Battle Plans Unveiled In California Anti-Gay Amendment Drive
Gay groups and their supporters announced a massive battle plan on Wednesday to combat a proposed amendment to the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
At simultaneous press conferences in cities across California, representatives of more than 200 groups announced the formation of a coalition to oppose the amendment.
The coalition, which calls itself "Equality for All", will soon begin fundraising and organizing, its leaders announced.
A group called the "Voters' Right to Protect Marriage Initiative" has begun collecting signatures to have the proposed amendment (AB 19) placed on the 2006 ballot. If approved by voters it would not only bar gays and lesbians from marrying but also void the state's landmark domestic partner law.
“The sponsors of this initiative are ‘hate groups’ who have decided that they are not going to let lesbian and gay people be fully accepted and fully a part of our society,” pastor Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church told a rally in San Francisco Wednesday.
“We are not going to take this sitting down. This type of initiative and this type of discrimination should not exist in the 21st century.”
Victor Hwang of the Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach said the Asian American community knows a lot about discrimination.
"In the past, state and federal laws have barred Asian American women from entering this country, have prohibited marriages between whites and ‘negroes, mulattoes, or Mongolians,’ and have directed that any U.S. citizen marrying an Asian would be stripped of their citizenship
“If passed, this initiative would make California the most backwards state in our nation and turn back our clocks more than a hundred years," said Hwang.
The "Voters' Right to Protect Marriage Initiative" was filed with the state Attorney General's Office last week by the California Campaign for Children and Families, a group that has been involved in legal battles against same-sex marriage in the state.
Randy Thomasson the group's leader said that the CCCF decided to begin the initiative after state Assembly and Senate committees this month rejected a constitutional amendment.
Meanwhile, a bill that would allow same-sex marriage is moving forward. The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act passed a key committee late last month. The legislation, sponsored by openly gay Assemblyman Mark Leno ( D-San Francisco) would allow gays to marry but also allow churches opposed to same-sex unions to refuse to perform the marriages.
It has the support of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and other key Democrats. Earlier this month the California Democratic Party passed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage.
Source: 365gay.com
At simultaneous press conferences in cities across California, representatives of more than 200 groups announced the formation of a coalition to oppose the amendment.
The coalition, which calls itself "Equality for All", will soon begin fundraising and organizing, its leaders announced.
A group called the "Voters' Right to Protect Marriage Initiative" has begun collecting signatures to have the proposed amendment (AB 19) placed on the 2006 ballot. If approved by voters it would not only bar gays and lesbians from marrying but also void the state's landmark domestic partner law.
“The sponsors of this initiative are ‘hate groups’ who have decided that they are not going to let lesbian and gay people be fully accepted and fully a part of our society,” pastor Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church told a rally in San Francisco Wednesday.
“We are not going to take this sitting down. This type of initiative and this type of discrimination should not exist in the 21st century.”
Victor Hwang of the Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach said the Asian American community knows a lot about discrimination.
"In the past, state and federal laws have barred Asian American women from entering this country, have prohibited marriages between whites and ‘negroes, mulattoes, or Mongolians,’ and have directed that any U.S. citizen marrying an Asian would be stripped of their citizenship
“If passed, this initiative would make California the most backwards state in our nation and turn back our clocks more than a hundred years," said Hwang.
The "Voters' Right to Protect Marriage Initiative" was filed with the state Attorney General's Office last week by the California Campaign for Children and Families, a group that has been involved in legal battles against same-sex marriage in the state.
Randy Thomasson the group's leader said that the CCCF decided to begin the initiative after state Assembly and Senate committees this month rejected a constitutional amendment.
Meanwhile, a bill that would allow same-sex marriage is moving forward. The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act passed a key committee late last month. The legislation, sponsored by openly gay Assemblyman Mark Leno ( D-San Francisco) would allow gays to marry but also allow churches opposed to same-sex unions to refuse to perform the marriages.
It has the support of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and other key Democrats. Earlier this month the California Democratic Party passed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage.
Source: 365gay.com
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on Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 4:03 PM.
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