August 4, 2010 | ||||
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Dear Daniel, Victory! After compelling testimony from California couples who are denied the freedom to marry, Federal District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled today thatProposition 8 is unconstitutional. The case will now move to the Court of Appeals. We owe Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown a great deal of gratitude for their unprecedented decision not to defend this discriminatory measure, leaving only Andrew Pugno’s anti-LGBT extremist group to defend the case. Celebrate this incredible victory by defending it. Will you give just $1 a day to help California’s largest LGBT Political Action Committee elect a governor and attorney general who will refuse to appeal this ruling? The state refused to defend its own law, keeping its skilled lawyers and legal resources out of this case. No doubt, this was a factor in today’s victory. Ensuring that the state continues to refuse to stand for bigotry will become even more vital as the case moves up to the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help candidates who support changing the state’s position in the case and who oppose marriage equality. We’ve come too far to let them succeed. Stand up to NOM and help Equality California defeat anti-equality candidates including Meg Whitman and Yes on 8’s lead attorney Andrew Pugno! The legal team brought together by the American Foundation for Equal Rights and the City and County of San Francisco did an excellent job of making the case for equality. Now it is up to us to ensure that the State of California doesn’t oppose them on appeal. We can be the margin of victory this November. Please make as generous of a donation as you can. Just $1 a day will make a very real difference. In solidarity,  Geoff Kors Executive Director Equality California  |
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Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Via EQCA:
Via Freedom to Marry:
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via AFER:
Dear Daniel,
Today’s biggest story will be the court’s decision to rule in favor of equality over discrimination and truth over fear. The media is eager to hear the reactions of our legal team and plaintiffs to this historic decision. We would like to invite you to be part of this important press conference as our team talks about our plan to continue fighting after the opposition's inevitable appeal - a process that will ultimately go to the Supreme Court. We are broadcasting it LIVE on our website. The press conference is beginning right now. Watch and discuss LIVE with supporters across the country. Events like these are a unique opportunity to get the news unfiltered. You can hear for yourself what the ruling means for people today and tomorrow, what the top legal minds anticipate in the case during the weeks and months ahead, and its impact on our four plaintiffs - Sandy, Kris, Paul and Jeff. See you online.
PS: While there is much to celebrate, remember that the opposition is appealing the decision. We will need your continued support to defend marriage equality. Please donate. | |||||||||||||||
Via JMG: The Gay Roe V. Wade
"Many expect this case ultimately to be decided by the United States Supreme Court. In less than two years — before the 2012 elections — we could be facing a Roe v. Wade-like ruling on marriage from the Supreme Court, striking down the marriage laws of 45 states, forcing same-sex marriage on the entire nation. "I can’t put it more starkly: This case will decide the future of marriage in the United States. Losing is simply not an option. We need your help today. If each of us do what we can – whether it’s $10 or $10,000 – we will help ensure that marriage receives the strongest possible defense at every stage of this journey. Please visit www.Prop8Case.com to make your most generous gift to the NOM Legal Defense Fund right now. All gifts are tax-deductible. Thank you. Standing together, we will be victorious." - NOM president Brian Brown, anticipating losing today.
TODAY: Proposition 8 Day Of Decision Rallies Planned Nationwide
45 Cities and Growing!
Veteran reporter Rex Wockner has compiled a growing list of rallies (and hopefully, celebrations) to take place around the nation today shortly after the release of the Prop 8 decision. A sampling: LOS ANGELES: 6 p.m. | West Hollywood Park | 647 N. San VicenteNew York City's event will take place in downtown Manhattan at the New York Supreme Court, 60 Centre Street, at 7pm. I hope to see all of you there! Hit Wockner's link for an event in your hometown. And below is a great advance video about today's rallies from JMG reader Sean Chapin.
SAN DIEGO: March: 6 p.m. @ 6th & University | Rally: 7 p.m. @ LGBT Community Center | 3909 Centre St
SAN FRANCISCO: 5 p.m. | Castro & Market
LONG BEACH: 6 p.m. | Bixby Park | Junipero & Cherry @ Broadway
SACRAMENTO: 6 p.m. | Party | K & 21st | In the unlikely event Judge Walker rules against teh gay, there will be a march to the Capitol
SAN JOSE: 6 p.m. | Billy DeFrank Center | 983 the Alameda
Labels: activism, California, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Perry v Schwarzenengger, Proposition 8
From the Courage Campaign:
Dear Daniel --
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Judge Vaughn Walker has just announced that he will release his federal court decision on Proposition 8 on Wednesday (August 4)!
While the decision will very likely be immediately appealed -- eventually winding up in the U.S. Supreme Court -- this will be a moment that you and your friends will remember for the rest of your lives.
You can be the first to know Judge Walker's ruling by following Testimony: Equality On Trial on Facebook and sharing the news with your friends. We will be providing live updates, including Judge Walker's ruling, actions you can take, and how to plug in to local Day of Decision rallies in your community.
Just click here to get the decision first on Facebook. All you have to do is "like" the Testimony: Equality on Trial fanpage to show your support for marriage equality. Then click on "Suggest to Friends" and ask your friends to stand with us in this historic moment:
http://www.facebook.com/EqualityOnTrial
No matter how Judge Walker rules, we must be ready as a community to show our continuing support for equality. If you know people who want to hear about Judge Walker's decision the moment it breaks, please forward this message to your friends right now and ask them to join you.
Thank you for standing up for equality on this historic day.
Andy Kelley
New Media Organizer, Courage Campaign
P.S. You can also find in-depth coverage and live discussions before and after Judge Walker's ruling at our Prop 8 Trial Tracker web site, which now has garnered more than 2.5 million views and 44,016 comments:
http://prop8trialtracker.com
Courage Campaign Institute is a part of the Courage Campaign's multi-issue online organizing network that empowers more than 700,000 grassroots and netroots supporters to push for progressive change and full equality in California and across the country. To get involved in the Courage Campaign Institute, visit "Testimony: Equality on Trial" -- our year-long campaign to bring the Prop 8 trial into the lives of Americans.
To power our campaign for equality, please chip in what you can today:
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Via JMG: Prop 8 Decision Due Tomorrow
This is it. The decision of Perry Vs. Schwarzenegger will be issued by Judge Vaughn Walker tomorrow (Wednesday).
The federal court announced today that it will release its decision in the American Foundation for Equal Right’s landmark case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, on Wednesday. Text “EQUAL” to 69866 to get a text message with the official decision on your mobile phone the moment the court releases its decision, or sign-up for an email alert at equalrightsfoundation.org. Join AFER on its Web site to watch a live press conference with our plaintiffs and co-counsels Ted Olson and David Boies following the release of the decision. As we receive news about the details of the release, AFER will update our Facebook and Twitter profiles, along with our Web site.While most on our side are confident the decision will go our way, the result will likely be appealed immediately.
reposted from Joe
via SacBee: Federal judge to issue Proposition 8 decision Wednesday
U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker will issue a decision Wednesday on the constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage, according to a court announcement today. Read more.
Via Autostraddle: Surprise! White Democrats With Kids Are Responsible for Passing Prop 8!
Via JMG: NOM: We Don't Support The Murder Of Gay People (Even If Our Followers Do!)
NOM is EVER so pissed that people are calling them out for holding anti-gay rallies in which supporters freely wave signs calling for the murder of LGBT people. “The New Hampshire Democratic Party has slurred NOM’s good name and the good people of New Hampshire who rightly believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s president. “They’ve escalated their inflammatory rhetoric beyond their customary insulting charge of bigotry and discrimination, and now are actually saying that NOM and supporters of traditional marriage want to murder gays. It’s totally outrageous and should be condemned, as should all violence and threats of violence.”Miss Brown, we ALL saw the video. Your loyal devoted fan most definitely did NOT take his sign down, in fact he happily and proudly brandished it for the cameras of the Courage Campaign. Actually, since your Babble clearly DOES call for every homosexual to be put to death, (Glory! Praise His Name!), it's shocking that you are denouncing the Word Of The Lord! "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." - Ecclesiastes 12:13.
“First of all, the lone sign that the NHDP mentions was not a NOM sign, but something briefly displayed by a single individual at a rally,” Brown said. “Secondly, NOM immediately told the individual to take the sign down because it was disgusting and not reflective of NOM’s message or mission: we love marriage and call on all our supporters to respond to incivility and threats with love and respect. NOM immediately issued both nationwide emails and a nationwide press release condemning the sign, as well as threats mounted by gay marriage radicals against NOM. What’s particularly interesting about the press release with its murder slur is that in their zeal to score political points, the Democratic Party has shown itself to be nothing more than a tool of national gay marriage groups.”
Rachael via JMG: Gays On A Train!
Last night the Rachel Maddow Show had a lot of fun with the Family Research Council's hissy fit about Amtrak's plan to advertise to the gays.
Labels: advertising, Amtrak, Family Reseach Council, Rachel Maddow, rail travel
reposted from JoeVia JMG: Prop 8 Report: It Was The Lying "Think About The Children" Ads That Killed Us
After the election, a misleading finding from exit polls led many to blame African Americans for the loss. But in our new analysis, it appears that African Americans' views were relatively stable. True, a majority of African Americans opposed same-sex marriage, but that was true at the beginning and at the end of the campaign; few changed their minds in the closing weeks. The shift, it turns out, was greatest among parents with children under 18 living at home — many of them white Democrats.Fleischer says that while No On 8's response ads were very good, they came far too late in the campaign. Read Fleishcher's complete report.
The numbers are staggering. In the last six weeks, when both sides saturated the airwaves with television ads, more than 687,000 voters changed their minds and decided to oppose same-sex marriage. More than 500,000 of those, the data suggest, were parents with children under 18 living at home. Because the proposition passed by 600,000 votes, this shift alone more than handed victory to proponents. Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise. The Yes on 8 campaign targeted parents in its TV ads. "Mom! Guess what I learned in school today!" were the cheery-frightening first words of the supporters' most-broadcast ad. They emerged from the mouth of a young girl who had supposedly just learned that she could marry a female when she grew up.
Among the array of untrue ideas that parents could easily take away: that impressionable kids would be indoctrinated; that they would learn about gay sex; that they would be more likely to become gay; and that they might choose to be gay. California voters, depending on where they lived in the state, were exposed to the Yes on 8 ads 20 to 40 times.
Labels: California, education, marriage equality, Proposition 8, Yes On 8
reposted from Joe
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