Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Court fails to overturn 8 – Campaign to win marriage back starts today

Our worst fears have come to pass. The California Supreme Court just ruled that a slim majority of voters could eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. This unjust decision flies in the face of our constitution’s promise of equal protection.

Although we are relieved that the Court did not forcibly divorce the estimated 18,000 couples who married before Prop 8 passed, our community and our allies will not allow this on-going discrimination to stand. We will overturn Prop 8, but only with your support.

www.eqca.org/overturn8

Qualifying an initiative and ensuring a victory will require us to raise more money than we’ve ever raised (and earlier), volunteer more hours than we’ve ever worked, and have more face-to-face conversations with people in areas where people voted yes on 8.

EQCA is ready; we’ve already hit the ground running. We have a plan to reach 300,000 Californians in the next 100 days. Are you willing to do what it takes to win?

Thanks to your support, we now have eight new staff on the ground in Sacramento, the Central Valley, Inland Empire, Orange County, and San Diego in addition to our staff in Los Angeles and San Francisco. These organizers are working in the field with other grassroots groups to talk directly to voters at their doors and at festivals, events, and shopping centers in their communities. Meet the Team Win organizers>

While eight organizers is a strong start, it is honestly a drop in the bucket in a state the size of California. To reach our targets and build a winning effort, we must have a minimum of 25 field staff on the ground across the state as soon as possible. To pay for this work, we need to raise a minimum of $500,000 in the next 90 days. If we can’t do that, we will surely not be able to fund a massive campaign to put an initiative on the ballot and win.

We will only get there with your help. Every dollar you donate in response to this email will support grassroots organizing in areas where people voted yes on 8.

The No on 8 campaign was more than ten million dollars behind in fundraising until the last few weeks. To ensure a majority of Californians will stand with us, we need your investment from day one.

We may have lost in court today, but together we will right this wrong and win marriage back. The fight will take everything we have, but with your help, we know we will be victorious.

In solidarity,


Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California

Marc Solomon
Marriage Director
Equality California

 



Equality California is dedicated to achieving equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians.

Our work depends on individual financial contributions. Donate now using our secure website or download a donation form to send via fax or mail.

Donations to EQCA support our political work and are therefore not tax-deductible as charitable contributions.

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