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thenarrow religious beliefs of someon everyone else.
Disclosure reports indicate that40% of the funding for Proposi-tion 8 came from the MormonChurch and its supporters.
Should churches be able tochange the state constitution toimpose their particular religioustenants on all and if so, whoserights will be up for a vote next?
If the California Supreme Courtdoes not declare Proposition 8unconstitutional, then we will
have to restore equality andfairness to our Constitution bysharing with voters how Prop 8has harmed our families andwork to undo it to restore thevalues of equality and justice forall. We will need volunteers togo door to door , to participatein educational outreach, and to
The California Supreme Courtheard oral arguments on thevalidity of Prop 8 on March 5,2009 and will issue its rulingsometime within 90 days of thehearing (a ruling is possible anytime now but no later than June3, 2009.)
Day of Decision EventsIn preparation for a united com-munity response to the ruling,Day of Decision events arebeing organized in dozens ofcities throughout the coun-try. The evening of the Day ofDecision, win or lose, we'llstand together and send a unified
message that individual libertieslike the right to marry are guar-anteed to everyone and shouldnot be stripped away at the bal-lot box by a bare 2% majority.
To find a Day of Decisionevent near you go towww.decisionday.org
or visit the new California state-wide coalition website atwww.equalitycentral.org.
Meet in the MiddleOn the first Saturday after theCalifornia State Supreme Courtrules on Prop 8, marriage equal-ity supporters will come to-gether for a statewide gatheringin Fresno for what is being called"Meet in the Middle 4 Equality"--to either celebrate or organizeto repeal Prop 8.
For more information go towww.meetinthemiddle4equality.org
Prop 8 undermines the CaliforniaConstitution, not only does itexplicitly discriminate against onegroup of Californians by denyingthem access to civil marriage, italso jeopardizes the separationof church and state by imposing
Mobilizing for Day of DecisionThe M WordM A R C H 2 0 0 9V O L U M E I V I S S U E I
Marriage Equality Grassroots Keep Growing
Marriage Equality USA in the newsOn March 4th 2009, MarriageEquality USA, in coalition withseveral other organizations co-sponsored candlelight vigils inPhoenix and Tucson, Arizona;Miami, Florida; New YorkCity, New York; Tulsa, Okla-homa, and 30 cities in Califor-nia. Thousands of marriageequality supporters rallied and
marched for the event, dubbedthe Eve of Justice, to advo-cate the repeal of Proposition8 (www.eveofjustice.com).
On March 5th, the CaliforniaState Supreme Court heardoral arguments for and againstthe Repeal of Proposition 8.Marriage Equality USA wantedto make sure that all whowere interested in witnessingthe court proceedings wereguaranteed a seat and so,
Marriage Equality USA withthe help of our coalition part-ners funded the rental of a
JumboTron (huge televisionscreen) to be placed in SanFranciscos Civic Center Plazafor a free viewing of the courtproceedings. Despite a fore-cast for rain, the day was filled
with sunshine and began withan interfaith blessing spon-sored by 45 progressive clergymembers.
Thousands of pro-marriageequality and anti-marriageequality viewers filled the plazato watch history. It was a fasci-nating sociological experimentwith Yes on 8ers and No on8ers co-mingling.There were even reports ofbreakthrough conversations
where those who claimed tobe against marriage equalitybegan to reconsider their posi-tions. Unfortunately, some ofthe opposition was virulentlyanti-gay and made lewd andinflammatory comments atLGBT people and our allies.One man carried a sign thatsaid Dan White was a hero.
He killed a queer. Luckily themajority of marriage equalityadvocates showed great com-posure and dignity in the faceof their hatred.
In fact, it was clear that thecalmer we were and the moreof a message we sent outabout this being about loveand the need for more loveand respect in the world, theangrier they got.
the California State SupremeCourt, but the events led to alawsuit arguing that denyingsame-sex couples the right tomarry was unconstitutional. Asyou know, we won the lawsuitin 2008 and same-sex coupleshad their wedding day.
In a shocking turn of events,our fundamental freedoms,our inalienable constitutionalrights were stripped from usby a popular vote with a slimmajority.
The loss of our marriage rightsin California through Proposi-tion 8 has inspired a nationaloutcry for justice. Organizingand rallying has doubled.Thousands of people acrossthe nation protested Proposi-
tion 8 on November 15, 2008.
On Freedom to Marry Day-February 12, 2009, twenty-fivestates in sixty cities nationwideheld marriage license counterdemonstrations challenging thediscriminatory treatment of
Marriage Equality USA, Inc.was founded and formed Feb-ruary 12, 1998, on NationalFreedom To Marry Day by ahandful of activists that be-lieved same-sex couplesshould have the right to marry.
Three years later, on February12, 2001, Marriage EqualityUSA members in New YorkCity, Los Angeles, and SanFrancisco rendered visible thediscrimination that same-sexcouples experienced by start-ing the marriage licensecounter actions and within afew short years sparked amarriage equality revolution,when in response to thefourth annual marriage licensecounter action, GavinNewsom, the Mayor of San
Francisco, changed the mar-riage license forms to sayapplicant one and applicanttwo and began issuing mar-riage licenses to same-sexcouples.
Sadly, the marriage licenses wereceived were invalidated by
same-sex couples. While inMassachusetts and Connecti-cut, same-sex couples legallywed on Valentines Day. 2down, 48 to go!
We must continue this mo-mentum, pushing equality to
the tipping point, so thatacross the nation LGBTIAmericans will have full equal-ity!! Our opponents are work-ing hard to prevent us fromever seeing that day, so wemust continue to work hard,find allies, and as poet AllenGinsberg said, put our queershoulder to the wheel.
Davina Kotulski, Ph.D., Advi-sory Board Member of Mar-riage Equality USA and authorofWhy You Should Give A Damn
About Gay Marriage, will betraveling to Des Moines, Iowaat the end of the month tomeet with Iowa MarriageEquality USA leaders, strate-gists, and politicians. Clickhere for information.
Legal & Legislative BriefsLegal Briefs: Massachusettschallenged the federal DOMA onMarch 3rd, six married same-sexcouples and three widowers, filed alawsuit challenging the federal gov-ernments discriminatory treatmentof married same-sex spouses. Thesuit holds that the Defense of Mar-riage Act is unconstitutional andthat married same-sex spouses andsurvivors are entitled to the same1,138 federal rights that marrieddifferent-sex spouses and survivorshave access to. The plaintiffs are
being represented by GLAD. Thesuit only seeks to eliminate theeffect of DOMA in states wheresame-sex couples can legally marry,but would have no direct impact onother states.
In December 2008, the Iowa Su-preme Court heard oral argumentsin Varnum v. Brien, a marriage equal-ity lawsuit, brought by Lamdba
Legal, argues that under the equalprotection and due process guaran-tees of the Iowa Constitution it isunlawful to bar same-sex couplesfrom marrying. A decision is ex-pected sometime before the end ofthe year. As was the case in Cali-fornia, if the courts find it unconsti-tutional to deny LGBT people theircivil and human rights, opponentsof LGBT equality are expected topursue a constitutional amendment.
The California Supreme Court
heard oral arguments on the valid-ity of Prop 8 on March 5, 2009 andwill issue its ruling sometime within90 days of the hearing (a ruling ispossible any time now but no laterthan June 3, 2009.)
Legislative Briefs :The Ver-mont senate will vote this weekon a marriage equality bill.
New Hampshire will vote thisweek on a marriage equality billand a bill that would providehuman rights protections totranspeople.
Education Brief: According tothe Intersex Society of NorthAmerica, the word describes some-one born with sex chromosomes,genitalia, or an internal reproduc-tive system that are neither clearlymale nor clearly female.Becauseintersex people do not fit clearly
into a binary, but society expectsthem too, they are subject to mar-riage discrimination in similar waysto LGBT people. David Cameron,Intersex Outreach Director, hascreated a resource page to educatepeople about intersex people. Formore info visitwww.marriageequality.org.
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Mobilizing for Day
of Decision
Donate & Deduct
Marriage Equality
USA in the News
Grassroots Keep
Growing
Legal and Legislative
Briefs
Respect, Empower,
and Include: Where
We Will Go From
Here!
Merchandise Online
Ch..Ch..Ch..Changes
New Advisory
Board Members
Ever wondered how you can get all
that snazzy Marriage Equality logo
merchandise? Well wonder no
more! You can visit our online
store at www.cafepress.com/meusa
Here youll find t-shirts, hats, coffeemugs, calendars, buttons, sweat-
shirts, and just about everything
you can think of with the Marriage
Equality logo!
* The official No on 8 campaignads lacked heart and inexcusablyexcluded same-sex couples andtheir families,
* The official No on 8 field plan ofphone banking only lacked visibilityand ignored potential volunteersand abandoned our LGBTI commu-nity and supporters in the CentralValley, and
* Empowering and including thecreative and innovative efforts ofour grassroots community will helpadvance our state and nationalmarriage equality movements
Prop 8 Hurt My Family - Ask MeHow" provides heart-breakingpersonal stories of how Prop 8hurt real people, frightened chil-dren of same-sex couples, pro-moted bullying in schools, causedstraight allies to experience homo-phobia, tore apart families anddestroyed neighborhoods.
Respect, Empower, Include- adopts
After the Prop 8 campaign, wecollected their collective wisdomthrough grassroots input throughcommunity forums hosted acrossCalifornia and over 3,100 on-linesurvey responses regarding the Noon 8 campaign, documenting theharms associated with anti-gayinitiative campaigns like Prop 8 andgathering input on where we gofrom here.
We Will Never Go Back - Grass-roots Input on California's No onProposition 8 Campaign" identifiedmany positive outcomes from theofficial No on 8 campaign, but alsocited the following major concernsand future opportunities:
* Clergy leaders, identified as themost effective messengers for mar-riage equality, were underutilized,
* People of color are part of ourLGBTI family and we must pro-mote their leadership and inclusion
to inform and direct outreach tocommunities of color,
a new mission statement for themarriage equality movement thatno one organization can, or should,do it alone, but together we cancreate an unstoppable, talentedteam of networked grassrootsleaders working in coalition withone another to ensure that all aretreated equally under the law.
Volunteer technology experts fromEquality Camp, Equality Network,
Join the Impact, MEUSA and othersare developing a clearinghouse andcoalition website for grassrootsorganizations to sign on as coalitionpartners, share events through aregional community calendar, postads for volunteers needed for spe-cific projects and allow for support-ers to explore and get involvedwith the organization/s that best fittheir interests.
Marriage Equality USA's three re-ports on California's No on 8 cam-paign are all available for download
at: www.marriageequality.org.
Respect, Empower, Include: Where will we go from here!
MEUSA Merchandise Available Online
We are honoring the transition ofleadership here at Marriage EqualityUSA as Dave Janis-Kitzmillerpasses the torch of President to JoHoenninger, J.D.
Dave has led Marriage Equality USAfor the past two years bringing anew energy and image to MarriageEquality USA and finally securingthe organizations 501 C 3 status.Dave will be joining the AdvisoryBoard and taking time to enjoy hismarriage (he and husband Jeff weremarried June 17th, the day aftermarriage for same-sex couples was
legal in California) and smell theroses. Thank you Dave for yourincredible leadership, positive atti-tude, and great sense of humor.We will miss you, but know thatyou wont be able to help yourself
Prop 8. We are thrilled to wel-come Jo Hoenninger as BoardPresident of Marriage Equality USA.
To learn more about the incrediblegrassroots leaders of MarriageEquality USA, please go to http://www.marriageequality.org/index.php?page=the-organizationand click on the links showing whowe are. You can also visit the chap-ter pages.
With liberty, justice, and marriageequality for all!
Ch..Ch..Ch..Changesfrom reaching out to bring in morestar power to Marriage EqualityUSA. Congratulations on yourmarriage and your degree. Onwardand upward! If you would like tothank Dave for his service, pleasesend your comments to coordina-tor@marriageequality.org.
Marriage Equality USA would liketo welcome attorneyJo Hoen-ningeras Board President. Jo has along history of LGBT civil rightsleadership from her work with BayArea Lawyers for Individual Free-dom and the Service Members
Legal Defense Network (SLDN)working to repeal the Dont AskDont Tell Policy. Jo was also mar-ried in 2008 and intends to keep itthat way. She co-authored MarriageEquality USAs legal brief to repeal
4096 Piedmont Avenue Suite 257
Phone: 510-496-2700
Fax: 510-380-5200
E-mail: info@marriageequality.org
www.marriageequality.org
Founded in 1998, Marriage Equality USA is a national
grassroots organization whose mission is to secure
legally recognized civil marriage equality for all, at the
federal and state level, without regard to gender iden-
tity or sexual orientation .
For more information or to get involved please visit
www.marriageequality.org!
2009MEUSA All rights reserved.
Marriage Equality USA is proud to
announce four new powerhouseadditions to its leadership.
Elected to the California State As-
sembly in 2002 and the Senate in
2008, Senator Mark Leno is one
of the first openly gay men ever
elected to the Assembly. In 2007,
Leno continued his pioneering
battle for equal rights for LGBT
couples and their families by intro-
ducing AB 43, the Religious Free-
dom and Civil Marriage Protection
Act. This historic civil rights legisla-tion would allow same sex couples
to marry in California . In 2005,
Lenos nearly identical AB 849 was
the first marriage equality bill in
United States history to be ap-
proved by both houses of a state
legislature.
Leno has been honored for his
public service by many organiza-
tions including the Stonewall De-
mocratic Club in Los Angeles with
their Sheila Kuehl Trail BlazerAward, The Lazarus Projects Laza-
rus Award for Marriage Equality,
The California Young Democrats
Mentor of the Year, Partners End-
ing Domestic Abuses Kamala Har-
ris Leadership Award and Temple
Beth Chayim Chadashims 2006
Herman Humanitarian Award.
Outside of his capacity as an
elected official, Leno has been a
tireless supporter of nonprofit
the former coordinator of the Cali-fornia Freedom to Marry Coalition2002-2005, was a board member forMarriage Equality USA 2006, and isnow working to confront religiousbigotry and unite progressive com-munities of faith. Marriage EqualityUSA heralds the return of Dr. SylviaRhue.
Margaret Cho, was born Decem-
ber 5, 1968 and raised in San Fran-
cisco. Margaret started performing
stand-up at age 16 and soon after,
she won a comedy contest wherefirst prize was opening for Jerry
Seinfeld. She moved to Los Angeles
in the early '90s, Cho hit the college
circuit, where she immediately be-
came the most booked act in the
market .In addition to her busy tour-
ing schedule, Margaret has proven
herself an established writer and
blogger; comedian, and actress. Her
self written film Bam Bam and
Celeste debuted at the Toronto Film
Festival in 2005 and has since played
at the AFI Fest, Frameline, Fusion,and the London Lesbian & Gay Film
Festival. In 2007, Margaret hit the
road with 80's legends Cyndi Lauper,
Debbie Harry & Erasure along with
indie faves The Dresden Dolls and
The Cliks to host the True Colors
Tour, benefiting the Human Rights
Campaign.
A big welcome to them all!
organizations in San Francisco ,frequently appearing to show sup-
port at events and lending a hand
wherever possible. He was a state-
wide spokesman for the No on
Prop 22 Campaign (the Knight
Initiative) and was a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention
in Los Angeles in August 2000 and
in Boston in August 2004.
Christine Chavez, granddaughterof Cesar Chavez, labor rights activ-ist, leader of the United FarmWorkers and marriage equalityadvocate for almost a decade has
joined Marriage Equality USAsAdvisory Board. Christine wasperforming same-sex blessings evenbefore Gavin Newsom and is a trueadvocate for equality for all people.She remembers going to gay prideparades with her grandfather whowas a fearless leader for equalityfor all people. Christine is living thisproud Chavez family tradition. Wefeel very blessed to have Christineas a part of the Marriage Equality
USA team and speaking of blessed.
We are pleased to also add Dr.Sylvia Rhue Director of ReligiousAffairs and Constituency Develop-ment of the National Black JusticeCoalition, to the Marriage EqualityUSA Advisory Board. The fight forfreedom and equality has long beenin Dr. Rhues blood. Her familytook flight from the United Statesto Canada to escape slavery viaHarriet Tubmans UndergroundRailroad. Dr. Sylvia Rhue is a tire-less advocate for equality. She was
New Advisory Board Members
So you are passionate aboutMarriage Equality and you wantto support organizations that willmake your dollar hollerright?
Your donation to MarriageEquality USA will supportimportant educational and out-reach work around the countryand will make you feel like moreof an owner of the cause.
Heres even more great news:You can deduct your charita-ble donation on your taxes.
If you need financial incentive forgiving money away, consider thefact that donations to MarriageEquality USA are tax deductibleand may reduce the total amountyou owe when tax time rollsaround.
Remember you can make anannual donation or a set it up tomale a recurring monthly contri-bution.
You can make a donation onlineat www.marriageequality.org ,
Be sure to keep the receipts youget for your donations.!
Donate & Deduct
Save The Date April 15th Annual Tax Day Demonstrations Together forhow many years and still filing single?
Dr. Davina Kotulski