Gay-rights advocates plan nationwide rally
Staff and Wire Reports
November 12, 2008
 |
| Taking it to the streets: Since Prop. 8’s passage, same-sex marriage supporters have staged rallies across the state. (Examiner File Photo) |
The backlash about the passage of Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, continues to mount this week with a national day of protest planned for Saturday.
More than 250,000 people have pledged to take part in the nationwide event, which will take place in all 50 states and at the nation’s capital, according to Los Angeles-based organizer Brandon Williamson of Join the Impact.
The demonstration comes as California’s gay-rights movement is beset by infighting and finger-pointing since the passage of Prop. 8, with some activists questioning the campaign’s mild tactics — including the decision not to show same-sex couples in ads.
Prop. 8 passed Nov. 4 with 52 percent of the vote in a painful defeat for gay-rights activists. The ban overrode a California Supreme Court ruling this year that allowed 18,000 same-sex couples to tie the knot during the last four months; some 5,000 same-sex couples married in San Francisco.
Leaders of the campaign in favor of same-sex marriage say they made a strategic decision not to highlight newlyweds or same-sex couples with children in their pre-election ads for fear of alienating undecided voters.
Geoff Kors, executive director of the gay-rights group Equality California, defended the choice of advertisements.
“Lesbian and gay people were everywhere in this campaign — as spokespeople, on YouTube, our Web site,” he told The Associated Press. “For the television advertising, the best messengers were the messengers that were used.”
In the last few days, demonstrators have hit the streets, sometimes clashing with police and snarling traffic. They also have rallied outside Mormon temples to protest the church’s major role in banning same-sex marriage.
Demonstrators are hoping three legal challenges to the proposition, one of which is led by City Attorney Dennis Herrera, will result in the overturning of Prop. 8 because of its fundamental challenge to equal protection under the state constitution.
But on Monday, attorneys with Liberty Counsel on behalf of the Campaign for California Families filed papers in state Supreme Court calling the lawsuits frivolous.
