LIGHT UP THE NIGHT FOR EQUALITY | DECEMBER 20, 2008 | 5PM
WHAT IS IT?
On December 20th, we ask that you join us again for a nation-wide demonstration that will make an impact on the private sector. Candlelight vigils will be held at commercial centers in cities across the country in remembrance of the rights that once were for 18,000 marriages, and in honor of the rights that one day will be again - for EVERYONE.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Please take to your local commercial district at 5PM--be it a shopping mall, outdoor financial center, you name it.
This will be a peaceful demonstration in the spirit of the holidays.
We'll dress alike: make or buy a "Second Class Citizen" t-shirt.
This will be the culmination of our event (see below for details)
WHAT WILL WE BE DOING?
Hosting peaceful candlelight vigils
We will stay silent unless asked a question, we will not yell, instigate, or bare signs. Instead, we will let our shirts do the talking and our candles pay our respects. Bring candles (battery powered if you'll be huddling inside).
Singing and/or silence encouraged ... chanting is not....keep it peaceful and in the holiday spirit.
Long Beach, Belmont Shore at 2nd St.
We line both sides of second street! 1/2 mile on either side. Starting at 4621 E 2nd St.
THE LDS CHURCH -
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being accused of using church funds tin a lobbying campaign for the passage of California's Proposition 8. They're also being accused of using funds for the campaigns and constitutional amendments banning same-gender marriages in Arizona and Florida. In 2000, the LDS Church was found guilty for participating in political campaigns for the very same thing in California. Their success amended the California Constitution to exclude same-gender partners from the right to marry.
You can print out this pre-filled document and mail it in to the IRS (address is on the document). The IRS will be inundated with thousands of complaints about the misappropriation of funds, thereby, endangering the LDS Church's tax-exempt status. Please be aware that churches who claim a tax-exempt status are prohibited from participating in political activities and lobbying.
Are you a Mormon?
If you are a member of the Mormon Church, and have decided that you no longer wish to be a member, visit these web sites to learn exactly how to remove your membership. There is specific wording required to end your membership, and these sites provide it.
You can look up donors to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign from Long Beach. It includes information about the person such as employment, etc. For instance, if you look at the link below you can see the CEO of WKS corporation donated $6000 on August 20th 2008. WKS Corporation is El Pollo Loco, Dennys, and Corner Bakery Cafe. Our voices can be heard in many ways, let's not support businesses who won't support our rights.
BOYCOTT WKS CORPORATION - MANY EL POLLO LOCO LOCATIONS IN OUR AREA!
This list contains the list of El Pollo Loco franchise stores owned by WKS Restaurant Corp. Roland Spongberg, CEO of WKS made a It was provided by Jeanne Scott, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Training at El Pollo Loco. Jeanne is an out lesbian in a 20 year relationship, and has been . She wanted to make sure that people knew that El Pollo Loco as a corporation is very open minded and supportive of our community and that Sponberg's donation was in no way a representation of El Pollo Loco or it's other franchisees.
WKS is one of El Pollo's largest franchisees and we can make a big stand for equal rights by not giving them our money. However the rest of the El Pollo locations are in good standing as far as we're concerned. Please keep that in mind if you hear talk about boycotting El Pollo Loco, okay?
WKS also owns Denny's and Corner Bakery Cafe restaurants. We are in the process of obtaining those lists.
This list contains ALL the El Pollo Loco franchises, please scroll down until you locate WKS Corporation to find the locations they specifically own.
California Supreme Court Grants Review In Prop 8 Legal Challenges Court to determine constitutionality of Prop 8
(San Francisco, California, November 19, 2008)—Today the California Supreme Court granted review in the legal challenges to Proposition 8, which passed by a narrow margin of 52 percent on November 4. In an order issued today, the Court agreed to hear the case and set an expedited briefing schedule. The Court also denied an immediate stay.
On November 5, 2008, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of Proposition 8 in the California Supreme Court on behalf of six couples and Equality California. The City of San Francisco, joined by the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, and Santa Clara County, filed a similar challenge, as did a private attorney in Los Angeles.
The lawsuits allege that, on its face, Proposition 8 is an improper revision rather than an amendment of the California Constitution because, in its very title, which was “Eliminates the right to marry for same-sex couples,” the initiative eliminated an existing right only for a targeted minority. If permitted to stand, Proposition 8 would be the first time an initiative has successfully been used to change the California Constitution to take away an existing right only for a particular group. Such a change would defeat the very purpose of a constitution and fundamentally alter the role of the courts in protecting minority rights. According to the California Constitution, such a serious revision of our state Constitution cannot be enacted through a simple majority vote, but must first be approved by two-thirds of the Legislature.
Since the three lawsuits submitted on November 5, three other lawsuits challenging Proposition 8 have been filed. In a petition filed on November 14, 2008, leading African American, Latino, and Asian American groups argued that Proposition 8 threatens the equal protection rights of all Californians.
On November 17, 2008, the California Council of Churches and other religious leaders and faith organizations representing millions of members statewide, also filed a petition asserting that Proposition 8 poses a severe threat to the guarantee of equal protection for all, and was not enacted through the constitutionally required process for such a dramatic change to the California Constitution. On the same day, prominent California women’s rights organizations filed a petition asking the Court to invalidate Proposition 8 because of its potentially disastrous implications for women and other groups that face discrimination.
In May of 2008, the California Supreme Court held that barring same-sex couples from marriage violates the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and violates the fundamental right to marry. Proposition 8 would completely eliminate the right to marry only for same-sex couples. No other initiative has ever successfully changed the California Constitution to take away a right only from a targeted minority group.
Over the past 100 years, the California Supreme Court has heard nine cases challenging either legislative enactments or initiatives as invalid revisions of the California Constitution. In three of those cases, the Court invalidated those measures.
For more information on this case, go to:
and
PROPOSITION 8 - Legal Battle Ahead
(11/5/2008) SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Attorney General, Equality California, and the nation's leading LGBT legal groups agree that the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who married between June 16, 2008 and the possible passage of Proposition 8 are still valid in the state of California and must continue to be honored by the state.
Legal Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Proposition 8
(11/5/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO – The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a writ petition before the California Supreme Court today urging the court to invalidate Proposition 8 if it passes. The petition charges that Proposition 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group – lesbian and gay Californians. Proposition 8 also improperly attempts to prevent the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting the equal protection rights of minorities. According to the California Constitution, such radical changes to the organizing principles of state government cannot be made by simple majority vote through the initiative process, but instead must, at a minimum, go through the state legislature first.
Attorney Gloria Allred: On May 15, 2008, after we waged a four year long legal battle we finally won a landmark victory in the California Supreme Court for same gender couples who wished to marry in California.
Last night, opponents sought to reverse that decision with Proposition 8 in which they once again sought to restrict legal marriage to a man and a woman. That Proposition appears to have passed by a narrow margin.
As a result, today we will file a writ with the California Supreme Court on behalf of Robin Tyler and her spouse, Diane Olson, challenging its constitutionality on several grounds. In our case in May, the California Supreme Court ruled that the equal protection clause in our California Constitution protects the rights of lesbians and gays to marry the person of their choice, and for the first time, recognized homosexuality as a “suspect classification” under the equal protection clause of our state constitution, thereby requiring a strict scrutiny test which test was not and cannot be met (the court so held) in marriages limited to a man and a woman. Prop 8, if it passes, conflicts with the equal protection clause. If marriage is now limited to straight couples and excludes gay couples then it is inconsistent and in conflict with the equal protection clause. We will argue to the court that Prop 8 is a disguised revision to the constitution which cannot be imposed by the ordinary amendment process, which only requires a simple majority. We believe that then the court must hold that California may not issue marriage licenses to non-gay couples because if it does it would be violating the equal protection clause as straight couples would have more rights by being allowed to marry than gay couples.
If Prop 8 had said that the California constitution was amended to limit marriage to people of the same race only, would that be constitutional under our state constitution? Of course not as it would violate the equal protection clause and the seminal case of Perez v. Sharp which the Supreme court decided sixty years ago.
We will also argue that Prop 8 improperly revises recent opinion the Supreme Court’s recent opinion defining the constitutional fundamental right of marriage. The state constitution provides that revisions to the constitution requires a 2/3 vote of the legislature or the convening of a state constitutional convention, and a proposition requiring only 50% is not available to the electorate to accomplish the revision to our equal protection clause.
Lastly, the constitutional requirement of separation of powers, we will argue, does not permit the use of the Proposition format to remove and/or circumvent the judiciary in determining the interpretation of what is or is not a fundamental liberty right and who is and who is not protected by the equal protection clause.
The apparent passage of Prop 8 in California has been a heartbreaking experience for our clients, Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, and millions of other same gender couples who have married or wish to marry in California and throughout the nation. All they have asked for is equal rights under the law and equal respect and dignity for their families and their committed relationships.
Our law firm is honored to continue this great civil rights battle for them. We will never give in and we will never give up. We will continue to be the change we wish to see in the world and we will never have another season of silence until same gender couples enjoy the same rights as non-gay couples on this green earth.
The passage of Prop 8 in California has catalyzed a national discussion about same-sex marriage. And Jon Stewart's discussion with Mike Huckabee -- a prominent social conservative and likely 2012 presidential candidate -- may become one of the more significant developments in the ongoing debate over the fundamental right to marriage.
Please watch this intelligent interview, send Jon a thank you note (a short form on the same page) and tell a friend!
Click the picture to view the video.
KABC - Channel 7 - Report on the Long Beach Protest March with Kim Woods & Suja Lowenthal -
In the LB Report:
Governor Schwarzenegger Speaks Out -
MarriageEquality Peace Rally and Wed-In
November 15th
over 1,000 attended!
The Center Long Beach in coalition and solidarity with community leaders and activists joined cities all over America for the National Day of Support for California Marriage Equality.
For the best photos and coverage, visit these sites:
