My Concerns Over the Love Honor Cherish's Prop 8 Repeal Initiative

This is from my piece at the Bilerico Project

Earlier this morning Karen Ocamb shared the Thumbnail image for Outside the California Supreme Court Prop 8 hearingnews that the grassroots group, Love Honor Cherish can gather signatures to put the Prop 8 repeal on the ballot for 2012. In order to be successful in this initiative, Love Honor Cherish must collect over 800,000 signatures by May 14, 2012. The group jumped to the task in October, once Equality California decided not to lead a repeal effort.

According to Equality California, there were concerns over community support and fundraising to properly manage the repeal initiative. However, Love Honor Cherish feels they can succeed in this effort.

I'll admit they have good intentions, but this effort has raised serious concerns for me.

For one, they have tried before and failed. Granted it's been about two years, but they didn't come close to gathering enough signatures. How will they reach their goal by May?

Then comes the money issue. Raising the money for this ballot initiative in this economy can be tough. It's going to take millions to not only run the campaign, but to fight off the opponents. Love Honor Cherish has recruited former EQCA Development Director, Eric Harrison as their new Interim Executive Director. Through Eric, they are hoping to raise enough money. But can they do it within 5 months?

And what about a plan? Love Honor Cherish has to gain 807,615 valid signatures, so they need close to a million signatures to be safe. What is their plan to achieve this? So far, we haven't heard an idea, a plan or anything that would curb doubts. They will need many volunteers to tread the neighborhoods in California. and I mean many.

Support is another factor. Right now, there are no other California based groups supporting this effort. Most of the organizations agreed with Equality California's stance. How can one group lead this effort alone successfully? And what about the community's support? The LGBT community in California are not completely sold on the Prop 8 repeal being on the ballot in 2012. Should Love Honor Cherish speak for the community, when the community is not completely solid on the idea?

I appreciate Love Honor Cherish's drive to make this happen, but I think they are way over their heads. They will need strong fundraising events and a powerful canvassing campaign to pull this off. And if they succeed, they will have to be ready for our opponents, who never have any problems raising their hate money. Will Love Honor Cherish be ready for that?

Equality California wants Gay Marriage Back on the Ballot

Equality California wants to know if gay marriage should be back on the ballot. Here's their press release:

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that they will not permit same-sex couples to marry while we wait for the California Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals to hear and consider the case. This announcement has sparked conversations about whether or not our state should wait for the courts to restore the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, or if we should overturn Prop. 8 at the ballot box.


Equality California is seeking input from the community and about the wisdom of moving forward with a ballot initiative. This survey is a first step in a process that will include research, conversations with coalition partners, town halls and further chances for input. 

Interesting, I will have more info of this once we meet with other Cali-Ca groups

No Prop 8 Repeal on the 2010 Ballot

This is not a shock for some of us in Cali-Cal, however, the efforts to put a Prop 8 repeal on the 2010 ballot is dead. Here's the news from a press release I got today:

Love Honor Cherish, which spearheaded an effort to place an initiative on the November 2010 ballot to repeal Proposition 8 and restore equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, announced today that the proponents did not gather the 694,354 signatures necessary to place the proposed initiative on the ballot. The group vowed to work toward the repeal of Prop 8 at the next general election in November 2012.

"This is a heartbreaking moment," said John Henning, Executive Director of Love Honor Cherish. "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."

Now, to be real, many of us knew 2010 wasn't the best time. 2012 will a far better date to assess the work and fundraising needed to make this happen. I believe that 2012 is the best time. We need to reach out all over Cali and strengthen connections our allies, as well as, gain new folks on our side.

It will take an unified front to guarantee equality.

More here

David Mixner will play "It's yor Fault, Obama" on the jukebox today

In David's blog, he spent some time blaming Obama for not telling folks to vote against the anti-gay agenda.

He said:

You have to be totally operating on blind faith if you believe that President Obama and his team cannot make a difference. Tragically if we lose closely, that defeat almost can be laid at the steps of the White House for their refusal to stand by our side in the battle for freedom. The Holder remark basically gave those Obama supporters and non-white voters permission to vote against our freedom. The Attorney General let them know that Obama didn't care one way or another so why should those voters change their votes? He gave their votes respectability which was devastating for our side.

The failure of our national organizations to obtain a clear cut endorsement for the LGBT community is something that needs to be discussed. This one isn't rocket science. What happened?

We certainly know by the president's repeated visits to Virginia, New York and New Jersey that he at least had time to issue a tough statement against this form of ballot box bigotry. What they did and failed to do these past weeks, whether we win or lose tonight, is just tragic, sad and unconscionable.

David, while I respect you, I think this is a bit much. Most folks don't want the President getting involved in any state initiatives. We didn't want Bush doing it, why would we want Obama doing it. Oh, because it benefits us.

But let's play with that notion. What if Obama did get involved and we still lost? Would it be his fault then? It would have been worse if he got involved because it would've opened a barrel of worms. Imagine other groups asking for Obama to get involved---
"Hey Obama, support weed!" or " Obama get behind the three strike rule against teenage gang members!" Regardless if it's right or wrong, I think it's best for him to stay out of ballot initiatives. That's the job of our Congresspeople and other state elected officials. If Obama got involved and failed, it would be used against him, giving us far worse consequences. Hell, if he succeeded, it still would've haunted him.

Plus, Obama doesn't have a mystical hold on people of color, so that piece about us taking away freedoms is poppycock.

David, consistently blaming only others destroys any opportunity to change.

I would love to hear your opinions