The California same sex marriage battle promises to get even more intense in 2008. We have huge opportunities to move ahead on marriage equality now and a looming risk of being set back decades.
| By Geoff Kors | Contact  Equality California’s Executive Director, Geoffrey Kors is a graduate of Stanford Law School and has a long and distinguished record of service to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Prior to taking the helm of Equality California, Geoff was a partner in a California civil rights law firm during which time he originated and orchestrated passage of San Francisco's landmark Equal Benefits Ordinance. Geoff has also served as director of both the Gay and Lesbian Rights Project and the AIDS and Civil Liberties Projects of the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois.
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UPDATE: The California Supreme Court ruled on May 15, 2008 that same-sex couples had the right to marry. A ballot initiative to take away the right of same sex couples to marry is on the ballot in November this year.
The progress in 2007 on the California same sex marriage front was remarkable and 2008 has started off with continued hope and optimism coupled with the reality that we very well may face a 2008 ballot measure constitutionally banning marriage for same sex couples. California in 2008, as expected, will be the key battleground for moving ahead (or moving significantly backward) on marriage equality nationally.
IN THE LEGISLATURE
For the second time in two years, the California legislature passed Equality California’s marriage bill, authored by Assemblymember Mark Leno. On September 7, 2007, the bill passed by a greater margin than it did in 2005, showing continued and growing support for same sex marriage in the legislature.
For more information on the marriage bill and Equality California sponsored legislation, please visit www.eqca.org.
Governor Schwarzenegger signed all Equality California sponsored bills except the marriage bill. In a small but significant sentence, he included in his veto message a nod to the California Supreme Court, where he thinks this issue should be decided.
IN THE COURTS
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Lambda Legal, ACLU and private firms are representing Equality California, Our Family Coalition, and same sex couples in a lawsuit challenging the statutory ban on same sex marriage in California. The final party briefs were submitted in November 2007. A ruling from the Court is expected sometime before July of 2008, when their current terms expire.
In September 2007, 30 amicus briefs were submitted by hundreds of religious, civil rights, and child advocacy organizations, as well as California municipal governments, bar associations, and leading legal scholars. The cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Long Beach, Oakland, as well as 14 other cities and counties also filed supporting briefs. In an amazing development, the Republican Mayor of San Diego made national news when he announced that he had changed his position and now supports the freedom to marry, thus allowing San Diego to submit its amicus brief.
The Governor's subtle signal to the Court in his veto message in addition to his previous statements that he will respect the Court decision helps encourage the Court to take a leadership role on this issue, thus bolstering our case. The Court decision remains critical, given court losses in other states and the challenges state groups are facing in pushing beyond civil unions/domestic partnerships legislatively.
AT THE BALLOT BOX
Our opponents are raising money and launching a significant effort to qualify an initiative for the November 2008 ballot to amend the California Constitution to ban marriage for same sex couples. This would be a "same sex marriage only" amendment with no mention of domestic partnership or repealing California’s current domestic partnership law.
To qualify for the November 2008 ballot, amendment proponents would have until approximately April 17, 2008 to turn in 694,354 valid signatures. We are taking this threat very seriously, since passage of such an amendment would reverse any positive decision from the California Supreme Court and prohibit any kind of legislative action on same sex marriage.
Passage of such an amendment would set us back decades and send a message to the rest of the country that California—the largest state in the union and the world’s sixth largest economy—is not ready for same sex couples to marry. The Governor has not taken a position on these measures but has indicated in the past that he doesn’t support a constitutional amendment. I will update this article as we learn more.
The three most recent polls of likely voters show us in a virtual dead heat on the issue of marriage for gay and lesbian couples and a constitutional amendment banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples:
A September 2006 Public Policy Institute poll showed 47% supported marriage, while 46% opposed.
An August 2007 David Binder poll showed 42% in support of marriage, with 40% opposed.
In a September 2007 poll, 50% supported a state constitutional amendment banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples with 48% opposed.
All these polls demonstrate significant movement from the more than 20% deficit we faced in 2000 and the 8%-10% deficit we faced in polling from 2005.
LET CALIFORNIA RING: OPENING HEARTS AND MINDS
In the meantime, our Let California Ring campaign (www.LetCaliforniaRing.org) continues to open hearts and minds in California and improve public attitudes on marriage and LGBT equality. The official launch of the Let California Ring website on September 24 and the media/press launch of the television ad on October 11 were enormously successful.
Stories about the Let California Ring campaign and ad appeared in California newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News, Fresno Bee, the Lompoc Record and the San Diego Triune, with a combined circulation of 2,000,000 people.
CNN’s Situation room and the news programs in California that did a story (all of which showed all or parts of the television ad) have a combined audience of 2.3 million people. The Let California Ring television ad and other campaign videos can be seen on the www.LetCaliforniaRing.org website.
I look forward to keeping this article and all of you updated on new developments. Stay tuned.
