Results tagged “proposition8”

Stop8.org's Matt Baume attended the Courage Campaign's training event in Oakland this past weekend, and learned three main tactics for gaining marriage equality: 1. Tell good stories; 2. Persuade through agreement; and 3. Anticipate certain arguments and know how to discuss them. The main factors for planting the seed in Middle America's brains are listening to the opposing side for at least 50% of the conversation, asking them lots of questions, and appealing to their emotions instead of their intellect.

Please see the video above for a live video feed of the California State Supreme court's Prop. 8 hearing, which will go down as a historic civil rights movement when ruled on. The feed will not become active until March 5 at 9 a.m., and is scheduled to last until noon.

California is one step closer to getting Prop 8, the same-sex marriage ban that passed in November, overturned. Hopefully. A judiciary committee passed House Resolution 5 today (care of one Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco), which states that "a revision is a substantial change to the underlying principles of the California Constitution, or to the structure of California's basic governmental plan."

We dare you to watch the Courage Campaign's Fidelity video and not get all weepy. We were able to keep it together until it got to the big crowd shots around the end, and then suddenly there was something in our eye.

Just about everyone agrees: gays can win more support for civil equality by partering with ally-communities. This is a nice-sounding idea, particularly in the San Francisco bubble. But what does it mean -- and is there a point at which collaborating stops being beneficial?

Oh this Prop 8 stuff just gets hairier and hairier. We were thumbing through some articles about the people who backed Prop 8; that includes groups like the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which despite the word "liberty" in their name wants to wield control over California marriages -- every single one -- vetoing whichever couples they don't like. They plan to use Prop 8 to continue stopping marriages and to nullify the approximately 18,000 that they don't currently like -- and possibly more in the future. And the Amicus Brief that they filed in Prop 8's favor contained this scintillating quote:

So, you've got nothing to do on a Tuesday? Well, Equality California has just the thing. Head on over to Sacramento to participate in 2009 Marriage Lobby Day, an opportunity for concerned citizens to nag their elected officials about fighting the good fight against Prop 8.

Oh, things. They're anticipating that Obama will overturn DOMA (which is like the national version of Prop 8), and they've already taken steps to stop him.

          

Tonight's Day Without a Gay protest seemed peaceful compared to those just over a month ago when Prop 8, the same-sex marriage ban, passed. Although cops in riot gear gathered on Market and Octavia streets just eager for a head to crack open, we haven't heard word yet as to any arrests or melee.

A complaint filed by civil rights organization Californians Against Hate prompted the the California Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate the LDS Church and their work in supporting Proposition 8. It seems the Mormon church allegedly concealed just how big a role they played in initiating a ban into the California constitution that would bar same-sex couples from getting married. According to AP, "the investigation does not mean there was any wrongdoing, only that commission staff have found evidence to warrant further inquiry."

Today there's yet another Prop 8 protest planned. Which is great news.

Speaking about today's California Supreme Court agreeing to hear case on same-sex marriage, City Attorney Dennis Herrera had this to say:

A decision has been made. The California Supreme Court has decided to hear the legal issues over Prop. 8, the same-sex marriage ban which passed by razor-thin 52% of the vote, but said it won't issue a stay against the voter-approved same-sex marriage ban. Which is to say, county clerks will not be allowed to resume issuing licenses to queer couples until the case is decided. Prop. 8 is still in effect.

Due to extreme public interest, State Attorney General Jerry Brown pressed the CA Supreme Court today to decide whether or not the gay marriage ban, Prop 8, is constitutionally valid. While these kinds of "matters are brought before lower courts before the Supreme Court hears the case ... petitioners have asked the Supreme Court to accept the review directly to bring an early resolution to the matter." According to the former CA Governor and Oakland Mayor, "the public interest would be best served not by issuing a temporary stay, but by an expedited resolution of the important issues raised by the petitions." So, it looks like we could see some sort of turning point in the very near future. Hopefully, that is. (To read the press release in its entirety, check it out.)

                                 

After Saturday's Nationwide Prop 8. protest at City Hall, an after-march sprouted through the streets of San Francisco, going from Civic Center to Octavia and the Castro and then back up Market to Union Square, over to Chinatown, North Beach, and then back to Civic Center.

                                        

San Francisco rallied against Proposition 8 (the same-sex marriage ban) starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The demonstration is part of a slew of other Prop. 8 protests taking place across the United States.

Actor Oscar Nunez, who plays the gay character Oscar Martinez in "The Office," talked to the and suggested something interesting: Prop. 8 opponents should try to gain support by helping other communities.

The above image -- showing just how large scale Saturday's national Prop 8 protest will look -- is from the flyer used to promote the big event. All of the demonstrations start at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow unless noted otherwise.

Alan Stock, CEO of Cinemark Theaters, donated $9,999 to anti-gay Prop. 8. According to AmericaBlog...

                 

Early Saturday in San Francisco there will be another massive protest against Proposition 8's passing. But this time it will be a nationwide event, with demonstrations in each state. (Another one, you say? Well, Dan Savage has a great op-ed piece in The New York Times today about how Prop. 8 can get worse, much worse, if we don't overturn it. And quick.)

Now that we've gotten all the childish bile out of our system, please check out these sites aiming to bring people together in the fight for gay marriage. These people deserve lavish praise and tons and tons of our attention if we're going to stop Prop. 8 from snowballing out of control.

Last night, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people gathered for a protest outside the Church of Latter Day Saints' Manhattan Mormon Temple and march down Broadway to Columbus Circle.

Is it out of your system yet? While all of this in-fighting, blaming, exempting, and naive attacks of reverse-discrimination (a chortle-inducing term if there ever was one) has been fun, let's get down to brass tacks, folks. SFist is putting out a call for and sites and/or organizations doing any of the following constructive things to help overturn gender and queer discrimination in the state of California.

Queers are calling for a boycott of the California Musical Theatre -- at least according to the -- after discovering that its artistic director, Scott Eckern, donated $1,000 to Prop. 8. Eckern has been with CMT for over 25 years. Richard Lewis, the organization's executive producer, released this statement regarding the controversy: "Any political action or the opinion of Scott Eckern is not shared by California Musical Theatre. We have a long history of appreciation for the LGBT community and are truly grateful for their longstanding support."

CBS 5's Joe Vazquez reports that the big, pink "Fuck Mormons" banner has been removed. While rumors of photoshopping swirled, CBS 5 managed to figure out that, yes, the sign was, in fact, real.

Well, this is pretty powerful stuff. Last night, Keith Olberman's "Special Comment" was about Prop 8.

    

No-on-8 folks, this isn't necessary, is It?

              

Sorry to inundate you with even more protest-ness, but this is happening all over the state today, citizens protesting Prop. 8's passing -- e.g., the protest at Oakland's Mormon Temple, the big one happening in Sacramento.

        

As we mentioned already, a protest at the Mormon temple in Oakland forced the CHP to shut down some Highway 13 ramps. Here are some shots of today's protest in progress.