Fight Prop 8 In 2010? Gay Groups Disagree

LGBT and progressive organizations are in disagreement over whether to battle for the repeal of Proposition 8 in 2010.

“Going back to the ballot . . . in 2010 would be rushed and risky,” read a joint statement issued Monday by three gay rights groups and signed by more than two dozen other groups and individuals. “We should proceed with a costly, demanding, and high-stakes electoral campaign of this sort only when we are confident we can win.” Jim Key, spokesman for the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, also worried that a 2010 political campaign might tap the same donors that service organizations rely on to fund HIV care, services for homeless youths and other programs at a time when, because of the economy, those programs are needed the most.

Other gay leaders vociferously disagreed. “There is a majority of the community . . . that favors going forward in 2010,” said John Henning, executive director of the pro-same-sex-marriage group Love Honor Cherish. “The fact that some favor waiting should mean only one thing: They can wait, if they need to wait, but we are going to go ahead.” Henning said his group along with a coalition of others is exploring introducing ballot language that could be filed with the Secretary of State’s office in the fall.

Black LGBT activist Ron Buckmire, who blogs at The Mad Professah Lectures, spent the last weekend knocking on doors in South Los Angeles, taking the temperature of black voters on marriage equality. He is not optimistic.

Ron Buckmire, president of the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, one of the groups that signed the statement issued Monday, said the need for more time was made clear to him this weekend when his group went door to door to talk to voters about same-sex marriage in South Los Angeles. “It was a huge success. We had 70 volunteers, working for five hours, knocked on 1,200 doors,” he said. But after all that, they identified only 50 voters who moved in their direction. “We have to move 300,000 voters,” he said. “Do the math.”

Visit Buckmire’s site for the complete statement from a coalition of LGBT groups titled Prepare to Prevail: Why We Must Wait In Order to Win.