California gay-rights group won't seek repeal of Prop. 8 in 2012

[Newsjock]

Source: Fresno Bee

A leading California gay rights group said today that it won't seek to qualify a ballot initiative to repeal the state's same-sex marriage ban in 2012.

Equality California had previously said it would try to reverse Proposition 8 during next year's presidential election, saying high turnout among young voters could boost its chances of success.

But the group said today it has decided not to pursue what would "inevitably be a very expensive and difficult campaign" to overturn the 2008 voter-approved initiative.

With the ultimate fate of Proposition 8 still tied up in the courts, EQCA announced that instead of launching an initiative qualification drive it will back an outreach campaign to "overcome the psychological, cultural and emotional triggers" that lead to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/10/05/2565411/capitol-alert-california-gay-rights.html

[GodlessBiker]

1. Booooo.

[closeupready]

2. Right because fundraising parties and administrative overhead are expensive!

:eyes: If they aren't going to help in reversing Prop 8, what they hell have people given them money for?

[mitchtv]

3. fuck them

assholes

[FLAprogressive]

4. I'm so fed up with establishment gay rights groups like them, and the HRC....who say "wait".

[justiceischeap]

13. I've yet to see where HRC has been telling us to wait.

Can you please point that out? They may be advocating to wait and see how the legal proceedings turn out (which is likely going to be in marriage equality's favor) but that only makes sense.

[KamaAina]

5. Buck-buck-BRAWWWK!!!!

[Maat]

6. This is why this straight (but not narrow) Californian, great supporter

of GLBTQ rights, has declined to give more $ to Equality California.

I want this horror off the California Constitutional books RIGHT NOW or ASAP.

This is VERY disappointing.

[fascisthunter]

7. seriously? Fuck you!

these are people's rights you political compromised dipshits.

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. High turnout of African-American voters in the election may be one of the factors in this decision

2008 had a high turnout of African-American voters due to Barack Obama being on the ballot. The problem is that many frican-Americans are not yet in favor of marriage equality.

[kenfrequed]

9. Interesting

That would suggest that the DL of being black and gay is mixed with fear of straight blacks probably worrying about being misidentified as gay because they happened to vote for gay marriage.

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. I think that it is more of a function of a high rate of attendance at

socially conservative churches.

[kenfrequed]

19. Probably.

And maybe orange county stuffed their ballot boxes too.

[Jim Lane]

10. Without this group, are there prospects for someone else to take up the fight?

With public opinion shifting toward marriage equality, one would think that a repeal campaign might win in 2012. Failing that, it would help educate more people and lay the groundwork for repeal in a later year.

I don't know California politics, though, so I don't know if anyone else has the organizational strength to launch a credible repeal campaign.

[backscatter712]

11. Sounds like a tactical decision.

They probably concluded that the best way to get Prop H8 off the books is through the courts - they had an airtight case at the district level, and it's likely to be overturned for good.

[XemaSab]

12. They did a shitty job with the no on 8 campaign

and they are continuing to do a shitty job to get it defeated.

Seriously, they should take a page from the Morg and put up ads saying:

"I grew up in Lancaster. I left to go to school, but I came back as soon as I could. I am a financial planner, I'm a father of three beautiful children, I play golf every weekend, I love to paint, and I'm gay."

"I've lived in Fresno for fifteen years. I'm a college professor, I volunteer in a hospice every Saturday, I enjoy hiking in the Sierras, I've been with the love of my life for twenty years, and I'm gay."

"I've lived in Shasta County my whole life, and I graduated from Anderson High School. I'm a stay at home mom, I love homeschooling my children, I am active in my local church, I've been with my partner for ten years, and I'm gay."

I think this would go a long, long, long ways toward "normalizing" gays, and helping people in more rural areas of the state to understand that all gay people aren't leather daddies and twinks, but instead gay families are all over the state and they live in the same communities, shop in the same stores, and work in the same offices as straight people do.

It's a lot harder to throw someone under the bus if you see that they're a lot like you.

[slackmaster]

18. The No on 8 campaign was damaged in my area by some out-of-control zealots

Smashing the windows on a very popular local bike shop in San Diego because the owner had displayed a Yes on 8 poster bought the No on 8 people a lot of bad publicity around here. Obviously it wasn't an act of No on 8, but the association was inescapable.

The money I donated to No on 8 was wasted.

[Unvanguard]

14. Of course they won't. They'll wait until the resolution of the court case.

They don't want to provoke a community-wide fight over different means of attacking anti-gay constitutional amendments. It's been clear for a while that they would wait.

[Le Taz Hot]

15. Wtf????

They just wrote their own death warrant as few will support them after this. I can't even wrap my brain around this shit. Unbelievable!

[slackmaster]

17. I think that decision is a major strategic blunder

There, it's on the record.

[Hosnon]

20. There are downsides to repealing Prop 8.

The largest being that the case against it would be dismissed as moot, and the issue of nationwide marriage equality would not be heard by the SCOTUS.

Throughout this episode, California has been in the odd position of choosing between protecting the rights of its non-straight citizens and advancing those rights for all U.S. citizens.

[AndyTiedye]

22. Do We Really WANT *THIS* Whackjob Supreme Court to Rule on Gay Marriage?

I don't think we're going to like the results very much.

[FLAprogressive]

23. +1

[Hosnon]

24. Yes. Justice Ginsburg is 78 and if Obama does not win re-election,

the Court would very likely be 5-3-1 on this issue (the "1" being Justice Kennedy).

With the current four "liberals" + Justice Kennedy, same-sex marriage would likely be ruled a constitutional right.

[Major Hogwash]

25. Damn long chess game we're playing here.

Having to wait is the caldron of passion -- I say we go after the GOP like never before!!!!

[yardwork]

21. Is it a good idea to allow popular votes on rights?

I'm opposed to the idea that any human right should be up for majority vote. I think it's an unconstitutional strategy.

[and-justice-for-all]

26. PATHETIC! nt