact, that the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association just announced that Shannon will be one of the recipients of this year's Dan Bradley Award for his contribution to the struggle for LGBT equality.
Legal creativity has brought enormous advances for LGBT people. Sometimes it just doesn't work. LGBT Californians and their allies now have the hard work ahead of defeating the anti-gay forces at the polls. The work is being spearheaded by Equality California. And the whole world, literally, will be watching.
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8 Comments
Thanks for the update, Nancy. What is this ballot proposition polling at currently?
Serena Freewomyn | July 16, 2008 5:23 PM
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Here's the latest I've seen. Very reputable polling group. But it's from the end of May and things could have shifted. http://field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2268.pdf
Nancy Polikoff | July 16, 2008 5:27 PM
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Californians need to volunteer to phone-bank, sit at information tables, and do whatever we can to get our allies out to vote!!!
Brynn Craffey | July 16, 2008 5:35 PM
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We didn't begin this fight, the christian cults and the political right wing did.
Nevertheless we have to fight them tooth and nail because a defeat on this question at the polls would be a national setback. Abstaining from this battle is sectarianism of the worst sort. The attack by the cultists requires a massive response.
The outcome of this battle is far more important than whether Tweedledum or Tweedledee occupies the Oval Office.
Bill Perdue | July 17, 2008 11:31 AM
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They gave it a good fight, and the strategy Shannon came up with was inspired. I wonder how much of this was in reaction to the "We don't want to be seen as activist judges" mentality...
Bil Browning | July 17, 2008 11:38 AM
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Thanks for sharing the poll, Nancy. Those numbers are pretty vague. Sure, 51% support marriage equality. But there was a 9% undecided category, and that's a sizeable gap. Ya'll obviously have your work cut out for you. And Brynn is right! Phone banking and hitting the concrete is gonna require a lot of people power! Good luck!
Serena Freewomyn | July 17, 2008 6:40 PM
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That's too bad it failed, but at least they tried!
Alex Blaze | July 17, 2008 7:47 PM
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So following up on Serena's question about the polls...there's a new one! I learned this from Nan Hunter's new blog, so I want to give her credit, and it will be a great blog to watch, so check it out: http://hunterforjustice.typepad.com/hunter_of_justice/marriage/
Nancy Polikoff | July 19, 2008 3:31 PM
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