Friends,
This week we have seen two exciting steps towards winning marriage for gay and lesbian couples!
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled today to overturn Proposition 8.
This is a historic decision by the federal district court and a historic victory for all gay, lesbian and bisexual Californians, as well as those who love and support us. For a full statement about the court decision by Lorri L. Jean, CEO of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, click here.
As Lorri states, the ruling is welcome and significant. However, it is in no way a final victory.
There are many more hurdles to get through in order for this ruling to stand. In the meantime, we have the responsibility to do all that we can to give the Supreme Court of the United States every reason to overturn Proposition 8. As of today, 44 states deny same-sex couples the freedom to marry, and federal marriage discrimination remains on the books. Today’s win is fabulous momentum for our community and movement, but we must use it to continue our fight to win marriage equality state by state, ballot initiative by ballot initiative. History shows that courts are more likely to overturn discriminatory laws if the people have spoken by voting these laws out at the local and state level. So we have our work cut out for us.
The second encouraging event that happened this week around marriage equality was the release of the LGBT Mentoring Project’s The Prop 8 Report: What Our Defeat in California Can Teach Us About Winning Future Ballot Measures On Same-Sex Marriage. Vote for Equality applauds this effort to analyze the data we have available to us and help our community figure out the most strategic ways to move forward towards victory at the ballot box.
This Tuesday, Vote for Equality & the LGBT Mentoring Project, with special guest speakers from Lambda Legal, will be holding an informational briefing on how to move forward from here. We hope you can join us.
What Now?: A Community Briefing on the Recent Court Decision & the LGBT Mentoring Project’s Prop 8 Report
Tuesday, August 10
7 – 9 p.m.
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
The Village at Ed Gould Plaza
1125 N. McCadden Pl. LA, CA 90038
The briefing will have limited space. To reserve a seat, click here.
Thanks so much for your continued work to create a state, country, and world where LGBT individuals – and our community as a whole – can exist with far less discrimination. It is because of people like you that we have gotten this far.
And congratulations again on today’s victory!
See you soon,
Regina Clemente
Project Director, Vote For Equality
