8/14/2019 MEUSA Newsletter March 2009

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thenarrow religious beliefs of someon everyone else.

Disclosure reports indicate that40% of the funding for Proposi-tion 8 came from the MormonChurch and its supporters.

Should churches be able tochange the state constitution toimpose their particular religioustenants on all and if so, whoserights will be up for a vote next?

If the California Supreme Courtdoes not declare Proposition 8unconstitutional, then we will

have to restore equality andfairness to our Constitution bysharing with voters how Prop 8has harmed our families andwork to undo it to restore thevalues of equality and justice forall. We will need volunteers togo door to door , to participatein educational outreach, and to

The California Supreme Courtheard oral arguments on thevalidity of Prop 8 on March 5,2009 and will issue its rulingsometime within 90 days of thehearing (a ruling is possible anytime now but no later than June3, 2009.)

Day of Decision EventsIn preparation for a united com-munity response to the ruling,Day of Decision events arebeing organized in dozens ofcities throughout the coun-try. The evening of the Day ofDecision, win or lose, we'llstand together and send a unified

message that individual libertieslike the right to marry are guar-anteed to everyone and shouldnot be stripped away at the bal-lot box by a bare 2% majority.

To find a Day of Decisionevent near you go towww.decisionday.org

or visit the new California state-wide coalition website atwww.equalitycentral.org.

Meet in the MiddleOn the first Saturday after theCalifornia State Supreme Courtrules on Prop 8, marriage equal-ity supporters will come to-gether for a statewide gatheringin Fresno for what is being called"Meet in the Middle 4 Equality"--to either celebrate or organizeto repeal Prop 8.

For more information go towww.meetinthemiddle4equality.org

Prop 8 undermines the CaliforniaConstitution, not only does itexplicitly discriminate against onegroup of Californians by denyingthem access to civil marriage, italso jeopardizes the separationof church and state by imposing

Mobilizing for Day of DecisionThe M WordM A R C H 2 0 0 9V O L U M E I V I S S U E I

Marriage Equality Grassroots Keep Growing

Marriage Equality USA in the newsOn March 4th 2009, MarriageEquality USA, in coalition withseveral other organizations co-sponsored candlelight vigils inPhoenix and Tucson, Arizona;Miami, Florida; New YorkCity, New York; Tulsa, Okla-homa, and 30 cities in Califor-nia. Thousands of marriageequality supporters rallied and

marched for the event, dubbedthe Eve of Justice, to advo-cate the repeal of Proposition8 (www.eveofjustice.com).

On March 5th, the CaliforniaState Supreme Court heardoral arguments for and againstthe Repeal of Proposition 8.Marriage Equality USA wantedto make sure that all whowere interested in witnessingthe court proceedings wereguaranteed a seat and so,

Marriage Equality USA withthe help of our coalition part-ners funded the rental of a

JumboTron (huge televisionscreen) to be placed in SanFranciscos Civic Center Plazafor a free viewing of the courtproceedings. Despite a fore-cast for rain, the day was filled

with sunshine and began withan interfaith blessing spon-sored by 45 progressive clergymembers.

Thousands of pro-marriageequality and anti-marriageequality viewers filled the plazato watch history. It was a fasci-nating sociological experimentwith Yes on 8ers and No on8ers co-mingling.There were even reports ofbreakthrough conversations

where those who claimed tobe against marriage equalitybegan to reconsider their posi-tions. Unfortunately, some ofthe opposition was virulentlyanti-gay and made lewd andinflammatory comments atLGBT people and our allies.One man carried a sign thatsaid Dan White was a hero.

He killed a queer. Luckily themajority of marriage equalityadvocates showed great com-posure and dignity in the faceof their hatred.

In fact, it was clear that thecalmer we were and the moreof a message we sent outabout this being about loveand the need for more loveand respect in the world, theangrier they got.

the California State SupremeCourt, but the events led to alawsuit arguing that denyingsame-sex couples the right tomarry was unconstitutional. Asyou know, we won the lawsuitin 2008 and same-sex coupleshad their wedding day.

In a shocking turn of events,our fundamental freedoms,our inalienable constitutionalrights were stripped from usby a popular vote with a slimmajority.

The loss of our marriage rightsin California through Proposi-tion 8 has inspired a nationaloutcry for justice. Organizingand rallying has doubled.Thousands of people acrossthe nation protested Proposi-

tion 8 on November 15, 2008.

On Freedom to Marry Day-February 12, 2009, twenty-fivestates in sixty cities nationwideheld marriage license counterdemonstrations challenging thediscriminatory treatment of

Marriage Equality USA, Inc.was founded and formed Feb-ruary 12, 1998, on NationalFreedom To Marry Day by ahandful of activists that be-lieved same-sex couplesshould have the right to marry.

Three years later, on February12, 2001, Marriage EqualityUSA members in New YorkCity, Los Angeles, and SanFrancisco rendered visible thediscrimination that same-sexcouples experienced by start-ing the marriage licensecounter actions and within afew short years sparked amarriage equality revolution,when in response to thefourth annual marriage licensecounter action, GavinNewsom, the Mayor of San

Francisco, changed the mar-riage license forms to sayapplicant one and applicanttwo and began issuing mar-riage licenses to same-sexcouples.

Sadly, the marriage licenses wereceived were invalidated by

same-sex couples. While inMassachusetts and Connecti-cut, same-sex couples legallywed on Valentines Day. 2down, 48 to go!

We must continue this mo-mentum, pushing equality to

the tipping point, so thatacross the nation LGBTIAmericans will have full equal-ity!! Our opponents are work-ing hard to prevent us fromever seeing that day, so wemust continue to work hard,find allies, and as poet AllenGinsberg said, put our queershoulder to the wheel.

Davina Kotulski, Ph.D., Advi-sory Board Member of Mar-riage Equality USA and authorofWhy You Should Give A Damn

About Gay Marriage, will betraveling to Des Moines, Iowaat the end of the month tomeet with Iowa MarriageEquality USA leaders, strate-gists, and politicians. Clickhere for information.

Legal & Legislative BriefsLegal Briefs: Massachusettschallenged the federal DOMA onMarch 3rd, six married same-sexcouples and three widowers, filed alawsuit challenging the federal gov-ernments discriminatory treatmentof married same-sex spouses. Thesuit holds that the Defense of Mar-riage Act is unconstitutional andthat married same-sex spouses andsurvivors are entitled to the same1,138 federal rights that marrieddifferent-sex spouses and survivorshave access to. The plaintiffs are

being represented by GLAD. Thesuit only seeks to eliminate theeffect of DOMA in states wheresame-sex couples can legally marry,but would have no direct impact onother states.

In December 2008, the Iowa Su-preme Court heard oral argumentsin Varnum v. Brien, a marriage equal-ity lawsuit, brought by Lamdba

Legal, argues that under the equalprotection and due process guaran-tees of the Iowa Constitution it isunlawful to bar same-sex couplesfrom marrying. A decision is ex-pected sometime before the end ofthe year. As was the case in Cali-fornia, if the courts find it unconsti-tutional to deny LGBT people theircivil and human rights, opponentsof LGBT equality are expected topursue a constitutional amendment.

The California Supreme Court

heard oral arguments on the valid-ity of Prop 8 on March 5, 2009 andwill issue its ruling sometime within90 days of the hearing (a ruling ispossible any time now but no laterthan June 3, 2009.)

Legislative Briefs :The Ver-mont senate will vote this weekon a marriage equality bill.

New Hampshire will vote thisweek on a marriage equality billand a bill that would providehuman rights protections totranspeople.

Education Brief: According tothe Intersex Society of NorthAmerica, the word describes some-one born with sex chromosomes,genitalia, or an internal reproduc-tive system that are neither clearlymale nor clearly female.Becauseintersex people do not fit clearly

into a binary, but society expectsthem too, they are subject to mar-riage discrimination in similar waysto LGBT people. David Cameron,Intersex Outreach Director, hascreated a resource page to educatepeople about intersex people. Formore info visitwww.marriageequality.org.

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Mobilizing for Day

of Decision

Donate & Deduct

Marriage Equality

USA in the News

Grassroots Keep

Growing

Legal and Legislative

Briefs

Respect, Empower,

and Include: Where

We Will Go From

Here!

Merchandise Online

Ch..Ch..Ch..Changes

New Advisory

Board Members

Ever wondered how you can get all

that snazzy Marriage Equality logo

merchandise? Well wonder no

more! You can visit our online

store at www.cafepress.com/meusa

Here youll find t-shirts, hats, coffeemugs, calendars, buttons, sweat-

shirts, and just about everything

you can think of with the Marriage

Equality logo!

* The official No on 8 campaignads lacked heart and inexcusablyexcluded same-sex couples andtheir families,

* The official No on 8 field plan ofphone banking only lacked visibilityand ignored potential volunteersand abandoned our LGBTI commu-nity and supporters in the CentralValley, and

* Empowering and including thecreative and innovative efforts ofour grassroots community will helpadvance our state and nationalmarriage equality movements

Prop 8 Hurt My Family - Ask MeHow" provides heart-breakingpersonal stories of how Prop 8hurt real people, frightened chil-dren of same-sex couples, pro-moted bullying in schools, causedstraight allies to experience homo-phobia, tore apart families anddestroyed neighborhoods.

Respect, Empower, Include- adopts

After the Prop 8 campaign, wecollected their collective wisdomthrough grassroots input throughcommunity forums hosted acrossCalifornia and over 3,100 on-linesurvey responses regarding the Noon 8 campaign, documenting theharms associated with anti-gayinitiative campaigns like Prop 8 andgathering input on where we gofrom here.

We Will Never Go Back - Grass-roots Input on California's No onProposition 8 Campaign" identifiedmany positive outcomes from theofficial No on 8 campaign, but alsocited the following major concernsand future opportunities:

* Clergy leaders, identified as themost effective messengers for mar-riage equality, were underutilized,

* People of color are part of ourLGBTI family and we must pro-mote their leadership and inclusion

to inform and direct outreach tocommunities of color,

a new mission statement for themarriage equality movement thatno one organization can, or should,do it alone, but together we cancreate an unstoppable, talentedteam of networked grassrootsleaders working in coalition withone another to ensure that all aretreated equally under the law.

Volunteer technology experts fromEquality Camp, Equality Network,

Join the Impact, MEUSA and othersare developing a clearinghouse andcoalition website for grassrootsorganizations to sign on as coalitionpartners, share events through aregional community calendar, postads for volunteers needed for spe-cific projects and allow for support-ers to explore and get involvedwith the organization/s that best fittheir interests.

Marriage Equality USA's three re-ports on California's No on 8 cam-paign are all available for download

at: www.marriageequality.org.

Respect, Empower, Include: Where will we go from here!

MEUSA Merchandise Available Online

We are honoring the transition ofleadership here at Marriage EqualityUSA as Dave Janis-Kitzmillerpasses the torch of President to JoHoenninger, J.D.

Dave has led Marriage Equality USAfor the past two years bringing anew energy and image to MarriageEquality USA and finally securingthe organizations 501 C 3 status.Dave will be joining the AdvisoryBoard and taking time to enjoy hismarriage (he and husband Jeff weremarried June 17th, the day aftermarriage for same-sex couples was

legal in California) and smell theroses. Thank you Dave for yourincredible leadership, positive atti-tude, and great sense of humor.We will miss you, but know thatyou wont be able to help yourself

Prop 8. We are thrilled to wel-come Jo Hoenninger as BoardPresident of Marriage Equality USA.

To learn more about the incrediblegrassroots leaders of MarriageEquality USA, please go to http://www.marriageequality.org/index.php?page=the-organizationand click on the links showing whowe are. You can also visit the chap-ter pages.

With liberty, justice, and marriageequality for all!

Ch..Ch..Ch..Changesfrom reaching out to bring in morestar power to Marriage EqualityUSA. Congratulations on yourmarriage and your degree. Onwardand upward! If you would like tothank Dave for his service, pleasesend your comments to coordina-tor@marriageequality.org.

Marriage Equality USA would liketo welcome attorneyJo Hoen-ningeras Board President. Jo has along history of LGBT civil rightsleadership from her work with BayArea Lawyers for Individual Free-dom and the Service Members

Legal Defense Network (SLDN)working to repeal the Dont AskDont Tell Policy. Jo was also mar-ried in 2008 and intends to keep itthat way. She co-authored MarriageEquality USAs legal brief to repeal

4096 Piedmont Avenue Suite 257

Phone: 510-496-2700

Fax: 510-380-5200

E-mail: info@marriageequality.org

www.marriageequality.org

Founded in 1998, Marriage Equality USA is a national

grassroots organization whose mission is to secure

legally recognized civil marriage equality for all, at the

federal and state level, without regard to gender iden-

tity or sexual orientation .

For more information or to get involved please visit

www.marriageequality.org!

2009MEUSA All rights reserved.

Marriage Equality USA is proud to

announce four new powerhouseadditions to its leadership.

Elected to the California State As-

sembly in 2002 and the Senate in

2008, Senator Mark Leno is one

of the first openly gay men ever

elected to the Assembly. In 2007,

Leno continued his pioneering

battle for equal rights for LGBT

couples and their families by intro-

ducing AB 43, the Religious Free-

dom and Civil Marriage Protection

Act. This historic civil rights legisla-tion would allow same sex couples

to marry in California . In 2005,

Lenos nearly identical AB 849 was

the first marriage equality bill in

United States history to be ap-

proved by both houses of a state

legislature.

Leno has been honored for his

public service by many organiza-

tions including the Stonewall De-

mocratic Club in Los Angeles with

their Sheila Kuehl Trail BlazerAward, The Lazarus Projects Laza-

rus Award for Marriage Equality,

The California Young Democrats

Mentor of the Year, Partners End-

ing Domestic Abuses Kamala Har-

ris Leadership Award and Temple

Beth Chayim Chadashims 2006

Herman Humanitarian Award.

Outside of his capacity as an

elected official, Leno has been a

tireless supporter of nonprofit

the former coordinator of the Cali-fornia Freedom to Marry Coalition2002-2005, was a board member forMarriage Equality USA 2006, and isnow working to confront religiousbigotry and unite progressive com-munities of faith. Marriage EqualityUSA heralds the return of Dr. SylviaRhue.

Margaret Cho, was born Decem-

ber 5, 1968 and raised in San Fran-

cisco. Margaret started performing

stand-up at age 16 and soon after,

she won a comedy contest wherefirst prize was opening for Jerry

Seinfeld. She moved to Los Angeles

in the early '90s, Cho hit the college

circuit, where she immediately be-

came the most booked act in the

market .In addition to her busy tour-

ing schedule, Margaret has proven

herself an established writer and

blogger; comedian, and actress. Her

self written film Bam Bam and

Celeste debuted at the Toronto Film

Festival in 2005 and has since played

at the AFI Fest, Frameline, Fusion,and the London Lesbian & Gay Film

Festival. In 2007, Margaret hit the

road with 80's legends Cyndi Lauper,

Debbie Harry & Erasure along with

indie faves The Dresden Dolls and

The Cliks to host the True Colors

Tour, benefiting the Human Rights

Campaign.

A big welcome to them all!

organizations in San Francisco ,frequently appearing to show sup-

port at events and lending a hand

wherever possible. He was a state-

wide spokesman for the No on

Prop 22 Campaign (the Knight

Initiative) and was a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention

in Los Angeles in August 2000 and

in Boston in August 2004.

Christine Chavez, granddaughterof Cesar Chavez, labor rights activ-ist, leader of the United FarmWorkers and marriage equalityadvocate for almost a decade has

joined Marriage Equality USAsAdvisory Board. Christine wasperforming same-sex blessings evenbefore Gavin Newsom and is a trueadvocate for equality for all people.She remembers going to gay prideparades with her grandfather whowas a fearless leader for equalityfor all people. Christine is living thisproud Chavez family tradition. Wefeel very blessed to have Christineas a part of the Marriage Equality

USA team and speaking of blessed.

We are pleased to also add Dr.Sylvia Rhue Director of ReligiousAffairs and Constituency Develop-ment of the National Black JusticeCoalition, to the Marriage EqualityUSA Advisory Board. The fight forfreedom and equality has long beenin Dr. Rhues blood. Her familytook flight from the United Statesto Canada to escape slavery viaHarriet Tubmans UndergroundRailroad. Dr. Sylvia Rhue is a tire-less advocate for equality. She was

New Advisory Board Members

So you are passionate aboutMarriage Equality and you wantto support organizations that willmake your dollar hollerright?

Your donation to MarriageEquality USA will supportimportant educational and out-reach work around the countryand will make you feel like moreof an owner of the cause.

Heres even more great news:You can deduct your charita-ble donation on your taxes.

If you need financial incentive forgiving money away, consider thefact that donations to MarriageEquality USA are tax deductibleand may reduce the total amountyou owe when tax time rollsaround.

Remember you can make anannual donation or a set it up tomale a recurring monthly contri-bution.

You can make a donation onlineat www.marriageequality.org ,

Be sure to keep the receipts youget for your donations.!

Donate & Deduct

Save The Date April 15th Annual Tax Day Demonstrations Together forhow many years and still filing single?

Dr. Davina Kotulski