For people espousing progressive values, many November election results brought cheers. The passing of Proposition 8, on the other hand, which amends the California constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, brought sadness, anger and protests.
Perry Hoffman and Doug Smith exchanged rings on the momentous date of June 17 when California made history by becoming the second state to legalize same sex marriage. The status of thousands of weddings performed between June and the November election is now in question. Even after Proposition 8 passed, Smith says, “I don’t feel like they’re going to take away my marriage; that will be intact.” Hoffman says, “This issue is about tolerance and acceptance of everyone’s spiritual and religious convictions to marry the one they love regardless of race or gender. It is about the love of two people.”
Love Honor Cherish, a grassroots organization fighting against Proposition 8, is committed to a public education campaign focused on the freedom to marry and to the repeal of the proposition. “At Love Honor Cherish, we feel the campaign was ineffective for many reasons, but the greatest failure was not conveying to a wider audience the seriousness of what Californians were being asked to do and how deeply it would hurt friends, family members, and co-workers,” says Lester F. Aponte, a Love Honor Cherish member and chair of the LGBT committee of the Hispanic National Bar Association.
After nearly 39 years together, Sybil De Cenzo and her partner Sara Calkins said their “I dos” in October. “Because we live in California, a liberal state, surely people will not tolerate people’s rights being tramped on,” said De Cenzo.
But the votes were cast, so what’s next? “Whether we fight this struggle in the courts, through a proposition in 2010 to repeal Prop 8, or we do both, we must remain vocal, and we must continue having this conversation with everyone and at every opportunity,” says Aponte. He continues, “Our struggle for civil rights may be long and it will be hard, but we are not going away, and we will not give up until we are once again full citizens of the State of California. Our straight allies can do the same by speaking out about this important issue through attending rallies, writing letters to governmental officials and voicing out whenever possible.” Couples have already started filing lawsuits.
For more information, visit: lovehonorcherish.org
By Melissa Chua
Melissa Chua is an LA-based writer who enjoys inversions and playing around with arm balancing poses. m.chua13@gmail.com