Effort to repeal Prop 8 fails to collect enough signatures Federal Prop 8 trial remains paused
More on Ricky Martin coming out
Out magazine’s ‘most influential’ gays, lesbians
Gay man elected mayor of small town
Effort to repeal Prop 8 fails to collect enough signatures
Federal Prop 8 trial remains paused
A grassroots effort to force a November 2010 ballot-box vote on repealing Proposition 8 failed to collect enough voter signatures by the April 12 deadline to get the measure on the ballot.
Groups pushing the 2010 repeal effort faced an uphill battle from the get-go because California’s gay-rights leadership refused to support the project, believing that 2012 will be a better year to return to the ballot.
The lead 2010 organization, Love Honor Cherish, did not say how many signatures it did manage to collect. Just under 700,000 valid signatures would have been needed.
“This is a heartbreaking moment,” said LHC Executive Director John Henning. “Despite the dogged efforts of hundreds of volunteers across California, we did not get the signatures we needed within the 150-day window set by the state. Regrettably, Prop 8 will remain as a stain on our constitution until at least 2012, and perhaps later.”
Love Honor Cherish was one of 40 mostly grassroots groups working for a 2010 vote within a coalition called Restore Equality 2010.
“Our signature-collection effort may have fallen short, but we stand tall as being the only statewide campaign that fought for repealing Proposition 8 in 2010,” said Sean Bohac, chair of the Restore Equality 2010 Statewide Advisory Panel.
“Our campaigners carried the torch of Harvey Milk, who showed that change only happens when we get out of the bars and into the streets. And our efforts are reflected in the new polls that show increased support for extending marriage to all Californians.”
Bohac told The San Diego Union-Tribune that the number of signatures collected “was not particularly close” to the 694,354 needed.
“We won’t be making it public,” he said.
Recent polls by the Public Policy Institute of California and by the Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California have shown that, for the first time, a majority of Californians now support same-sex marriage—suggesting that top gay rights groups Equality California and Courage Campaign may have made a misstep in refusing to support the 2010 effort. EQCA and Courage expressed fears that voters would not be ready to reverse themselves just two years after re-banning same-sex marriage.
But EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors said the poll results haven’t caused the group to second-guess its decision.
“Equality California still believes 2012 is the right time to go to the ballot,” Kors said. “Those polls were not of likely voters for the 2010 election. When you dig deeper into those polls—and our internal polls during the same time period—what’s clear is young voters are the ones who move the most. And young voters make up a much larger percentage of the electorate in a presidential race [2012] than a gubernatorial race [2010], which is why the L.A. Times said, after looking at their poll numbers in the article, it’s clear why gay rights groups wanted to wait until 2012, because 2010 doesn’t provide us the best opportunity to win due to voter turnout.”
Restore Equality 2010 said it now will join up with the 2012 effort. Signature collecting for that project is expected to begin in the summer of 2011.
A California Supreme Court ruling legalized same-sex marriage in May 2008 and weddings began June 16, 2008. The court said preventing gay couples from marrying violated the state constitution. Even more groundbreaking, the court also ruled that sexual orientation is a “suspect classification”—which made any type of discrimination based on sexual orientation constitutionally subject to the strictest level of scrutiny by California courts.
California governmental entities now have to prove they have a specific “compelling interest”—rather than a mere “rational basis”—when they treat LGB people differently in any way. The change made it dramatically harder for any level of government to defend itself in any arena where gays, lesbians and bisexuals are not treated the same as heterosexuals.
Some 18,000 same-sex couples married in California before voters amended the state constitution to re-ban same-sex marriage in November 2008. The California Supreme Court later ruled that Prop 8 was a valid amendment to the constitution.
A federal lawsuit led by famous attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson to overturn Prop 8 as a violation of the U.S. Constitution is ongoing in San Francisco. The trial paused on Jan. 27 after all testimony had been heard but before closing arguments because Judge Vaughn Walker said he wanted to review the testimony prior to hearing the attorneys’ final statements.
The conclusion of the trial apparently has been further delayed while gay groups that ran the ballot campaign against Prop 8, who are not parties to the federal lawsuit, fight an order to turn over some of their e-mails from the campaign period.
More on Ricky Martin coming out
Pop music star Ricky Martin came out as gay in a bilingual posting on his web site March 29.
“I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am,” Martin wrote at the end of a long post.
The Spanish version of the same paragraph was different, saying: “Today I ACCEPT MY HOMOSEXUALITY as a gift that life gives me. I feel blessed to be who I am.”
In the lead-up, Martin explained: “Many people told me: ‘Ricky it’s not important,’ ‘it’s not worth it,’ ‘all the years you’ve worked and everything you’ve built will collapse,’ ‘many people in the world are not ready to accept your truth, your reality, your nature.’
“Because all this advice came from people who I love dearly, I decided to move on with my life not sharing with the world my entire truth. Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage. Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions.”
The Spanish version of the same paragraph differed, saying: “As this advice came from people I love like crazy, I decided to continue with my ‘almost truth.’ VERY BAD.”
In the English version, he continued: “If someone asked me today, ‘Ricky, what are you afraid of?’ I would answer ‘the blood that runs through the streets of countries at war, child slavery, terrorism, the cynicism of some people in positions of power, the misinterpretation of faith.’ But fear of my truth? Not at all! On the contrary, it fills me with strength and courage.
“This is just what I need especially now that I am the father of two beautiful boys that are so full of light and who with their outlook teach me new things every day. To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids were born with. Enough is enough. This has to change. This was not supposed to happen 5 or 10 years ago, it is supposed to happen now. Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment.”
The Spanish version referred to “the hijacking of faith,” rather than the “misinterpretation” of it, and said: “But fear of my nature, of my truth? NO MORE! ... ENOUGH ALREADY! THINGS MUST CHANGE!”
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation President Jarrett Barrios said Martin’s decision is a big deal.
“When someone like Ricky Martin comes out, hundreds of millions of people now have a cultural connection with an artist, a celebrity and, perhaps most importantly, a father who happens to be gay,” Barrios said. “His decision to model this kind of openness and honesty can lead to greater acceptance for countless gay people in the U.S., in Latin America and worldwide.”
Martin’s official web site, rickymartinmusic.com, kept crashing or was fully unreachable for the remainder of the day as people sought to read the announcement for themselves.
A day later, Martin tweeted: “Whats going on gang? I’m doing great! Stronger than ever! I’m here relaxing @ home enjoying ur messages! I feel the love! Thanx for all! peace.”
Out magazine’s ‘most influential’ gays, lesbians
Ellen DeGeneres is America’s “most influential” gay man or woman, according to Out magazine’s fourth annual “Power 50” list.
“Since DeGeneres replaced Paula Abdul as a judge on American Idol in February, millions upon millions of viewers are getting a double dose of the hugely popular talk show host and 12-time Emmy winner,” Out said.
“The American Express and Covergirl pitchwoman’s reach is nearly unparalleled... A passionate advocate for marriage equality, an avid opponent of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ and staunch defender of animal rights, DeGeneres’s enormous platform is many an American’s gain.”
Others near the top of the list include MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, singer Adam Lambert, actor Neil Patrick Harris, Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese and U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin, Jared Polis and Barney Frank.
For the full list, see out.com/power50.
Lesbian tennis legend Martina Navratilova told People magazine April 7 that she has breast cancer.
The ductal carcinoma was discovered early and is expected to be fully curable.
“I cried,” Navratilova said. “It knocked me on my ass, really. I feel so in control of my life and my body, and then this comes, and it’s completely out of my hands.”
“I went four years between mammograms,” she added. “I let it slide. Everyone gets busy, but don’t make excuses. I stay in shape and eat right, and it happened to me. Another year and I could have been in big trouble.”
Navratilova will undergo six weeks of radiation treatment starting in May.
Gay man elected mayor of small town
An openly gay man, Ron Holland, was elected mayor of Dillon, Colo., April 6.
He received 90 votes to an opponent’s 72 in the mountain town of about 800 people.
Holland, who is serving his first term on the City Council, told the Summit Daily News he was “ecstatic” over his victory.
All reports by Rex Wockner
with assistance from Bill Kelley