May, 26 2009, 02:20pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Vaishalee Raja, Communications Director,PHONE: (916) 284-9187,EMAIL:,vaishalee@eqca.org
Equality California Vows to Restore Marriage at Ballot Box in Wake of Prop. 8 Ruling
Following the California Supreme Court's decision today to
uphold Prop. 8, which stripped same-sex couples of their right to
marry, Equality California (EQCA) vowed to win marriage back at the
ballot box. EQCA released the following statement as well as a memo to
members and allies detailing its recommendations to return to the
ballot in 2010.
Statement from Marc Solomon, EQCA's Marriage Director:
LOS ANGELES
Following the California Supreme Court's decision today to
uphold Prop. 8, which stripped same-sex couples of their right to
marry, Equality California (EQCA) vowed to win marriage back at the
ballot box. EQCA released the following statement as well as a memo to
members and allies detailing its recommendations to return to the
ballot in 2010.
Statement from Marc Solomon, EQCA's Marriage Director:
"Today's ruling is a miscarriage of justice. No minority group should have to defend its right to equality at the ballot.
"Despite
today's setback, Equality California is committed to restoring the
freedom to marry. We believe, as do the majority of our members, that
2010 is the best time to return to the ballot to repeal Prop. 8. We
must take full advantage of the momentum and commitment people now have
to do the work required on the ground. However, we will make the final
decision on when to return in collaboration with our coalition partners
and allies throughout the state."We have
already launched a mobilization campaign to reach more than 300,000
Californians in the next 100 days in places where we need the most
movement--Los Angeles County, San Diego, Orange County, the Inland
Empire, the Central Valley and Sacramento, and over the coming weeks we
will expand our efforts with our partners and tens of thousands of
volunteers."We do not underestimate the
challenge of implementing a strong ballot campaign. Introducing ballot
language is simple; winning an affirmative referendum on the freedom to
marry will be difficult and expensive. But we have confidence that we can and will prevail."We
look forward to working with our coalition partners to make a final
decision on when to return to the ballot and to putting together one
powerful, winning campaign program to ensure that committed, same-sex
couples are once again able to enjoy the dignity and protections that
marriage provides."
To read the entire memo detailing arguments for 2010 versus 2012, please visit www.eqca.org/2010v2012memo
Equality California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-based, statewide advocacy organization whose mission is to achieve equality and civil rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians.
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300+ Arrested Outside Schumer's Home During Jewish-Led Seder Against Gaza Genocide
"No one is free until everyone is free," read a banner representing a Seder plate. "Jews say stop arming Israel."
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As U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer prepared to vote on Tuesday night for a foreign aid package including billions to continue arming Israel in its bombardment of Gaza, roughly 300 protesters were arrested outside his home in Brooklyn for holding an "emergency Passover seder" protest, demanding the U.S. end its support for an assault that has killed at least 34,262 Palestinians.
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Hundreds of people, some wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyehs, linked arms and chanted, "Free, free Palestine!" while blocking traffic and displaying the Seder plate.
"No one is free until everyone is free," read the banner. "Jews say stop arming Israel."
Schumer's home has been the site of numerous protests since October, when Israel began its attacks on and blockade of Gaza, which have left parts of the enclave facing famine and the entire population of 2.3 million people suffering from "acute food insecurity," at a minimum.
"A genocide being carried out in our names as Jews demands that we adapt our sacred tradition again, take to the streets, and do everything we can to prevent more death," author and activist Naomi Klein said at the protest.
The Biden administration has approved numerous weapons transfers to Israel, and the Senate overwhelmingly voted Tuesday night in favor of the package that includes $17 billion more in unconditional aid for the Israel Defense Forces.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) were the only members of the Democratic caucus who voted against the funding bill. Fifteen Republicans also opposed the bill over its inclusion of Ukraine aid.
The demonstration at Grand Army Plaza was organized amid a burgeoning protest movement on U.S. college campuses, including at Columbia University, where more than 100 students were suspended and then arrested for trespassing last week after setting up an encampment to demand the school divest from all companies that work with the Israeli government.
The student-led protests have been denounced by President Joe Biden and other pro-Israel critics as "antisemitic" and endangering Jewish students, despite the fact that Jewish students have helped to organize the nonviolent demonstrations.
One organizer, Calvin Harrison, told The New York Times that he attended the Brooklyn protest Tuesday night "because I'm a Jew and I was raised to believe that Judaism is about justice."
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Yonah Lieberman, co-founder of IfNotNow, recalled the group's Liberation Seder in 2016 in New York, where campaigners protested the Anti-Defamation League's support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
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With the support of nearly 80% of the chamber's lawmakers, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved a sprawling foreign aid package that includes $17 billion in unconditional military assistance for the Israeli government as it ramps up its catastrophic assault on the Gaza Strip.
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The 79 senators who voted to pass Biden's foreign aid bill/expand Israel's genocide in Gaza: pic.twitter.com/bVQisvOndd
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"This is a huge testament to our collective strength and resilience as a progressive movement," said the executive director of Justice Democrats.
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U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a member of the progressive "Squad," won the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District on Tuesday, fending off an opponent whose campaign was backed by a billionaire Republican megadonor and ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lee, a vocal critic of the Netanyahu government and leading supporter of a cease-fire in Gaza, handily defeated Bhavini Patel, a borough councilmember in Edgewood, Pennsylvania whose effort to unseat the progressive incumbent was bankrolled by Jeffrey Yass, the state's richest man. Patel actively courted Republican and pro-Israel voters, characterizing Lee as "fringe."
With more than 95% of the vote counted, Lee is ahead of Patel by more than 20 percentage points.
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Opposing genocide is good politics and good policy. #CeasefireNOWÂ https://t.co/A7pnJNskWS
— Summer Lee (@SummerForPA) April 24, 2024
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While AIPAC ultimately sat out the Pennsylvania race, it is devoting considerable resources to ousting other progressive lawmakers, including Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.).
The pro-Israel lobbying group has endorsed Bush challenger Wesley Bell, calling him a "strong advocate for the U.S.-Israel relationship." As The Guardianreported last week, Bell has "raised more than $650,000 in earmarked contributions through the group Democracy Engine Inc. PAC—a donation platform that allows unpopular PACs to obscure their donations and lists AIPAC as a client on its LinkedIn page."
AIPAC is the largest donor to Bowman challenger George Latimer, who has supported Israel's war on Gaza and denied that Israel is committing genocide. The Democratic primary for New York's 16th Congressional District is on June 25.
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