Stripping Us of Our Civil Rights

Last week we read in the papers that the fundamentalists are collecting signatures to put two propositions on the fall ballot that would permanently end any hope of gay marriage in California, and strip us of our current civil rights. I got a letter from the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

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On July 25, 2005 the California Attorney General approved petition language for a ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to repeal and permanently ban existing domestic partnership benefits and ban marriage for same-sex couples in California. We expect the anti-gay industry sponsoring the proposed amendment to get the nearly one million signatures necessary to qualify the measure for a vote in 2006.

And later this week we expect the Attorney General to approve petition language for two additional measures that would similarly amend the constitution. Each would permanently ban the rights and responsibilities currently available to same-sex couples, as well as senior citizen couples, and who are registered as domestic partners. They would:

• Repeal health insurance, hospital visitation, inheritance and medical leave rights.
• Prohibit an individual from seeking remedies for the wrongful death of his or her domestic partner.
• Permanently ban the California legislature, courts and governor's administration from providing legal protections to, and imposing responsibilities on domestic partners.
• Strip away every domestic partnership right we have fought so hard to get!

The good news we can defeat any amendment that makes it to the ballot. You can read more about the campaign or volunteer by visiting http://www.equalityforallca.org/ or www.voteforequality.org Your commitment, money and hard work is essential to the success of our campaign against the very well funded and organized anti-gay industry that oppose marriage equality and even the most basic protections for same-sex households.

We can win in California. We can turn back the tide. We can change the course of our country when it comes to justice and security for our lives and families. But we can't do all that without your help.

Sincerely,

Kate Kendell
Executive Director, NCLR

Perhaps we can defeat these, but god dammit why should we have to? Can we work on something else? The really sick thing is that this isn't about lesbians getting married, it's about getting fascists and their supporters to vote in the election so that their candidates will be elected. It's just "the issue" that controls the outcome of the election. And this sort of thing only works when voters are ignorant and uneducated. It's not the people are stupid, it's that they are sheep.