These are all of the pictures I have been collecting for no on Prop 8. Feel free to send me more pictures to include in this set, or if you are the copyright owner and would like something removed, just let me know.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdollproject/sets/72157611848118487/
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Free 90 Minute Documentary: "The Times of Harvey Milk"
The Times Of Harvey Milk
http://www.hulu.com/watch/49577/the-times-of-harvey-milk
Feature Film 1:27:34
Release Date: October 07, 1984
This Oscar-winning documentary film covers the successful career and tragic assassination of San Francisco's first openly gay man elected to office. Harvey Milk was a controversial figure in American politics, who guided campaigns for civil rights. This documentary chronicles Milk's career in politics, as well as the aftermath and trial of his assassin. Must see!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/49577/the-times-of-harvey-milk
Feature Film 1:27:34
Release Date: October 07, 1984
This Oscar-winning documentary film covers the successful career and tragic assassination of San Francisco's first openly gay man elected to office. Harvey Milk was a controversial figure in American politics, who guided campaigns for civil rights. This documentary chronicles Milk's career in politics, as well as the aftermath and trial of his assassin. Must see!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Send an email to Obama to Dump Rev. Rick Warren
From: http://www.dumprickwarren.com/
December 19, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama
Presidential Transition Office
Washington, DC 20270
Dear President-elect Obama:
The gay and lesbian community, our millions of friends and all other fair minded Americans are extremely hurt and angry with your choice of Reverend Rick Warren to give the invocation at your Inauguration next month.
In an interview just 4 days ago, Reverend Warren compared gay marriage to legitimizing incest, child abuse, and polygamy. He said:
"I'm opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I'm opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I'm opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I'm opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage." –Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church, December 15, 2008
How can he talk about loving same-sex couples who wish to marry like everyone else in this cruel way? This guy is a bigot plain and simple. He has a long history of saying mean and hateful things to so many Americans with whom he does not agree, that he seems an odd fit into your celebration as you assume the Presidency of the United States.
So today we are asking you to dump Rick Warren from delivering the invocation at your swearing in ceremony.
We will be launching a new web site www.dumprickwarren.com to ask others to join in our effort to help persuade you to choose another man or woman to take this place of honor at your historic Inauguration.
We hope that you will drop Reverend Warren soon, and instead pick one of the thousands of religious leaders who don’t offend the gay and lesbian community and so many other Americans.
You campaigned and were elected to unite this country and your removal of Rick Warren would go a long way toward achieving that goal.
Rick Warren was a major supporter of California’s Proposition 8, the successful ballot initiative to ban gay marriage. Many prominent national gay leaders have called for Reverend Warren to step aside or for you to remove him.
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, declared your invitation to Rick Warren a “genuine blow” to gay Americans. “And by inviting Rick Warren to your Inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table,” he wrote.
Equality California Executive Director, Geoff Kors said yesterday that, “I have decided to decline the invitation to attend the inauguration as I cannot be part of a celebration that highlights and gives voice to someone who advocated repealing rights from me and millions of other Californians.
Mr. President-elect, we know that you are trying to be inclusive at your Inaugural and in your administration and we applaud that. We, however, strongly urge you to do the right thing and reconsider your choice of Rick Warren. If you drop Rick Warren, it will send a loud and clear message to America and the world that you do not tolerate discrimination and hatred from anyone.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely yours,
Fred Karger
Founder
www.CaliforniansAgainstHate.com
Monday, December 22, 2008
Vanasco: Tammy Baldwin named honorary inaugural co-chair
from: http://www.365gay.com/news/vanasco-tammy-baldwin-named-honorary-inaugural-co-chair/
By Jennifer Vanasco
12.22.2008 5:08pm EST
President-Obama is nothing if not politically savvy.
Perhaps as a bone to gays upset over Rick Warren’s invitation to give the opening prayer during the inaugural ceremony, the openly lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) has been named one of 15 honorary co-chairs of the inaugural committee.
Of course, honorary co-chairs are just that - honorary. They don’t do anything. Their names are just on the stationary.
In other Warren news, Katha Pollitt points out that Warren has also disrespected Jewish people -they will burn in hell, he has said - and that Muslim leaders should basically be killed for being “evil.”
Do you think that once Warren’s anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim views become more widespread, Obama will stop defending him?
Project Postcard
http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Project+Postcard
Visibility is the key! Spread the word!
Ask everyone you know to write a postcard from their hometown to Obama!
Our friends at LGBTQ Civil Rights Front have come up with a brilliant way for us to ensure that LGBTQ issues aren't forgotten as President-elect Obama makes his transition into the White House.
Their idea: buy a postcard from your home town, include a handwritten message, and mail it to Obama's Presidential Transition Office.
UPDATE: Looks like we're having an impact. Obama's transition office has stopped accepting postcards. They will take #10 (business-sized) envelopes only. So, we have to make a few changes. See below.
HOW IT WORKS
1. BUY A POSTCARD It would be great if it had the name of your city or state on it, but feel free to get creative.
2. WRITE A MESSAGE: Dear President-elect Obama,
Please ask Congress to repeal DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell!
or
Please reconsider your decision to have Rick Warren perform the inaugural invocation.
Sincerely,
3. POST A PIC OF YOURSELF Take a photo of yourself with your postcard and add it to THIS ALBUM!
4. MAIL IT TO OBAMA: Put your postcard in a #10 envelope and mail it to...
President-elect Barack Obama
Presidential Transition Office
Kluczynski Federal Building
230 S. Dearborn St., 38th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604
5. TELL YOUR FRIENDS Email this URL to your friends! http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Project+Postcard
Visibility is the key! Spread the word!
Ask everyone you know to write a postcard from their hometown to Obama!
Our friends at LGBTQ Civil Rights Front have come up with a brilliant way for us to ensure that LGBTQ issues aren't forgotten as President-elect Obama makes his transition into the White House.
Their idea: buy a postcard from your home town, include a handwritten message, and mail it to Obama's Presidential Transition Office.
UPDATE: Looks like we're having an impact. Obama's transition office has stopped accepting postcards. They will take #10 (business-sized) envelopes only. So, we have to make a few changes. See below.
HOW IT WORKS
1. BUY A POSTCARD It would be great if it had the name of your city or state on it, but feel free to get creative.
2. WRITE A MESSAGE: Dear President-elect Obama,
Please ask Congress to repeal DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell!
or
Please reconsider your decision to have Rick Warren perform the inaugural invocation.
Sincerely,
3. POST A PIC OF YOURSELF Take a photo of yourself with your postcard and add it to THIS ALBUM!
4. MAIL IT TO OBAMA: Put your postcard in a #10 envelope and mail it to...
President-elect Barack Obama
Presidential Transition Office
Kluczynski Federal Building
230 S. Dearborn St., 38th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604
5. TELL YOUR FRIENDS Email this URL to your friends! http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Project+Postcard
Nationwide DOMA Protest January 10th
From: http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Nationwide+DOMA+Protest
Nationwide DOMA Protest
The fight for equal rights never rests!
We joined together for the November 15th National Day of Protest that shook our nation!
You have joined us for a night of action that shed light on our struggle as we came together to Light Up the Night for Equal Rights.
Now, on Saturday January 10th, 2009 we ask you to join us in making the LARGEST IMPACT YET!
Let's take our message all the way up the ladder to President Elect Barack Obama himself!
On January 10th, we will come together as one UNITED FRONT
asking the LGBTQ community to join us in signing an Open Letter to President Barack Obama,
during a NATIONAL DOMA PROTEST.
This letter will remind President Elect Barack Obama of the promises he made to us. It will also serve as a pledge from our community that we will hold him to his promises and help him achieve them.
We can’t just put a letter online and ask that people sign it.
We need to take to the streets. As we all know…
VISIBILITY IS THE KEY TO EQUALITY!
Outreach & Education Will End Discrimination.
We MUST Infiltrate, to Educate, and Stop Hate!
This is why we CONTINUE to come together as a community and
speak out about the injustices that exist nationally AND locally.
HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Find out who is organizing a DOMA Protest in your area. If there isn't one, then volunteer to organize, or at least get signatures!
Grab the Open Letter (Check back here for the letter coming soon) and take to the streets to gain signatures.
Get one million signatures (in total) by the end of the day! Once we have a minimum of one million signatures, we will make certain that President Elect Barack Obama receives our letter on DAY 1 of his presidency!
Join Us on January 10th for 1 Million Signatures to Repeal DOMA!
About DOMA:
On September 21st, 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was signed into federal law. DOMA, wrote discrimination into the Constitution with two strict regulations:
No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) need treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
The Federal Government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.
To drive the point even further, 37 states slowly but surely adopted DOMA as a state-wide regulation further amending state Constitutions. This appalling law tells the American people that it is OK to discriminate. That it is OK to recognize the LGBTQ community as less than equal. This same law, that the California Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional set the precedence for Proposition 8. This same law has nullified many rights that come with Domestic Partnerships. This law has nullified the heterosexual rights that come with Common Law Marriage. This law blurred the lines of separation of church and state even further. And this law, is one of many that President Elect Barack Obama has PROMISED to repeal in his "Open Letter to the LGBTQ Community."
Nationwide DOMA Protest
The fight for equal rights never rests!
We joined together for the November 15th National Day of Protest that shook our nation!
You have joined us for a night of action that shed light on our struggle as we came together to Light Up the Night for Equal Rights.
Now, on Saturday January 10th, 2009 we ask you to join us in making the LARGEST IMPACT YET!
Let's take our message all the way up the ladder to President Elect Barack Obama himself!
On January 10th, we will come together as one UNITED FRONT
asking the LGBTQ community to join us in signing an Open Letter to President Barack Obama,
during a NATIONAL DOMA PROTEST.
This letter will remind President Elect Barack Obama of the promises he made to us. It will also serve as a pledge from our community that we will hold him to his promises and help him achieve them.
We can’t just put a letter online and ask that people sign it.
We need to take to the streets. As we all know…
VISIBILITY IS THE KEY TO EQUALITY!
Outreach & Education Will End Discrimination.
We MUST Infiltrate, to Educate, and Stop Hate!
This is why we CONTINUE to come together as a community and
speak out about the injustices that exist nationally AND locally.
HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Find out who is organizing a DOMA Protest in your area. If there isn't one, then volunteer to organize, or at least get signatures!
Grab the Open Letter (Check back here for the letter coming soon) and take to the streets to gain signatures.
Get one million signatures (in total) by the end of the day! Once we have a minimum of one million signatures, we will make certain that President Elect Barack Obama receives our letter on DAY 1 of his presidency!
Join Us on January 10th for 1 Million Signatures to Repeal DOMA!
About DOMA:
On September 21st, 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was signed into federal law. DOMA, wrote discrimination into the Constitution with two strict regulations:
No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) need treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
The Federal Government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.
To drive the point even further, 37 states slowly but surely adopted DOMA as a state-wide regulation further amending state Constitutions. This appalling law tells the American people that it is OK to discriminate. That it is OK to recognize the LGBTQ community as less than equal. This same law, that the California Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional set the precedence for Proposition 8. This same law has nullified many rights that come with Domestic Partnerships. This law has nullified the heterosexual rights that come with Common Law Marriage. This law blurred the lines of separation of church and state even further. And this law, is one of many that President Elect Barack Obama has PROMISED to repeal in his "Open Letter to the LGBTQ Community."
USA Refuses to Sign UN Gay Rights Declaration
The United States refused to sign the United Nations Gay Rights Declaration presented in December 2008.
Here's what you can do to change this:
ENGAGE
Have conversations with your neighbors, friends and family about LGBT rights.
QUESTION
Ask President-elect Barack Obama to support HRC's Blueprint for Positive Change.
UNITE
Powerful change results when more than 10,000,000 LGBT people come together.
ACT
Go to the National DOMA Protests on January 10 and stand among over a million people who want change.
LABOR
We will not rest until all LGBT people are given full and equal civil rights.
For more information, go to Join the Impact at
http://www.jointheimpact.com
Please also join the Facebook Group
"Make the USA Sign the UN Declaration of Gay Rights" here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=40563373601&ref=ts
This video can also be found on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCxvEXrc1g0
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Protests Against Rev. Rick Warren @ Saddleback Church this Sunday: 12/21, "Debate, Don't Hate!"
This just in--short notice!
PROTEST @ SADDLEBACK CHURCH TOMORROW
to protest President-elect Obama’s choice of Rev. Rick Warren for Inauguration Invocation.
Sunday, December 21, 2008 9:00am - 9:00pm
1 Saddleback Pkwy, Lake Forest, CA
(Cross streets: El Toro Rd. & Portola Pkwy, 92630)
GAYS UNITED NETWORK
http://www.facebook.com/n.php/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5mYWNlYm9vay5jb20vbi8_1ZXZlbnQucGhwJmVpZD00NDQ0NjUyMTMwNg
OUR MESSAGE:
This will be a peaceful protest where we send a unified message to Rick Warren and President-Elect Obama.
In that vein, please bring signs that say something like "Debate, Don't Hate!" or "Your choice in Rick Warren rises to the level of moral turpitude" and variations thereof.
WARNING: This is a private property and we'll need to be by the gates. There are two entrances to the church. However, I will be at the Saddleback Pkwy Entrance. We're trying to get the Media there so we ask that this be a peaceful show of solidarity and strength.
SEE YOU ALL TOMORROW!!
This is a field trip to visit our estranged friend Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. I believe we have to RISE UP and show Obama and the world that we will not sit IDLY by and be SILENT and WE CANNOT and WILL NOT BE IGNORED!
Obama said in an interview that America is a democratic country that is diverse and noisy, etc. Let’s show him how LOUD and NOISY our collective voices can be when provoked.
We're planning to be there all day from 9am to 9pm as the not-so-good-reverend works overtime and has 5 services each and every Sunday.
SERVICE/PROTEST SCHEDULES:
9:00am
11:15am
4:30pm
6:30pm
8:30pm
HOW DOES IT WORK?
This will be a peaceful demonstration in the spirit of the holidays.
Dress alike. Wear the same t-shirts or signs pinned to your coats. You can make or buy a "2nd Class Citizen" t-shirt, but the message is optional. Learn more about why we suggest "2nd Class Citizen."
WHAT WILL WE BE DOING?
Hosting peaceful candlelight vigils
We will stay silent unless asked a question, we will not yell, instigate, or bear signs. Instead, we will let our shirts do the talking and our candles pay our respects. Bring candles (battery powered if you'll be huddling inside).
Singing and/or silence encouraged...chanting is not....keep it peaceful and in the holiday spirit.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Prop. 8 sponsors seek to nullify 18K gay marriages
From: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=41576437893&h=m-BHZ&u=2OXAu
Prop. 8 sponsors seek to nullify 18K gay marriages
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 8 mins ago
SAN FRANCISCO – The sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions.
The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions. The document reveals for the first time that opponents of same-sex marriage will fight in court to undo those unions that already exist.
"Proposition 8's brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions," reads the brief co-written by Kenneth Starr, dean of Pepperdine University's law school and the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton.
The campaign submitted the document in response to three lawsuits seeking to invalidate Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment adopted last month that overruled the court's decision in May that had legalized gay marriage in the nation's most populous state.
Both Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose office is scheduled to submit its own brief to the court Friday, and gay rights groups maintain that the gay marriage ban may not be applied retroactively.
The Supreme Court could hear arguments in the litigation as soon as March. The measure's backers announced Friday that Starr, a former federal judge and U.S. solicitor general, had signed on as their lead counsel and would argue the cases.
Proposition 8's supporters assert that the Supreme Court lacks the authority or historical precedent to throw out the amendment.
"For this court to rule otherwise would be to tear asunder a lavish body of jurisprudence," the court papers state. "That body of decisional law commands judges — as servants of the people — to bow to the will of those whom they serve — even if the substantive result of what people have wrought in constitution-amending is deemed unenlightened."
The cases are Strauss v. Horton, S168047; City and County of San Francisco v. Horton, S168078; and Tyler v. State of California, S168066.
Prop. 8 sponsors seek to nullify 18K gay marriages
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 8 mins ago
SAN FRANCISCO – The sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions.
The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions. The document reveals for the first time that opponents of same-sex marriage will fight in court to undo those unions that already exist.
"Proposition 8's brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions," reads the brief co-written by Kenneth Starr, dean of Pepperdine University's law school and the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton.
The campaign submitted the document in response to three lawsuits seeking to invalidate Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment adopted last month that overruled the court's decision in May that had legalized gay marriage in the nation's most populous state.
Both Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose office is scheduled to submit its own brief to the court Friday, and gay rights groups maintain that the gay marriage ban may not be applied retroactively.
The Supreme Court could hear arguments in the litigation as soon as March. The measure's backers announced Friday that Starr, a former federal judge and U.S. solicitor general, had signed on as their lead counsel and would argue the cases.
Proposition 8's supporters assert that the Supreme Court lacks the authority or historical precedent to throw out the amendment.
"For this court to rule otherwise would be to tear asunder a lavish body of jurisprudence," the court papers state. "That body of decisional law commands judges — as servants of the people — to bow to the will of those whom they serve — even if the substantive result of what people have wrought in constitution-amending is deemed unenlightened."
The cases are Strauss v. Horton, S168047; City and County of San Francisco v. Horton, S168078; and Tyler v. State of California, S168066.
Attorney General Says: Prop 8 is Invalid
From: http://www.eqca.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=kuLRJ9MRKrH&b=4061163&content_id=%7B9AFF8669-2ADA-4279-B451-3F9C650A91DA%7D¬oc=1
Read the brief here: http://www.eqca.org/atf/cf/%7B34F258B3-8482-4943-91CB-08C4B0246A88%7D/Strauss%20Brief.pdf
Latest News
December 19, 2008
Attorney General Says: Prop 8 is Invalid
Sacramento -- Today Attorney General Jerry Brown filed his brief with the California Supreme Court arguing that Proposition 8 should be invalidated.
Statement from Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors on the Attorney General's brief:
"Attorney General Brown's position that Proposition 8 should be invalidated demonstrates that he is a leader of courage and conviction," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. "We are very pleased that upon review of the law, he has moved from his previous statements that he would defend Prop 8. As the state's highest attorney, Jerry Brown has done his job today to defend the Constitution and protect the rights of minority groups, including the more than 18,000 same-sex couples who married in California."
Strauss Brief >>
Read the brief here: http://www.eqca.org/atf/cf/%7B34F258B3-8482-4943-91CB-08C4B0246A88%7D/Strauss%20Brief.pdf
Latest News
December 19, 2008
Attorney General Says: Prop 8 is Invalid
Sacramento -- Today Attorney General Jerry Brown filed his brief with the California Supreme Court arguing that Proposition 8 should be invalidated.
Statement from Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors on the Attorney General's brief:
"Attorney General Brown's position that Proposition 8 should be invalidated demonstrates that he is a leader of courage and conviction," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. "We are very pleased that upon review of the law, he has moved from his previous statements that he would defend Prop 8. As the state's highest attorney, Jerry Brown has done his job today to defend the Constitution and protect the rights of minority groups, including the more than 18,000 same-sex couples who married in California."
Strauss Brief >>
Thursday, December 18, 2008
ACTION ALERT: DECEMBER 20, 2008, Light Up The Night For Equality
From: http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Light%20Up%20The%20Night%20For%20Equality?t=anon
Light Up The Night For Equality
ACTION ALERT: DECEMBER 20, 2008 Join this site! Help us organize, connect, and communicate!
WHAT IS LIGHT UP THE NIGHT FOR EQUALITY?
On December 20th, we ask that you join us again for a nation-wide demonstration that will make an impact on the private sector. Candlelight vigils will be held at commercial centers in cities across the country in vigil for the rights of 18,000 same-sex couples who married and look forward to the day when those rights are available again - for EVERYONE. <>
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Please take to your local commercial district -- be it a shopping mall, outdoor financial center, you name it. Check your city page for the time and location of your event.
This will be a peaceful demonstration in the spirit of the holidays.
Dress alike. Wear the same t-shirts or signs pinned to your coats. You can make or buy a "2nd Class Citizen" t-shirt, but the message is optional. Learn more about why we suggest "2nd Class Citizen."
This will be the culmination of our National Food Drive for Equality
WHAT WILL WE BE DOING?
Hosting peaceful candlelight vigils
We will stay silent unless asked a question, we will not yell, instigate, or bear signs. Instead, we will let our shirts do the talking and our candles pay our respects. Bring candles (battery powered if you'll be huddling inside).
Singing and/or silence encouraged...chanting is not....
Light Up The Night For Equality
ACTION ALERT: DECEMBER 20, 2008 Join this site! Help us organize, connect, and communicate!
WHAT IS LIGHT UP THE NIGHT FOR EQUALITY?
On December 20th, we ask that you join us again for a nation-wide demonstration that will make an impact on the private sector. Candlelight vigils will be held at commercial centers in cities across the country in vigil for the rights of 18,000 same-sex couples who married and look forward to the day when those rights are available again - for EVERYONE. <
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Please take to your local commercial district -- be it a shopping mall, outdoor financial center, you name it. Check your city page for the time and location of your event.
This will be a peaceful demonstration in the spirit of the holidays.
Dress alike. Wear the same t-shirts or signs pinned to your coats. You can make or buy a "2nd Class Citizen" t-shirt, but the message is optional. Learn more about why we suggest "2nd Class Citizen."
This will be the culmination of our National Food Drive for Equality
WHAT WILL WE BE DOING?
Hosting peaceful candlelight vigils
We will stay silent unless asked a question, we will not yell, instigate, or bear signs. Instead, we will let our shirts do the talking and our candles pay our respects. Bring candles (battery powered if you'll be huddling inside).
Singing and/or silence encouraged...chanting is not....
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Why We Need Same-Sex Marriage to be Legal at the Federal Level
Marriage equality should be done at a federal level. Married heterosexual people file taxes together for state and federal, so until it is at the federal level then it won't be the same. We can file state together but Federal has to be seperate. Holy Matrimony is religious, that is not what we want, it is the civil side that we want to be equal, because it effects the benefits we get. I think all marriages should be civil marriages, and if you have religious matrimony with it, fabulous, but we just want everything heterosexual couples get by being married. The government issues licenses for married people and gives benefits based on that.
As a lesbian married couple, we have to pay taxes on my medical and other benefits that I get through Nicole, and that is not the case with heterosexuals, they can have flexible spending accounts for their medical costs that are not taxed and we can not. Social Security provides benefits for death of a spouse, but not for homosexuals. Biden does want it to be fair, and I frankly don't care what they call it, but why call an orange an apple if it looks like an orange, tastes like an orange, must be an orange.
Anyway, prop 8 doesn't really matter, whether it passed or not, because as domestic partners we get all of the state level benefits a heterosexual gets, but at the federal level, we are completely unequal, and that is not fair. We pay more in taxes then our heterosexual counterparts, and for me, that is all of the medical benefits which I use and am being taxed on. One thing that was funny though is if McCain won, he would tax all medical benefits in the same way that spouses in a gay marriage would have to pay.
We don't want anyone to redefine the religious interpretation of marriage, but since the government is the one who issues marriage licenses and not the church, it is a civil matter and it is not fair to have to make us pay more taxes. The best thought I heard is that if you are not for gay marriage, then you must be for gay promiscuity. All couples together can contribute a lot to society, and it is not always in the form of offspring or mortal baggage as I like to call it.
It is not our fault the courts used the religious definition of marriage to start with, we want to be a legal family unit in society and contribute. All of the Mormons are huge hypocrites because if they really did care about the children, they would invest in schools, which are in a bad way right now, other then spending millions of dollars to make sure that gays can not get married, and they should outlaw divorce if they care about marriage sanctity.
We were given the right to get married when the Supreme Court of California said in July that they cannot find a legal reason not to have marriage for gays, and that because it is so special, that calling us something other than married denotes that we are second class citizens, and we are being taxed without representation and churches should be made to pay taxes. Especially the mormons, as they are required by a signed contract to tithe a percentage of their earnings or face expulsion from the church. You can't really compete with that amount of money and the prop 8 campaign was weak but still unecessary since we already have domestic partnership which grants us the same rights at the state level as married heterosexuals.
The only right thing to do would be to allow it at the federal level and the states should follow suit so that it will be equal, and so that we are protected from hate groups and religious freaks imposing their beliefs on us, as we too have religious freedom and my God says being gay is not wrong, but a natural occurence that happens across all socio-economic backgrounds, all ages, all races, all species, and all over the world, regardless of culture and any historical time period.
Here is some of the decision that was handed dowm from the Supreme Court saying that there is no civil or legal basis to restrict marriage to a one man and one woman:
http://www.weddingwire.com/nicolesuzette
Excerpts from the California Supreme Court Decision:
"This state’s current policies and conduct regarding homosexuality recognize that gay individuals are entitled to the same legal rights and the same respect and dignity afforded all other individuals and are protected from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation, and, more specifically, recognize that gay individuals are fully capable of entering into the kind of loving and enduring committed relationships that may serve as the foundation of a family and of responsibly caring for and raising children."
"First, because of the long and celebrated history of the term "marriage" and the widespread understanding that this term describes a union unreservedly approved and favored by the community, there clearly is a considerable and undeniable symbolic importance to this designation. Thus, it is apparent that affording access to this designation exclusively to opposite-sex couples, while providing same-sex couples access to only a novel alternative designation, realistically must be viewed as constituting significantly unequal treatment to same-sex couples."
"Although defendants maintain that this court has an obligation to defer to the statutory definition of marriage contained in section 308.5 because that statute represents the expression of the "people’s will," this argument fails to take into account the very basic point that the provisions of the California Constitution itself constitute the ultimate expression of the people’s will. As the United States Supreme Court explained in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette: "The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.
"We conclude that the state interest in limiting the designation of marriage exclusively to opposite-sex couples, and in excluding same-sex couples from access to that designation, cannot properly be considered a compelling state interest for equal protection purposes. Extending access to the designation of marriage to same-sex couples will not deprive any opposite-sex couple or their children of any of the rights and benefits conferred by the marriage statutes, but simply will make the benefit of the marriage designation available to same-sex couples and their children.
"We conclude that retention of the traditional definition of marriage does not constitute a state interest sufficiently compelling, to justify withholding that status from same-sex couples. Accordingly, insofar as the provisions of sections 300 and 308.5 draw a distinction between opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples and exclude the latter from access to the designation of marriage, we conclude these statutes are unconstitutional. Accordingly, we determine that the language of section 300 limiting the designation of marriage to a union "between a man and a woman" is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute, and that the remaining statutory language must be understood as making the designation of marriage available both to opposite-sex and same-sex couples.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Jesus Called, he wants his religion back
From: http://www.newsweek.com/id/172653
COVER STORY: GAY MARRIAGE
"Our Mutual Joy" by Lisa Miller
Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side.
Let's try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does. Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife Sarah was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women (two sisters and their servants)? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel—all these fathers and heroes were polygamists. The New Testament model of marriage is hardly better. Jesus himself was single and preached an indifference to earthly attachments—especially family. The apostle Paul (also single) regarded marriage as an act of last resort for those unable to contain their animal lust. "It is better to marry than to burn with passion," says the apostle, in one of the most lukewarm endorsements of a treasured institution ever uttered. Would any contemporary heterosexual married couple—who likely woke up on their wedding day harboring some optimistic and newfangled ideas about gender equality and romantic love—turn to the Bible as a how-to script?
Of course not, yet the religious opponents of gay marriage would have it be so.
The battle over gay marriage has been waged for more than a decade, but within the last six months—since California legalized gay marriage and then, with a ballot initiative in November, amended its Constitution to prohibit it—the debate has grown into a full-scale war, with religious-rhetoric slinging to match. Not since 1860, when the country's pulpits were full of preachers pronouncing on slavery, pro and con, has one of our basic social (and economic) institutions been so subject to biblical scrutiny. But whereas in the Civil War the traditionalists had their James Henley Thornwell—and the advocates for change, their Henry Ward Beecher—this time the sides are unevenly matched. All the religious rhetoric, it seems, has been on the side of the gay-marriage opponents, who use Scripture as the foundation for their objections.
The argument goes something like this statement, which the Rev. Richard A. Hunter, a United Methodist minister, gave to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in June: "The Bible and Jesus define marriage as between one man and one woman. The church cannot condone or bless same-sex marriages because this stands in opposition to Scripture and our tradition."
To which there are two obvious responses: First, while the Bible and Jesus say many important things about love and family, neither explicitly defines marriage as between one man and one woman. And second, as the examples above illustrate, no sensible modern person wants marriage—theirs or anyone else's —to look in its particulars anything like what the Bible describes. "Marriage" in America refers to two separate things, a religious institution and a civil one, though it is most often enacted as a messy conflation of the two. As a civil institution, marriage offers practical benefits to both partners: contractual rights having to do with taxes; insurance; the care and custody of children; visitation rights; and inheritance. As a religious institution, marriage offers something else: a commitment of both partners before God to love, honor and cherish each other—in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer—in accordance with God's will. In a religious marriage, two people promise to take care of each other, profoundly, the way they believe God cares for them. Biblical literalists will disagree, but the Bible is a living document, powerful for more than 2,000 years because its truths speak to us even as we change through history. In that light, Scripture gives us no good reason why gays and lesbians should not be (civilly and religiously) married—and a number of excellent reasons why they should.
In the Old Testament, the concept of family is fundamental, but examples of what social conservatives would call "the traditional family" are scarcely to be found. Marriage was critical to the passing along of tradition and history, as well as to maintaining the Jews' precious and fragile monotheism. But as the Barnard University Bible scholar Alan Segal puts it, the arrangement was between "one man and as many women as he could pay for." Social conservatives point to Adam and Eve as evidence for their one man, one woman argument—in particular, this verse from Genesis: "Therefore shall a man leave his mother and father, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." But as Segal says, if you believe that the Bible was written by men and not handed down in its leather bindings by God, then that verse was written by people for whom polygamy was the way of the world. (The fact that homosexual couples cannot procreate has also been raised as a biblical objection, for didn't God say, "Be fruitful and multiply"? But the Bible authors could never have imagined the brave new world of international adoption and assisted reproductive technology—and besides, heterosexuals who are infertile or past the age of reproducing get married all the time.)
Ozzie and Harriet are nowhere in the New Testament either. The biblical Jesus was—in spite of recent efforts of novelists to paint him otherwise—emphatically unmarried. He preached a radical kind of family, a caring community of believers, whose bond in God superseded all blood ties. Leave your families and follow me, Jesus says in the gospels. There will be no marriage in heaven, he says in Matthew. Jesus never mentions homosexuality, but he roundly condemns divorce (leaving a loophole in some cases for the husbands of unfaithful women).
The apostle Paul echoed the Christian Lord's lack of interest in matters of the flesh. For him, celibacy was the Christian ideal, but family stability was the best alternative. Marry if you must, he told his audiences, but do not get divorced. "To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): a wife must not separate from her husband." It probably goes without saying that the phrase "gay marriage" does not appear in the Bible at all.
If the bible doesn't give abundant examples of traditional marriage, then what are the gay-marriage opponents really exercised about? Well, homosexuality, of course—specifically sex between men. Sex between women has never, even in biblical times, raised as much ire. In its entry on "Homosexual Practices," the Anchor Bible Dictionary notes that nowhere in the Bible do its authors refer to sex between women, "possibly because it did not result in true physical 'union' (by male entry)." The Bible does condemn gay male sex in a handful of passages. Twice Leviticus refers to sex between men as "an abomination" (King James version), but these are throwaway lines in a peculiar text given over to codes for living in the ancient Jewish world, a text that devotes verse after verse to treatments for leprosy, cleanliness rituals for menstruating women and the correct way to sacrifice a goat—or a lamb or a turtle dove. Most of us no longer heed Leviticus on haircuts or blood sacrifices; our modern understanding of the world has surpassed its prescriptions. Why would we regard its condemnation of homosexuality with more seriousness than we regard its advice, which is far lengthier, on the best price to pay for a slave?
Paul was tough on homosexuality, though recently progressive scholars have argued that his condemnation of men who "were inflamed with lust for one another" (which he calls "a perversion") is really a critique of the worst kind of wickedness: self-delusion, violence, promiscuity and debauchery. In his book "The Arrogance of Nations," the scholar Neil Elliott argues that Paul is referring in this famous passage to the depravity of the Roman emperors, the craven habits of Nero and Caligula, a reference his audience would have grasped instantly. "Paul is not talking about what we call homosexuality at all," Elliott says. "He's talking about a certain group of people who have done everything in this list. We're not dealing with anything like gay love or gay marriage. We're talking about really, really violent people who meet their end and are judged by God." In any case, one might add, Paul argued more strenuously against divorce—and at least half of the Christians in America disregard that teaching.
Religious objections to gay marriage are rooted not in the Bible at all, then, but in custom and tradition (and, to talk turkey for a minute, a personal discomfort with gay sex that transcends theological argument). Common prayers and rituals reflect our common practice: the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer describes the participants in a marriage as "the man and the woman." But common practice changes—and for the better, as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice." The Bible endorses slavery, a practice that Americans now universally consider shameful and barbaric. It recommends the death penalty for adulterers (and in Leviticus, for men who have sex with men, for that matter). It provides conceptual shelter for anti-Semites. A mature view of scriptural authority requires us, as we have in the past, to move beyond literalism. The Bible was written for a world so unlike our own, it's impossible to apply its rules, at face value, to ours.
Marriage, specifically, has evolved so as to be unrecognizable to the wives of Abraham and Jacob. Monogamy became the norm in the Christian world in the sixth century; husbands' frequent enjoyment of mistresses and prostitutes became taboo by the beginning of the 20th. (In the NEWSWEEK POLL, 55 percent of respondents said that married heterosexuals who have sex with someone other than their spouses are more morally objectionable than a gay couple in a committed sexual relationship.) By the mid-19th century, U.S. courts were siding with wives who were the victims of domestic violence, and by the 1970s most states had gotten rid of their "head and master" laws, which gave husbands the right to decide where a family would live and whether a wife would be able to take a job. Today's vision of marriage as a union of equal partners, joined in a relationship both romantic and pragmatic, is, by very recent standards, radical, says Stephanie Coontz, author of "Marriage, a History."
Religious wedding ceremonies have already changed to reflect new conceptions of marriage. Remember when we used to say "man and wife" instead of "husband and wife"? Remember when we stopped using the word "obey"? Even Miss Manners, the voice of tradition and reason, approved in 1997 of that change. "It seems," she wrote, "that dropping 'obey' was a sensible editing of a service that made assumptions about marriage that the society no longer holds."
We cannot look to the Bible as a marriage manual, but we can read it for universal truths as we struggle toward a more just future. The Bible offers inspiration and warning on the subjects of love, marriage, family and community. It speaks eloquently of the crucial role of families in a fair society and the risks we incur to ourselves and our children should we cease trying to bind ourselves together in loving pairs. Gay men like to point to the story of passionate King David and his friend Jonathan, with whom he was "one spirit" and whom he "loved as he loved himself." Conservatives say this is a story about a platonic friendship, but it is also a story about two men who stand up for each other in turbulent times, through violent war and the disapproval of a powerful parent. David rends his clothes at Jonathan's death and, in grieving, writes a song:
I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;
You were very dear to me.
Your love for me was wonderful,
More wonderful than that of women.
Here, the Bible praises enduring love between men. What Jonathan and David did or did not do in privacy is perhaps best left to history and our own imaginations.
In addition to its praise of friendship and its condemnation of divorce, the Bible gives many examples of marriages that defy convention yet benefit the greater community. The Torah discouraged the ancient Hebrews from marrying outside the tribe, yet Moses himself is married to a foreigner, Zipporah. Queen Esther is married to a non-Jew and, according to legend, saves the Jewish people. Rabbi Arthur Waskow, of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia, believes that Judaism thrives through diversity and inclusion. "I don't think Judaism should or ought to want to leave any portion of the human population outside the religious process," he says. "We should not want to leave [homosexuals] outside the sacred tent." The marriage of Joseph and Mary is also unorthodox (to say the least), a case of an unconventional arrangement accepted by society for the common good. The boy needed two human parents, after all.
In the Christian story, the message of acceptance for all is codified. Jesus reaches out to everyone, especially those on the margins, and brings the whole Christian community into his embrace. The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author, cites the story of Jesus revealing himself to the woman at the well— no matter that she had five former husbands and a current boyfriend—as evidence of Christ's all-encompassing love. The great Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann, emeritus professor at Columbia Theological Seminary, quotes the apostle Paul when he looks for biblical support of gay marriage: "There is neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ." The religious argument for gay marriage, he adds, "is not generally made with reference to particular texts, but with the general conviction that the Bible is bent toward inclusiveness."
The practice of inclusion, even in defiance of social convention, the reaching out to outcasts, the emphasis on togetherness and community over and against chaos, depravity, indifference—all these biblical values argue for gay marriage. If one is for racial equality and the common nature of humanity, then the values of stability, monogamy and family necessarily follow. Terry Davis is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hartford, Conn., and has been presiding over "holy unions" since 1992. "I'm against promiscuity—love ought to be expressed in committed relationships, not through casual sex, and I think the church should recognize the validity of committed same-sex relationships," he says.
Still, very few Jewish or Christian denominations do officially endorse gay marriage, even in the states where it is legal. The practice varies by region, by church or synagogue, even by cleric. More progressive denominations—the United Church of Christ, for example—have agreed to support gay marriage. Other denominations and dioceses will do "holy union" or "blessing" ceremonies, but shy away from the word "marriage" because it is politically explosive. So the frustrating, semantic question remains: should gay people be married in the same, sacramental sense that straight people are? I would argue that they should. If we are all God's children, made in his likeness and image, then to deny access to any sacrament based on sexuality is exactly the same thing as denying it based on skin color—and no serious (or even semiserious) person would argue that. People get married "for their mutual joy," explains the Rev. Chloe Breyer, executive director of the Interfaith Center in New York, quoting the Episcopal marriage ceremony. That's what religious people do: care for each other in spite of difficulty, she adds. In marriage, couples grow closer to God: "Being with one another in community is how you love God. That's what marriage is about."
More basic than theology, though, is human need. We want, as Abraham did, to grow old surrounded by friends and family and to be buried at last peacefully among them. We want, as Jesus taught, to love one another for our own good—and, not to be too grandiose about it, for the good of the world. We want our children to grow up in stable homes. What happens in the bedroom, really, has nothing to do with any of this. My friend the priest James Martin says his favorite Scripture relating to the question of homosexuality is Psalm 139, a song that praises the beauty and imperfection in all of us and that glorifies God's knowledge of our most secret selves: "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." And then he adds that in his heart he believes that if Jesus were alive today, he would reach out especially to the gays and lesbians among us, for "Jesus does not want people to be lonely and sad." Let the priest's prayer be our own.
COVER STORY: GAY MARRIAGE
"Our Mutual Joy" by Lisa Miller
Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side.
Let's try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does. Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife Sarah was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women (two sisters and their servants)? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel—all these fathers and heroes were polygamists. The New Testament model of marriage is hardly better. Jesus himself was single and preached an indifference to earthly attachments—especially family. The apostle Paul (also single) regarded marriage as an act of last resort for those unable to contain their animal lust. "It is better to marry than to burn with passion," says the apostle, in one of the most lukewarm endorsements of a treasured institution ever uttered. Would any contemporary heterosexual married couple—who likely woke up on their wedding day harboring some optimistic and newfangled ideas about gender equality and romantic love—turn to the Bible as a how-to script?
Of course not, yet the religious opponents of gay marriage would have it be so.
The battle over gay marriage has been waged for more than a decade, but within the last six months—since California legalized gay marriage and then, with a ballot initiative in November, amended its Constitution to prohibit it—the debate has grown into a full-scale war, with religious-rhetoric slinging to match. Not since 1860, when the country's pulpits were full of preachers pronouncing on slavery, pro and con, has one of our basic social (and economic) institutions been so subject to biblical scrutiny. But whereas in the Civil War the traditionalists had their James Henley Thornwell—and the advocates for change, their Henry Ward Beecher—this time the sides are unevenly matched. All the religious rhetoric, it seems, has been on the side of the gay-marriage opponents, who use Scripture as the foundation for their objections.
The argument goes something like this statement, which the Rev. Richard A. Hunter, a United Methodist minister, gave to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in June: "The Bible and Jesus define marriage as between one man and one woman. The church cannot condone or bless same-sex marriages because this stands in opposition to Scripture and our tradition."
To which there are two obvious responses: First, while the Bible and Jesus say many important things about love and family, neither explicitly defines marriage as between one man and one woman. And second, as the examples above illustrate, no sensible modern person wants marriage—theirs or anyone else's —to look in its particulars anything like what the Bible describes. "Marriage" in America refers to two separate things, a religious institution and a civil one, though it is most often enacted as a messy conflation of the two. As a civil institution, marriage offers practical benefits to both partners: contractual rights having to do with taxes; insurance; the care and custody of children; visitation rights; and inheritance. As a religious institution, marriage offers something else: a commitment of both partners before God to love, honor and cherish each other—in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer—in accordance with God's will. In a religious marriage, two people promise to take care of each other, profoundly, the way they believe God cares for them. Biblical literalists will disagree, but the Bible is a living document, powerful for more than 2,000 years because its truths speak to us even as we change through history. In that light, Scripture gives us no good reason why gays and lesbians should not be (civilly and religiously) married—and a number of excellent reasons why they should.
In the Old Testament, the concept of family is fundamental, but examples of what social conservatives would call "the traditional family" are scarcely to be found. Marriage was critical to the passing along of tradition and history, as well as to maintaining the Jews' precious and fragile monotheism. But as the Barnard University Bible scholar Alan Segal puts it, the arrangement was between "one man and as many women as he could pay for." Social conservatives point to Adam and Eve as evidence for their one man, one woman argument—in particular, this verse from Genesis: "Therefore shall a man leave his mother and father, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." But as Segal says, if you believe that the Bible was written by men and not handed down in its leather bindings by God, then that verse was written by people for whom polygamy was the way of the world. (The fact that homosexual couples cannot procreate has also been raised as a biblical objection, for didn't God say, "Be fruitful and multiply"? But the Bible authors could never have imagined the brave new world of international adoption and assisted reproductive technology—and besides, heterosexuals who are infertile or past the age of reproducing get married all the time.)
Ozzie and Harriet are nowhere in the New Testament either. The biblical Jesus was—in spite of recent efforts of novelists to paint him otherwise—emphatically unmarried. He preached a radical kind of family, a caring community of believers, whose bond in God superseded all blood ties. Leave your families and follow me, Jesus says in the gospels. There will be no marriage in heaven, he says in Matthew. Jesus never mentions homosexuality, but he roundly condemns divorce (leaving a loophole in some cases for the husbands of unfaithful women).
The apostle Paul echoed the Christian Lord's lack of interest in matters of the flesh. For him, celibacy was the Christian ideal, but family stability was the best alternative. Marry if you must, he told his audiences, but do not get divorced. "To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): a wife must not separate from her husband." It probably goes without saying that the phrase "gay marriage" does not appear in the Bible at all.
If the bible doesn't give abundant examples of traditional marriage, then what are the gay-marriage opponents really exercised about? Well, homosexuality, of course—specifically sex between men. Sex between women has never, even in biblical times, raised as much ire. In its entry on "Homosexual Practices," the Anchor Bible Dictionary notes that nowhere in the Bible do its authors refer to sex between women, "possibly because it did not result in true physical 'union' (by male entry)." The Bible does condemn gay male sex in a handful of passages. Twice Leviticus refers to sex between men as "an abomination" (King James version), but these are throwaway lines in a peculiar text given over to codes for living in the ancient Jewish world, a text that devotes verse after verse to treatments for leprosy, cleanliness rituals for menstruating women and the correct way to sacrifice a goat—or a lamb or a turtle dove. Most of us no longer heed Leviticus on haircuts or blood sacrifices; our modern understanding of the world has surpassed its prescriptions. Why would we regard its condemnation of homosexuality with more seriousness than we regard its advice, which is far lengthier, on the best price to pay for a slave?
Paul was tough on homosexuality, though recently progressive scholars have argued that his condemnation of men who "were inflamed with lust for one another" (which he calls "a perversion") is really a critique of the worst kind of wickedness: self-delusion, violence, promiscuity and debauchery. In his book "The Arrogance of Nations," the scholar Neil Elliott argues that Paul is referring in this famous passage to the depravity of the Roman emperors, the craven habits of Nero and Caligula, a reference his audience would have grasped instantly. "Paul is not talking about what we call homosexuality at all," Elliott says. "He's talking about a certain group of people who have done everything in this list. We're not dealing with anything like gay love or gay marriage. We're talking about really, really violent people who meet their end and are judged by God." In any case, one might add, Paul argued more strenuously against divorce—and at least half of the Christians in America disregard that teaching.
Religious objections to gay marriage are rooted not in the Bible at all, then, but in custom and tradition (and, to talk turkey for a minute, a personal discomfort with gay sex that transcends theological argument). Common prayers and rituals reflect our common practice: the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer describes the participants in a marriage as "the man and the woman." But common practice changes—and for the better, as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice." The Bible endorses slavery, a practice that Americans now universally consider shameful and barbaric. It recommends the death penalty for adulterers (and in Leviticus, for men who have sex with men, for that matter). It provides conceptual shelter for anti-Semites. A mature view of scriptural authority requires us, as we have in the past, to move beyond literalism. The Bible was written for a world so unlike our own, it's impossible to apply its rules, at face value, to ours.
Marriage, specifically, has evolved so as to be unrecognizable to the wives of Abraham and Jacob. Monogamy became the norm in the Christian world in the sixth century; husbands' frequent enjoyment of mistresses and prostitutes became taboo by the beginning of the 20th. (In the NEWSWEEK POLL, 55 percent of respondents said that married heterosexuals who have sex with someone other than their spouses are more morally objectionable than a gay couple in a committed sexual relationship.) By the mid-19th century, U.S. courts were siding with wives who were the victims of domestic violence, and by the 1970s most states had gotten rid of their "head and master" laws, which gave husbands the right to decide where a family would live and whether a wife would be able to take a job. Today's vision of marriage as a union of equal partners, joined in a relationship both romantic and pragmatic, is, by very recent standards, radical, says Stephanie Coontz, author of "Marriage, a History."
Religious wedding ceremonies have already changed to reflect new conceptions of marriage. Remember when we used to say "man and wife" instead of "husband and wife"? Remember when we stopped using the word "obey"? Even Miss Manners, the voice of tradition and reason, approved in 1997 of that change. "It seems," she wrote, "that dropping 'obey' was a sensible editing of a service that made assumptions about marriage that the society no longer holds."
We cannot look to the Bible as a marriage manual, but we can read it for universal truths as we struggle toward a more just future. The Bible offers inspiration and warning on the subjects of love, marriage, family and community. It speaks eloquently of the crucial role of families in a fair society and the risks we incur to ourselves and our children should we cease trying to bind ourselves together in loving pairs. Gay men like to point to the story of passionate King David and his friend Jonathan, with whom he was "one spirit" and whom he "loved as he loved himself." Conservatives say this is a story about a platonic friendship, but it is also a story about two men who stand up for each other in turbulent times, through violent war and the disapproval of a powerful parent. David rends his clothes at Jonathan's death and, in grieving, writes a song:
I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;
You were very dear to me.
Your love for me was wonderful,
More wonderful than that of women.
Here, the Bible praises enduring love between men. What Jonathan and David did or did not do in privacy is perhaps best left to history and our own imaginations.
In addition to its praise of friendship and its condemnation of divorce, the Bible gives many examples of marriages that defy convention yet benefit the greater community. The Torah discouraged the ancient Hebrews from marrying outside the tribe, yet Moses himself is married to a foreigner, Zipporah. Queen Esther is married to a non-Jew and, according to legend, saves the Jewish people. Rabbi Arthur Waskow, of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia, believes that Judaism thrives through diversity and inclusion. "I don't think Judaism should or ought to want to leave any portion of the human population outside the religious process," he says. "We should not want to leave [homosexuals] outside the sacred tent." The marriage of Joseph and Mary is also unorthodox (to say the least), a case of an unconventional arrangement accepted by society for the common good. The boy needed two human parents, after all.
In the Christian story, the message of acceptance for all is codified. Jesus reaches out to everyone, especially those on the margins, and brings the whole Christian community into his embrace. The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author, cites the story of Jesus revealing himself to the woman at the well— no matter that she had five former husbands and a current boyfriend—as evidence of Christ's all-encompassing love. The great Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann, emeritus professor at Columbia Theological Seminary, quotes the apostle Paul when he looks for biblical support of gay marriage: "There is neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ." The religious argument for gay marriage, he adds, "is not generally made with reference to particular texts, but with the general conviction that the Bible is bent toward inclusiveness."
The practice of inclusion, even in defiance of social convention, the reaching out to outcasts, the emphasis on togetherness and community over and against chaos, depravity, indifference—all these biblical values argue for gay marriage. If one is for racial equality and the common nature of humanity, then the values of stability, monogamy and family necessarily follow. Terry Davis is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hartford, Conn., and has been presiding over "holy unions" since 1992. "I'm against promiscuity—love ought to be expressed in committed relationships, not through casual sex, and I think the church should recognize the validity of committed same-sex relationships," he says.
Still, very few Jewish or Christian denominations do officially endorse gay marriage, even in the states where it is legal. The practice varies by region, by church or synagogue, even by cleric. More progressive denominations—the United Church of Christ, for example—have agreed to support gay marriage. Other denominations and dioceses will do "holy union" or "blessing" ceremonies, but shy away from the word "marriage" because it is politically explosive. So the frustrating, semantic question remains: should gay people be married in the same, sacramental sense that straight people are? I would argue that they should. If we are all God's children, made in his likeness and image, then to deny access to any sacrament based on sexuality is exactly the same thing as denying it based on skin color—and no serious (or even semiserious) person would argue that. People get married "for their mutual joy," explains the Rev. Chloe Breyer, executive director of the Interfaith Center in New York, quoting the Episcopal marriage ceremony. That's what religious people do: care for each other in spite of difficulty, she adds. In marriage, couples grow closer to God: "Being with one another in community is how you love God. That's what marriage is about."
More basic than theology, though, is human need. We want, as Abraham did, to grow old surrounded by friends and family and to be buried at last peacefully among them. We want, as Jesus taught, to love one another for our own good—and, not to be too grandiose about it, for the good of the world. We want our children to grow up in stable homes. What happens in the bedroom, really, has nothing to do with any of this. My friend the priest James Martin says his favorite Scripture relating to the question of homosexuality is Psalm 139, a song that praises the beauty and imperfection in all of us and that glorifies God's knowledge of our most secret selves: "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." And then he adds that in his heart he believes that if Jesus were alive today, he would reach out especially to the gays and lesbians among us, for "Jesus does not want people to be lonely and sad." Let the priest's prayer be our own.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Prop 8 The Musical by FOD
It would have stimulated the economy, especially in California where we really needed it. Bunch of Dumb Ass voters!
From:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones
From:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones
See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Urgent: Urge your representative to act today to defeat prop 8!
The fight against Prop 8 Continues!
The California State Legislature is considering 2 bills in support of invalidating Prop 8! It is urgent that you contact your representatives and let them know YOU support EQUAL RIGHTS! (The other side will definitely not be silent!)
http://www.eqca.org/actioncenter
The Supreme Court's decision will be based largely on public reaction- we need to continue to put pressure on our elected officials to stand up for equal rights!
http://www.eqca.org/actioncenter
In Solidarity,
Andy
----------
The proponents of Prop 8 usurped the role of the Legislature by putting the right for same-sex couples to marry directly on the ballot.
Two Equality California-sponsored resolutions introduced today will make it official state policy, when they are approved by the Legislature, that Prop 8 should be overturned.
:: Write your legislators now to urge them to support the invalidation of Prop 8 and vote for Senate Resolution 7 (Leno) and Ammiano's Assembly Resolution (number to be assigned).
http://www.eqca.org/actioncenter
Prop 8 eliminates the fundamental right to marry and allows a slim majority to take away the equal protections of a minority, which violates one of the founding principles of our Constitution. The resolutions state the measure should have been approved by a two-thirds vote in the Legislature before going to voters.
Urge your representatives to support these resolutions.If you are registered with EQCA's Action Center, reply to this email. Or register today at www.eqca.org/actioncenter.
On December 19, proponents of Prop 8 will file their briefs with the California Supreme Court. So, ask everyone you know to write their representative by going to www.eqca.org/actioncenter by December 19.
EQCA will do its part to make sure we have broad support for these resolutions.
But we need you to do yours. Email your representatives now at www.eqca.org/actioncenter and ask your friends and family join you.
www.eqca.org/actioncenter
California lawmakers need to hear from you—their constituents—that our state should be a state of hope, prosperity and equality for all.
In solidarity,
Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California
The California State Legislature is considering 2 bills in support of invalidating Prop 8! It is urgent that you contact your representatives and let them know YOU support EQUAL RIGHTS! (The other side will definitely not be silent!)
http://www.eqca.org/actioncenter
The Supreme Court's decision will be based largely on public reaction- we need to continue to put pressure on our elected officials to stand up for equal rights!
http://www.eqca.org/actioncenter
In Solidarity,
Andy
----------
The proponents of Prop 8 usurped the role of the Legislature by putting the right for same-sex couples to marry directly on the ballot.
Two Equality California-sponsored resolutions introduced today will make it official state policy, when they are approved by the Legislature, that Prop 8 should be overturned.
:: Write your legislators now to urge them to support the invalidation of Prop 8 and vote for Senate Resolution 7 (Leno) and Ammiano's Assembly Resolution (number to be assigned).
http://www.eqca.org/actioncenter
Prop 8 eliminates the fundamental right to marry and allows a slim majority to take away the equal protections of a minority, which violates one of the founding principles of our Constitution. The resolutions state the measure should have been approved by a two-thirds vote in the Legislature before going to voters.
Urge your representatives to support these resolutions.If you are registered with EQCA's Action Center, reply to this email. Or register today at www.eqca.org/actioncenter.
On December 19, proponents of Prop 8 will file their briefs with the California Supreme Court. So, ask everyone you know to write their representative by going to www.eqca.org/actioncenter by December 19.
EQCA will do its part to make sure we have broad support for these resolutions.
But we need you to do yours. Email your representatives now at www.eqca.org/actioncenter and ask your friends and family join you.
www.eqca.org/actioncenter
California lawmakers need to hear from you—their constituents—that our state should be a state of hope, prosperity and equality for all.
In solidarity,
Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Prop 8: DEVASTATING internal memo from the LDS Church
From: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/3/15369/3779/711/651188
I had some mormons actually knock on my door even with my "No Bible Thumpers" sticker on the door and a huge No on Prop 8 sign. They were nice enough, but I just said, "Oh! I don't like you!" And they asked why, and I just pointed to the sticker and the sign and smiled and said, "OK, bye now!" Now I am paranoid I am in their database with my address! Then I was thinking, what if they were gonna try and do what they did in this video:
I had some mormons actually knock on my door even with my "No Bible Thumpers" sticker on the door and a huge No on Prop 8 sign. They were nice enough, but I just said, "Oh! I don't like you!" And they asked why, and I just pointed to the sticker and the sign and smiled and said, "OK, bye now!" Now I am paranoid I am in their database with my address! Then I was thinking, what if they were gonna try and do what they did in this video:
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
FPPC To Investigate Mormon Church Involvement in Prop 8
From: http://californiansagainsthate.blogspot.com/2008/11/fppc-to-investigate-mormon-church.html
Monday, November 24, 2008
FPPC To Investigate Mormon Church Involvement in Prop 8
NEWS RELEASE November, 24, 2008
California Fair Political Practices Commission to
Investigate Mormon Church Involvement in Prop 8
LOS ANGELES, CA – Fred Karger, Founder of Californians Against Hate received a letter today from the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) regarding the sworn complaint that he filed on November 13, 2008. The complaint requested the FPPC investigate the alleged lack of reporting of numerous non monetary contributions to ProtectMarriage.com / Yes on 8, A Project of California Renewal I.D. #1302592 by the Mormon Church. The letter from FPPC Executive Director, Roman Porter, dated November 21, 2008 was received by fax. Below is the text of the letter from Mr. Porter.
Fair Political Practices Commission
428 J Street, Suite 629, Sacramento, CA 95814-2329
(916)322-5660 Fax (916)322-0886
November 21, 2008
Fred Karger
1278 Glenneyre, #20
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Re; FPPC File No. 08/735; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka the Mormon Church of Salt Lake City, Utah
Dear Mr. Karger:
This letter is to notify you that the Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission (the FPPC) will investigate the allegation(s), under the jurisdiction of the FPPC, of the sworn complaint you submitted in the above-referenced matter. You will next receive notification from us upon final disposition of the case. However, please be advised that at this time we have not made any determination about the validity of the allegation(s) you made or about the culpability, if any, of the person(s) you identify in your complaint.
Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.
Sincerely,
Roman G. Porter
Executive Director
cc: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka the Mormon Church of Salt Lake City, Utah
“We are very pleased that the FPPC has agreed to launch an investigation based on our complaint,” said Fred Karger. “My 4 page letter to Chairman Ross Johnson and California and Utah Attorneys General Edmund G. Brown, Jr. and Mark Shurtleff with all of the alleged unreported activities is available on our blog at: http://californiansagainsthate.blogspot.com/ We’re hopeful the Mormon Church will fully cooperate with the investigation, and that we will find out the full extent of their involvement in the Yes on 8 campaign.”
-- end --
Monday, November 24, 2008
FPPC To Investigate Mormon Church Involvement in Prop 8
NEWS RELEASE November, 24, 2008
California Fair Political Practices Commission to
Investigate Mormon Church Involvement in Prop 8
LOS ANGELES, CA – Fred Karger, Founder of Californians Against Hate received a letter today from the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) regarding the sworn complaint that he filed on November 13, 2008. The complaint requested the FPPC investigate the alleged lack of reporting of numerous non monetary contributions to ProtectMarriage.com / Yes on 8, A Project of California Renewal I.D. #1302592 by the Mormon Church. The letter from FPPC Executive Director, Roman Porter, dated November 21, 2008 was received by fax. Below is the text of the letter from Mr. Porter.
Fair Political Practices Commission
428 J Street, Suite 629, Sacramento, CA 95814-2329
(916)322-5660 Fax (916)322-0886
November 21, 2008
Fred Karger
1278 Glenneyre, #20
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Re; FPPC File No. 08/735; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka the Mormon Church of Salt Lake City, Utah
Dear Mr. Karger:
This letter is to notify you that the Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission (the FPPC) will investigate the allegation(s), under the jurisdiction of the FPPC, of the sworn complaint you submitted in the above-referenced matter. You will next receive notification from us upon final disposition of the case. However, please be advised that at this time we have not made any determination about the validity of the allegation(s) you made or about the culpability, if any, of the person(s) you identify in your complaint.
Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.
Sincerely,
Roman G. Porter
Executive Director
cc: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka the Mormon Church of Salt Lake City, Utah
“We are very pleased that the FPPC has agreed to launch an investigation based on our complaint,” said Fred Karger. “My 4 page letter to Chairman Ross Johnson and California and Utah Attorneys General Edmund G. Brown, Jr. and Mark Shurtleff with all of the alleged unreported activities is available on our blog at: http://californiansagainsthate.blogspot.com/ We’re hopeful the Mormon Church will fully cooperate with the investigation, and that we will find out the full extent of their involvement in the Yes on 8 campaign.”
-- end --
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Florida Same-Sex Adoption Ban Struck Down
From: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/25/Florida_same-sex_adoption_ban_struck_down/UPI-57331227635600/
MIAMI, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A Miami child welfare judge ruled Tuesday that a Florida law banning adoption by same-sex couples is unconstitutional, observers said.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman said the law had "no rational basis," WFOR-TV, Miami, reported. Her decision supported efforts by Frank Gill, 47, and his unidentified partner to adopt two young boys they have been raising as foster children since 2004.
The ruling is expected to set off a protracted legal battle pitting state child welfare officials against civil libertarians. Analysts told The Miami Herald that Lederman's decision is likely to be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.
Witnesses for the Florida Department of Children and Families testified that children raised by same-sex parents are at significantly higher risk of mental illness and substance abuse than those raised by heterosexual couples. Such children, they say, also face social stigmas from a disapproving culture, the Herald reported.
But social scientists testifying for Gill said such children have no disadvantages compared with their peers.
Friday, November 21, 2008
NY Times Editorials: Mormons and the Gay Marriage Ban
A good list of Editorials from the New York Times today.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Obama's Plan For Civil Rights
From: http://change.gov/agenda/civil_rights_agenda/
"The teenagers and college students who left their homes to march in the streets of Birmingham and Montgomery; the mothers who walked instead of taking the bus after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry and cleaning somebody else's kitchen -- they didn't brave fire hoses and Billy clubs so that their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren would still wonder at the beginning of the 21st century whether their vote would be counted; whether their civil rights would be protected by their government; whether justice would be equal and opportunity would be theirs.... We have more work to do."
-- Barack Obama, Speech at Howard University, September 28, 2007
The Obama-Biden Plan
Barack Obama has spent much of his career fighting to strengthen civil rights as a civil rights attorney, community organizer, Illinois State Senator and U.S. Senator. Whether promoting economic opportunity, working to improve our nation's education and health system, or protecting the right to vote, Obama has been a powerful advocate for our civil rights.
Combat Employment Discrimination: Obama and Biden will work to overturn the Supreme Court's recent ruling that curtails racial minorities' and women's ability to challenge pay discrimination. They will also pass the Fair Pay Act, to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work, and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: Obama and Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section.
End Deceptive Voting Practices: Obama will sign into law his legislation that establishes harsh penalties for those who have engaged in voter fraud and provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote.
End Racial Profiling: Obama and Biden will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.
Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support: Obama and Biden will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama and Biden will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.
Eliminate Sentencing Disparities: Obama and Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.
Expand Use of Drug Courts: Obama and Biden will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior.
Support for the LGBT Community
"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."
-- Barack Obama, June 1, 2007
The Obama-Biden Plan
Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. Barack Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.
Fight Workplace Discrimination: Barack Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. Obama also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: Barack Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.
Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: Barack Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.
Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: Barack Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. Obama will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.
Expand Adoption Rights: Barack Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.
Promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, Barack Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. Obama will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. Obama also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma -- too often tied to homophobia -- that continues to surround HIV/AIDS. He will continue to speak out on this issue as president.
Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. Barack Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.
Calif. Supreme Court To Take Up Gay Marriage Ban
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer –
From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081120/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage_lawsuits
SAN FRANCISCO – California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules.
The California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits seeking to nullify Proposition 8, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that overruled the court's decision in May that legalized gay marriage.
All three cases claim the measure abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group. They argue that voters alone did not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change.
As is its custom when it takes up cases, the court elaborated little. However, the justices did say they want to address what effect, if any, a ruling upholding the amendment would have on the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that were sanctioned in California before Election Day.
Gay rights groups and local governments petitioning to overturn the ban were joined by the measure's sponsors and Attorney General Jerry Brown in urging the Supreme Court to consider whether Proposition 8 passes legal muster.
The initiative's opponents had also asked the court to grant a stay of the measure, which would have allowed gay marriages to begin again while the justices considered the cases. The court denied that request.
The justices directed Brown and lawyers for the Yes on 8 campaign to submit arguments by Dec. 19 on why the ballot initiative should not be nullified. It said lawyers for the plaintiffs, who include same-sex couples who did not wed before the election, must respond before Jan. 5.
Oral arguments could be scheduled as early as March, according to court spokeswoman Lynn Holton.
"This is welcome news. The matter of Proposition 8 should be resolved thoughtfully and without delay," Brown said in a statement.
Both opponents and supporters of Proposition 8 expressed confidence Wednesday that their arguments would prevail. But they also agreed that the cases present the court's seven justices — six of whom voted to review the challenges — with complex questions that have few precedents in state case law.
Although more than two dozen states have similar amendments, some of which have survived similar lawsuits, none were approved by voters in a place where gay marriage already was legal.
Neither were any approved in a state where the high court had put sexual orientation in the same protected legal class as race and religion, which the California Supreme Court did when it rendered its 4-3 decision that made same-sex marriage legal in May.
Opponents of the ban argue that voters improperly abrogated the judiciary's authority by stripping same-sex couples of the right to wed after the high court earlier ruled it was discriminatory to prohibit gay men and lesbians from marrying.
"If given effect, Proposition 8 would work a dramatic, substantive change to our Constitution's 'underlying principles' of individual equality on a scale and scope never previously condoned by this court," lawyers for the same-sex couples stated in their petition.
The measure represents such a sweeping change that it constitutes a constitutional revision as opposed to an amendment, the documents say. The distinction would have required the ban's backers to obtain approval from two-thirds of both houses of the California Legislature before submitting it to voters.
Over the past century, the California Supreme Court has heard nine cases challenging legislative acts or ballot initiatives as improper revisions. The court eventually invalidated three of the measures, according to the gay rights group Lambda Legal.
Andrew Pugno, legal counsel for the Yes on 8 campaign, said he doubts the court will buy the revision argument in the case of the gay marriage ban because the plaintiffs would have to prove the measure alters the state's basic governmental framework.
Joel Franklin, a constitutional law professor at Monterey College of Law, said that even though the court rejected similar procedural arguments when it upheld amendments reinstating the death penalty and limiting property taxes, those cases do not represent as much of a fundamental change as Proposition 8.
"Those amendments applied universally to all Californians," Franklin said. "This is a situation where you are removing rights from a particular group of citizens, a class of individuals the court has said is entitled to constitutional protection. That is a structural change."
The trio of cases the court accepted were filed by six same-sex couples who have not yet wed, a Los Angeles lesbian couple who were among the first to tie the knot on June 16 and 11 cities and counties, led by the city of San Francisco.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Repeal Prop 8 Bumper Stickers
http://www.cafepress.com/repeal_prop8#link-productCategory-113
50% of the proceeds go to benefit Lambda Legal so they can help repeal prop 8, it's unconstitutional and all people deserve the same rights!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders under attack for wanting to overturn Prop 8
ACTION ALERT!
Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders
under attack for wanting to overturn Prop 8
Dear Friends;
Our community and our supporters continue to be the victim of outrageous, relentless attacks by proponents of Prop 8.
Now they are claiming that Governor Schwarzenegger supports anarchy—anarchy—for saying that he hopes Prop 8 is overturned in court and for encouraging us to "never give up."
In a recent email urging supporters to attack the Governor for his comments, Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council had this to say:
"Since Election Day, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has made statements supporting demonstrations against Proposition 8, and urging California 's Supreme Court to block the amendment's enforcement…Condoning street protests and supporting judicial activist scams to overturn a popularly approved state constitutional amendment approaches advocacy of anarchy. Gov. Schwarzenegger is playing a dangerous game, and it needs to stop. Now."
What needs to STOP NOW is the hateful rhetoric and continued assaults from the leadership of the Yes on 8 campaign who used lies and deceit to write discrimination into our constitution and eliminate our equality.
Email Governor Schwarzenegger, and the 44 members of the California Legislature who signed a friend of the court brief to overturn Prop 8. Encourage them to stand strong in the face of these outrageous attacks.
>> http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hlLUL9MXLqK2LpI&s=juI4JfNSLjLVKdOXJvF&m=jiJVLaPILfL4E
If you are registered with EQCA’s Action Center, reply to this email. Or register today at www.eqca.org/ActionCenter. Taking action is simple and free.
>> http://www.eqca.org/ActionCenter
Prop 8 must be overturned and we need to let the leaders who are standing with us know how much we appreciate their support.
The other side is flooding them with critical emails. It is up to each of us to make sure they get more emails from those who support equality than from those who continue to attack us.
Please, email our elected leaders who are standing with us today. And urge everyone you know to do so as well.
>> http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=dhKMIXOHLmIWKfJ&s=juI4JfNSLjLVKdOXJvF&m=jiJVLaPILfL4E
In solidarity,
Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California
-----
Under Attack!
Proponents of Prop 8 are flooding leaders who stand with us with critical emails, urging them to oppose equality.
It is up to each of us to make sure they get more emails from those who support equality than from those who continue to attack us.
Send the Governor and our legislative leaders a message that out of state right wing special interest groups have no place in California and thank them for standing on the right side of history.
1. Register with EQCA’s Action Center today at:
>> http://www.eqca.org/ActionCenter
2. Ask your family and friends to email the Governor and our legislative leaders.
3. Help us get marriage back. Make a donation today.
Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders
under attack for wanting to overturn Prop 8
Dear Friends;
Our community and our supporters continue to be the victim of outrageous, relentless attacks by proponents of Prop 8.
Now they are claiming that Governor Schwarzenegger supports anarchy—anarchy—for saying that he hopes Prop 8 is overturned in court and for encouraging us to "never give up."
In a recent email urging supporters to attack the Governor for his comments, Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council had this to say:
"Since Election Day, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has made statements supporting demonstrations against Proposition 8, and urging California 's Supreme Court to block the amendment's enforcement…Condoning street protests and supporting judicial activist scams to overturn a popularly approved state constitutional amendment approaches advocacy of anarchy. Gov. Schwarzenegger is playing a dangerous game, and it needs to stop. Now."
What needs to STOP NOW is the hateful rhetoric and continued assaults from the leadership of the Yes on 8 campaign who used lies and deceit to write discrimination into our constitution and eliminate our equality.
Email Governor Schwarzenegger, and the 44 members of the California Legislature who signed a friend of the court brief to overturn Prop 8. Encourage them to stand strong in the face of these outrageous attacks.
>> http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hlLUL9MXLqK2LpI&s=juI4JfNSLjLVKdOXJvF&m=jiJVLaPILfL4E
If you are registered with EQCA’s Action Center, reply to this email. Or register today at www.eqca.org/ActionCenter. Taking action is simple and free.
>> http://www.eqca.org/ActionCenter
Prop 8 must be overturned and we need to let the leaders who are standing with us know how much we appreciate their support.
The other side is flooding them with critical emails. It is up to each of us to make sure they get more emails from those who support equality than from those who continue to attack us.
Please, email our elected leaders who are standing with us today. And urge everyone you know to do so as well.
>> http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=dhKMIXOHLmIWKfJ&s=juI4JfNSLjLVKdOXJvF&m=jiJVLaPILfL4E
In solidarity,
Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California
-----
Under Attack!
Proponents of Prop 8 are flooding leaders who stand with us with critical emails, urging them to oppose equality.
It is up to each of us to make sure they get more emails from those who support equality than from those who continue to attack us.
Send the Governor and our legislative leaders a message that out of state right wing special interest groups have no place in California and thank them for standing on the right side of history.
1. Register with EQCA’s Action Center today at:
>> http://www.eqca.org/ActionCenter
2. Ask your family and friends to email the Governor and our legislative leaders.
3. Help us get marriage back. Make a donation today.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wonderful Quote By George Clooney
From: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/the_awful_truth/b68336_george_clooney_weighs_in_on_prop_8.html
"At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won't be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black."
AntiGay Blacklist of Donors
from: AntiGayBlacklist.com
The following individuals or organizations (according to ElectionTrack.com) have donated money to the California Proposition 8 campaign which seeks to ban same sex marriages. Please do not patronize them. 8 = HATE. Thanks!
John Griffiths / Dentist, John C. Griffiths, Dds, Mds, Pc /Las Vegas, NV / $1,000
Anne-Marie Anderson /Consultant, Cps Human Resource Svc. / Rocklin, CA /$3,900
Darren Hulstine / Sales, Patterson Dental / Santa Maria, CA / $1,500
Dale Olsen / Contractor, The Floor Show Of California / Lemon Grove, CA / $1,000
John Sawyer / President, Penhall Company / Laguna Hills, CA / $2,500
John Sawyer / President, Penhall Company / Laguna Hills, CA / $1,000
Samuel Coates / Attorney / Palo Alto, CA / $2,500
Fieldstead And Co. / Irvine, CA / $95,000
Margaret Friedrich / Farmer, Friedrich Enterprises / Paterson, CA /$1,000
Frank Winger / Insurance, Aim / Santa Ana, CA /$2,500
Andre Carli / Professor, Cal. State Univ. Sacramento / Elk Grove, CA / $1,000
Container Supply Co., Inc. / Garden Grove, CA / $250,000
Wesley C. Hilton / V.p. Ins. Sales, Dominion Insurance / Lafayette, CA / $1,250
Kemp Burnham / Software Developer, Xact Ware Inc. / Lehi, UT / $1,000
Koreen Martone / Budget Analyst, State Of Ca. / West Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Gary Mcarthur / Dc, Ppc / Paradise, CA / $1,000
Gary Melman / Investment Manager, Horus / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Barnabas Chen / Manager, World Trend, Inc. / Pomona, CA / $1,000
Gayle Wells / Seminar Business, Empty Spools Seminars / Moraga, CA / $1,000
Lambeth Consulting / Greenwood, CA / $1,000
Stephen Elgorriaga / Sheep Rancher, Stephen Elgorriaga Livestock / Madera, CA / $1,000
Country View Farms / Pierce, NE / $2,500
Roy Menchavez / Equip. Eng., Venzon Engineering / Mountain View, CA / $1,000
Frank Velasquez / Coo, Cornerstone Technologies / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Tyler Albrechtsen / Healthcare Administrator, Victoria Care Center / Oxnard, CA / $1,000
Bruce Andrus / Hotel Owner/operator, Huntington Hotels / Park City, UT / $20,000
Daniel Brinton / Physician, East Bay Retina Consultants / Lafayette, CA / $2,000
Stan Lee / Pharmacist, Nelsons Drug Store / Upland, CA / $5,000
Jeffrey Puryear / Lab Research Assoc., Texas Agrilife Research Station / Bryan, TX / $1,000
Matthew Wade / Medical Resident, Uc Irvine / Salt Lake City, UT / $2,000
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $2,909
Robert Gray / Consultant, Rg-construction Consultants / Plumas Lake, CA / $2,000
Robert Mendenhall / Pres., Western Governors University / Salt Lake City, CA / $1,000
John Mcgaffey / Manager, Polara Engineering / Fullerton, CA / $2,000
Garth Pickett / Accounting, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $2,000
Tracy Pickett / Executive Support, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $1,999
Lisa Myler / Wedding Planner, Myler Weddings / American Fork, UT / $10,000
Jerner Construction, Inc. / Turlock, CA / $1,000
Paula Barnes / Scheduler, Disneyland / Mission Viejo, CA / $3,000
Michael Brown / Attorney, Michael R. Brown, A Law Corp. / Lake Forest, CA / $1,200
Earl Goodman / President, Goodman, Gene, Dtl, Inc. / Chandler, AZ / $9,999
James Mclaughlin / Investment Management, Lincolnshire Management, Inc. / New Canaan, CT / $1,000
Donald Nanney / Attorney, Gilchrist & Rutter, Pc / Pasadena, CA / $1,000
Coalition For The Protection Of / Las Vegas, NV / $5,000
William Allen / Orthodontist, North County Orthodontist / Carlsbad, CA / $1,000
Morgan Lynch / Management, Lago Di Como / Cedar Hills, UT / $2,500
Scott Haskins / President, Facl, Inc. / Santa Barbara, CA / $5,000
Jessica Wooden / Rn, Sutter Roseville Medical Center / Rescue, CA / $1,500
Yvonne Tsai / Consultant, Kingdom Design / Irvine, CA / $1,000
Caleb Nelson / Self Employed, Unishippers Of Oakland/oregon / Albany, OR / $1,000
Jan Pinney / Insurance Broker, Pinney Insurance Center, Inc. / Granite Bay, CA / $10,000
Ken Campbell / Personnel Officer, City Of Long Beach / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,000
Price Funeral Chapel, Inc. / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Kevin Neubert & Associates Inc. / Lake Arrowhead, CA / $1,000
Scott Borgia / Tax Director, Armanino Mckenna / Morgan Hill, CA / $1,000
Leading Edge Duplication, Inc / Moorpark, CA / $1,700
Joseph Ray / Civil Engineer, P G & E / Rodeo, CA / $1,000
Kimberly Sneddon / Teacher, Chino Usd / Brea, CA / $1,000
Tisha Harty / Office Manager, Law Office Of Douglas Harty / Castaic, CA /$1,000
Steven Udvar / Manager, Pacific Life Insurance Co. / Dana Point, CA / $1,000
Lorin Rocks / Engineer, Tandberg Television / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Melenaite Piutau / Contractor, New Epoch Construction / Ontario, CA / $2,000
Heath Fields / Shipping/receiving, Terico / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Container Supply Co., Inc. / Garden Grove, CA / $1,520
Blake Wettengel / Attorney, Snell & Wilmer / Laguna Niguel, CA / $1,000
Cheryl Aday / Real Estate, Provident Realty / Upland, CA / $1,000
Ray Zinn / Ceo, Micrel Inc. / Atherton, CA / $1,500
Gregory Tuttle / Dentist, Gregory K Tuttle Dds / El Dorado Hills, CA / $5,000
Katherine Foster / Manager, Cisco / Mountain View, CA / $2,000
David Boyce / Cpa, Brown, Fink, Boyce & Astle / Folsom, CA / $4,000
Michael Lee / Researcher, Natl Inst. For Materials Science / Elk Ridge, UT / $1,500
Joel Gibson / Consultant, Permanente Medical Group / Albany, CA / $1,000
Courtney Sirard / Medical Provider, Woodland Hospital / Woodland, CA /$1,000
Alex Spjute / Attorney, Hughes Hubbard & Reed / Redondo Beach, CA / $1,000
Wei Li / Engineer, Sensage / Daly City, CA / $1,000
Sherri Steenburgen / Real Estate, First Team Real Estate / Anaheim, CA /$2,341
John Lewis / Doctor, Tpmg / Cupertino, CA / $1,000
Kevin Schick / Programmer, Synteract Inc. / Carlsbad, CA / $1,000
Anne Jones / Calligrapher, Self - Anne Jones / North Hollywood, CA / $1,000
Sherry Jagard / Program Manager / Simi Valley, CA / $1,000
Walter Gubler / Professor, Uc Davis / Davis, CA / $1,000
Montgomery Painting / Cerritos, CA / $1,000
Jeff Lemmon / Businessman, New Star / Pacific Grove, CA / $1,000
Brandon Ballard / Investment Advisor, Investools Inc. / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Matthew Thueson / Office Manager, Roll Services / Tucson, AZ / $1,000
Lawrence R. Taylor / Cpa, Gallina, Llp / Antelope, CA / $1,000
Carl Trubschenck / Dentist, Carl Trubschenck Dds Inc. / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Christopher Porter / Vp Sales, Pearson / Folsom, CA / $1,000
Ryan S. Beck / Physical Therapist, Western Physical Therapy / Orland, CA / $1,000
David Bjarnason / Analyst, Western Investment / Salt Lake City, CA / $1,000
Ralph E. Carr / Social Worker, Dept. Of Children & Family Serv. / Downey, CA / $1,000
Kirk Phillips / Civil Engineer, City Of Claremont California / Upland, CA / $1,000
Tca Partners, Llp / Fresno, CA / $1,000
Thomas Carmack / Attorney, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosa / Mountain View, CA / $1,000
Mike Power / Engineer, Intuit / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Rhonda Killion / Secretary, Church On The Rock / Woodland, CA / $1,000
Brian Avery / Property Manager, Acco Mgt. / Mountain View, CA / $1,000
Blaine Ray Workshops / Consultant / Pismo Beach, CA / $1,000
Scott English / Programmer, Tmmg / Yorba Linda, CA / $2,000
Special Funds / Santa Clarita, CA / $2,675
Bolt Motorcycle Hardware / Atascadero, CA / $1,000
Ridgway Pope / Accountant, County Of Ventura / Ventura, CA / $1,000
Daniel Trueba / Doctor, U.s. Navy / Stonington, CT / $1,000
Alta Home Care Inc. / Riverside, CA / $2,500
Mark Riem / Audio Visual, Self Employed-mark Riem / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Chris Barlow / Finance, Lombard Street Partners, Llc / San Ramon, CA / $1,000
Tulikininifo Penieli / Intl. Export., Dhl Express / Lawndale, CA / $1,000
Metal Related Services, Inc / Chatsworth, CA / $2,000
Kawika Tupou / Engineer, Alg Corp. / Camarillo, CA / $1,000
Brian Everett / Architect, Nmr Architects / Orangevale, CA / $1,250
Cory Reid / Loss Mitigation, Consumer Protection Institute / Moraga, CA / $1,000
Kendell Ricks / Dentist, Village Dental / Bonsall, CA / $1,000
Alekisanita Vimahi / Merchandiser, Retail Marketing / Millbrae, CA / $1,500
Cooley Family Investment Llc / Higley, AZ / $10,000
Andrew Hunt / Civil Engineer, City Of Sacramento / Folsom, CA / $1,000
Craig Yeates / Auditor, Us Department Federal Government / Camarillo, CA / $1,000
Robert Ludlow / Dentist, Self Employed - Robert Ludlow / Modesto, CA / $5,000
Katherine Laret / Teacher, San Juan Unified School District / Orangevale, CA / $1,000
Sandra Ball / Manager, Treehouse Almonds / Lemoore, CA / $1,000
Bruce Stephenson / Cpa, Gallina Llp / Granite Bay, CA / $1,000
Mann Construction / Santa Barbara, CA / $1,000
Golding Publications / Canyon Lake, CA / $1,000
M By 6 Inc / Stockton, CA / $1,000
Richard Reep / Hrm, Home Depot / Shingle Springs, CA / $2,000
David Hilburn / Nursing Home Administrator, Sherwood Healthcare Center / Granite Bay, CA / $5,000
Danielle Peterson / Gis Analyst, Granite Construction / Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Ken Sanofsky / Ceo, Path Solutions / Angoura Hills, CA / $1,000
Scott Kuhnen / Paper Stock Dealer, Recycling Industries / Yuba City, CA / $28,750
John Larcabal / Optometrist, Brea Optomatry / Brea, CA / $1,000
Wailana Kamauu / Agent, Wailana Kamauu Ins. Agency / Sonoma, CA / $1,000
Lori Hooke / Civil Engineer, Ventura County / Ventura, CA / $1,200
Gordon Jones / Chemical Salesman, Cardinal Industry / Thousand Oaks, CA / $2,000
Calvary Chapel Corona /Corona, CA / $2,533
Trentman Corporation / Auburn, CA / $1,000
Bart Walker / Owner, Barts Electric / Pleasant Valley, MO / $1,000
Huesser Neweight Llc / Concord, CA / $1,000
Nathan Jensen / Attorney, Morrison & Foerster / San Diego, CA / $10,000
Randall Hatcher / Human Resources, MAU, Inc. / Augusta, GA / $5,000
Margaret Mccauley / Landscaper, Pml Landscape / Clovis, CA / $1,000
Brian Hayes / Restaurateur, Aunt Fannys Hot Pretzel / Auburn, CA / 1,000
Craig Huey / Advertising, Creative Direct Marketing Group / Torrance, CA / $1,000
Elizabeth Thomas / Teacher, Burbank Usd / Burbank, CA / $1,000
Shelburne Ponsford / Pres., Systems Information Tech. / Santa Rosa, CA / $1,000
Rodney Hewitt / Chief Risk Officer, Centrue Bank / Manlius, IL / $2,500
Kelley Drake / Supply Chain Mgt, Lsi Corp / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Thomas Larson / Engineer, Cal Trans / San Diego, CA / $9,900
Jason Swart / Owner, Specialized Dairy Svc. / Ontario, CA / $1,000
Steven Turner / Attorney, Jones Turner, Llp / Irvine, CA / $1,000
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $328
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $981
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $46
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $83
Lauri Janssen / Accountant, Intermountan Health Care / West Jordan, UT / $1,000
Lee Monson / Air Attack Capt., Dyncorp International / Atascadero, CA / $1,000
Byron Johnson / President, Eml Associates Inc. / Manteca, CA / $1,000
April Bullard / Business Owner, Scv / Whittier, CA / $1,000
Debra Cabeza / Programmer, City Of Los Angeles / Montebello, CA / $1,000
Michael Manning / Cpa, Qlogic Corporation / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $20,000
Dan Northcutt / Property Management/real Estate, Northcutt Properties Inc. / San Diego, CA / $1,000
Brian Thulin / Teacher, Lausd / Simi Valley, CA / $1,000
Lance Dane / Small Business Owner, Self Employed - Lance Dane / Lafayette, CA / $2,500
Karen Rohm / Professor, California State University / San Bernardino, CA / $1,000
Karen Merrill / Finance Director, Bcbg / Pasadena, CA / $1,000
Nancy Hales / Self Employed, Hales Engineering / Camarillo, CA / $5,000
Lupeni Tuaone / Construction, L.t. Concrete / Chino, CA / $1,614
Ryan Hall / Real Estate, Keller Williams / San Clemente, CA / $1,000
Brent Webb / President, Rpm / Granite Bay, CA / $5,000
David Bills / Teacher, Sbcusd / Corona, CA / $1,000
Michael Wach / Self Employed, Self - Michael Wach / Pomona, CA / $1,000
Theron Brown / Nuclear Radiologist, Va / Torrance, CA / $1,200
Robyn Evans / M.d., Self - Robyn Evans / Redlands, CA / $2,500
John Lewis / Physician, Tpmg / Cupertino, CA / $2,000
Craig Ferguson / Accountant, Craig W Ferguson / Laguna Niguel, CA / $1,000
Marsha Saylors / Secretary, Tire Man / Santa Rosa Valley, CA / $2,500
Barnabas Chen / Manager, World Trend, Inc. / Pomona, CA / $1,000
Reybro, Inc. / Vista, CA / $5,000
Quality Recycling / Lakeside, CA / $2,000
Linda Reynolds / Bookkeeper, Quality Recylcing / Escondido, CA / $2,000
Calvary Chapel Of Costa Mesa, Inc / Santa Ana, CA / $9,000
Mont Flora / Manager, Liberty Heating & Air / Laguna Hills, CA / $5,000
Robert Eakin / Tutor, Mobile Math Tutoring / Carmichael, CA / $3,000
Chuck Musselwhite / Pastor, The Village Chapel / Lompoc, CA / $1,000
Nicole Whitman / Administrator, Greystar / Thousand Oaks, CA / $1,200
Brian Sprague / Analyst, Dept. Of Energy / Fair Oaks, CA / $1,000
Phillip Fletcher / Dentist, Phillip Fletcher, Dds / Redwood City, CA / $1,000
Lin Whatcott/ Accountant, Davita Inc. / Maple Valley, WA / $10,005
Adam Smith /Cpa, Pwc / Santa Ana, CA /$4,000
Marty Walker / Pastor, The Sanctuary / Santa Clarita, CA / $2,500
Michael Lee / Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher / Sierra Madre, CA / $1,000
Donovan Sanchez / Food Services, Mtc Dining Services / Fairfield, CA / $1,000
David Watts / Engineer, Aeris Communications / Morgan Hill, CA / $2,000
Daniel Jensen / Owner, Jensen Fasteners / Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Dan Darchuck / Investment Advisor, Ubs / Clovis, CA / $1,000
Karen Floyd / Trainer, First American Title / Newcastle, CA / $2,500
Calvary Chapel Montebello / Montebello, CA / $1,000
Scott Anderson / Executive, Zenith Specialty Bag / Chino Hills, CA / $1,000
Steven Clark / Manager, R.l. Co. / Orangevale, CA / $1,000
Janet Mahoney / Nursing, Scripps Health / San Diego, CA / $1,000
Matthew Major / Engineer, Lockheed Martin / Sunnyvale, CA / $1,000
Paul Eumurian / Engineer, Boeing / Anaheim, CA / $1,000
David Warner / Periodontist, David A. Warner Dds / Whittier, CA / $1,000
Integrated Dental Implant Services / Las Vegas, NV / $1,000
John Ludwig / Dentist, John B. Ludwig Dds Dental Corp. / Santa Clara, CA / $1,000
Craig Paullin / Partner, 14000 Avalon, Llc / Los Angeles, CA / $2,500
Richard Snelson / Accountant, Ernst & Young Llp / Newhall, CA / $5,585
Brent Griffiths / Self Employed, Brents Carpet One / Newhall, CA / $1,000
Gordon Maughan / Medical Doctor, Self Employed / Palos Verdes Estates, CA / $1,000
Scott L. Larson / Mngr., Scandia Rec., Inc. / Ontario, CA / $1,000
Richard Teerlink / Real Estate Consultant, Richard M. Teerlink Consulting / Gold River, CA / $2,500
Mark Warden / Executive, The Bergman Corp. / San Jose, CA / $1,000
James Elison / Geologist, Paso Creek Reources / Bakersfield, CA / $1,000
Mark E. Abel, Dds / Auburn, CA / $1,000
Douglas Myers / Cpa, Douglas S. Myers, Cpa / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,000
Dallin Large / Pool Cover Repairman, Cover Care / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Patrick Foley / Ceo, Rirock Technologies, Inc. / Redlands, CA / $5,000
Mark Walton / Accountant, Reading Intenational, Inc. / South Pasadena, CA / $1,000
Wikitoria Lovett / School Teacher, San Bernardino City Usd / Redlands, CA / $1,580
Lois Lafrance / Cinematic Artist, Activision / Thousand Oaks, CA / $1,000
Scott Wallace / Engineer, Carlsbad Manufacturing Corp / Chula Vista, CA / $1,000
Steve Keithly / Vice President, Whittier Mailing Products / La Mirada, CA / $3,000
Paul Kepes / Risk Manager, Ctc, Llc / Chicago, IL / $9,900
Monica Kepes / None, N/a / Chicago, IL / $9,900
Salvatore Cordileone / Clergy, Catholic Diocese Of San Diego / San Diego, CA / $2,000
Lance Paddock / Teacher, Alvord Usd / Fullerton, CA / $1,000
New Covenant Church / Martinez, CA / $3,050
Nathan Birchall / Cfo, Ranch Capital / Encinitas, CA / $1,000
Ken Swanson / Engineer, Sun Microsystems / San Jose, CA / $3,000
Patrick Svedin / Sales, Sanofi Pasteur / Salt Lake City, UT / $1,000
Jay Mortensen / Consultant, South West Dealer Services / Laguna Hills, CA / $2,500
Edward Weaver / Teacher, Tehachapi Usd / Tehachapi, CA / $1,000
Jay Clark / Produce Dealer, A & Z Produce / Centerville, UT / $25,000
Scott Eckern / Artistic Director, California Musical Theatre / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Rodney Remington / Physician, Self - Remington / Clovis, CA / $1,000
Harold Stevens / Building Contractor, Stevens Construction / Lancaster, CA / $1,200
David Payne / Self Empoyed, Muzicraft / Santa Barbara, CA / $9,550
Behrouz Younessian / Cfo, The Brass Ring Inc. / Oceanside, CA / $2,000
Robyn Evans / M.d., Self - Robyn Evans / Redlands, CA / $1,000
Todd Johnson / Dentist, Todd L Johnson Dds / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Todd Johnson / Dentist, Todd L Johnson Dds / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Benjamin Whitesides / Principal, Orange County Logistics / Huntington Beach, CA / $1,000
Michael Freeland / Optometrist, Family Optometry Of Camarillo / Camarillo, CA / $1,000
Stuart Watt / Attorney, Amgen / Camarillo, CA / $2,500
Stuart Watt / Attorney, Amgen / Camarillo, CA / $2,500
Drew Dellenbach / Sales, Bms / Corona, CA / $1,500
K. Melton Higgins / Ceo, Ca Bapist Foundation / Fresno, CA / $1,000
Arthur Birtcher / Real Estate, Birtcher Anderson / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $1,000
Barry Magaoay / Advisor, Lee Financial Group / Kapolei, HI / $1,000
Shelley Mitchell / Owner, Strategy Micro / Laguna Hills, CA / $1,000
Brian Mendenhall / Manager, Pendum / Lake Forest, CA / $1,000
Drew Dellenbach / Sales, Bms / Corona, CA / $1,500
K. Melton Higgins / Ceo, Ca Bapist Foundation / Fresno, CA / $1,000
Arthur Birtcher / Real Estate, Birtcher Anderson / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $1,000
Don Francis / Manager, Cbs / San Ramon, CA / $2,500
Jeff Hendrickson / Manager, Legacy Professional Services / San Clemente, CA / $3,500
John Mcgaffey / Manager, Polara Engineering / Murrieta, CA / $1,000
Mike Denning / Consultant, Ernst & Young / San Clemente, CA / $3,000
Jeff Grover / Manager, Solecon / Modesto, CA / $1,000
Lu Little / Admin Asst, Rw Little Ins Agency / Los Angeles, CA / $8,500
Robert Little / Ins Agent, Rw Little Ins Agency / La, CA / $9,500
Richard Zamboni / Manufacturer, Zamboni, Co / Paramount, CA / $1,000
Donovan Cyndi / Secretary, Gaelic Electric / Santa Barbara, CA / $1,000
Calvary Bible Church / Bakersfield, CA / $2,255
Donn Crummer / Real Estate Mgmt, Crummer Realty Mgmt Group / Santa Ynez, CA / $1,000
Ronald Smith / Professor, Biola University / San Bernardino, CA / $1,000
Helen Boltz / Chemical Plant Manager, Tressidewl-kirley / Mesa, AZ / $5,000
Myron Randall / Computer Programmer, Firemans Fund / Penngrove, CA / $1,000
Dave Barlow / Real Estate Broker, Barlow Williams Realty / Camarillo, CA / $1,000
Bohl, Nixon & Schoneman / Ventura, CA / $2,000
Jon Van Woerkom / Attorney, Aig / Roseville, CA / $1,001
Orion Wood / Consultant, Orion Wood Consulting / Newark, CA / $2,500
Frank Johnson / Engineer, Naval Facilities Eng Service Center / Oxnard, CA / $1,000
Robert Frost / Project Manager, Ace Hardware / Clayton, CA / $1,000
Patrick Fitzgerald / Cpa, Pricewaterhouse Coopers Llp / Mission Viejo, CA / $2,000
Jon Hickman / Investment Analyst, Mdb Capital / Pleasant Hills, CA / $1,000
Scott Letellier / Sports Exec Big League Dreams Usa, / Palos Verdes Estate, CA / $1,500
Sally Lee / Vp Media, Guthy-renker Corp. / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
John Warren / Cpa, John Warren Cpa / Uniah, CA / $1,000
Dan Lang / Attorney, J.d. Lang & Associates / Westlake Village, CA / $1,000
Kelley Ivancovich / Farmer, Ivancovich Farms / Porterville, CA / $1,500
Alan Colledge / M.d ., Central Utah Clinic / Lindon, UT / $1,000
John Griffiths / Orthodontist, John C. Griffiths, Dds, Mds, Pc / Las Vegas, NV / $1,000
Darren Wight / Finance, Insight Health Corp / Laguna Niguel, CA / $1,500
Dana Del Francia / Ceo, Bullet Freight Systems / Anaheim, CA / $1,000
America Francis / Apartment Manager, Spieker Companies / San Ramon, CA / $2,000
Bruce Higginson / President, Awc / Garden Grove, CA / $2,001
Brian Gibson / Operations Manager, Hewlett-packard / Antelop, CA / $1,000
Jennifer Johnson / Manager, Coraticum Asset Mgt. / Holladay, UT / $2,500
Mark Lindgren / Pilot, Fedex / San Luis Obispo, CA / $5,000
Thomas Brasher / Insurance, Brashers Insurance Svc. / Newcastle, CA / $2,500
Jeff Nelson / Tech Support, Shields, Harper & Co. / Vacaville, CA / $1,800
David Knowles / Insurance, David Knowles Insurance / Sacramento, CA /$1,000
Jon Iverson / Cpa, Jon Iverson, Cpa / San Jose, CA / $5,000
Michael Schield / Manager, Orpor, Inc. / Laguna Woods, CA / $2,500
Eric Schwarz / Consultant, Omni Management / Thousand Oaks, CA / $2,000
Roman Catholic Bishop / Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Schmoekel Insurance Agency, Inc / Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Eugene Van Zee / Pastor, Faith Community Church / San Jacinto, CA / $1,064
Travis Clawson / Potato Processor, Joy Foods / Laguna Beach, CA / $1,000
Aldric Porter / Co-producer, Columbia Pictures / Santa Rosa Valley, CA / $5,000
Richard Jordan / Prof, Natural Success International / Laguna Niguel, CA / $25,000
Anne Weaver / Rn, Kaiser Sand Teresa Hospital / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Janet Smith / Interior Design, Labelle Maisor / Altadena, CA / $1,000
Kevin Riches / Business Owner, Self - Riches Group / Portola Valley, CA /$1,000
Stephen Taylor / Financial Advisor, Bank Of The West / Sacramento, CA /$1,000
Robert Pratt / Attorney, State Of Ca. / Woodland, CA / $1,000
Susan B. Jones / Psychotherapist, Susan B. Jones, L.c.s.w. / Yuba City, CA / $5,000
Gregory Clark / Consultant, Cirrus Financial / Dublin, CA / $21,500
William Orlando / Manager, Aes Ins. / Concord, CA / $1,000
Ross Biesinger / Financial Advisor, Morgan Stanley / Palm Desert, CA / $1,000
Lise Dimartino / Teacher, Lammersvill School District / Tracy, CA / $1,000
Friends Of Ron Packard / Carlsbad, CA / $5,000
Pam Peterson / Executive, Folsom Lake Ford / Granite Bay, CA / $1,000
Iris Marshall / Designer, Hyundai Kia / Laguna Hills, CA / $1,000
Carole Waite / Teacher, Los Angeles Usd / Huntington Park, CA / $10,000
Karen Cooper / Tech, C.h.w. / Riverside, CA / $1,000
Meghann Pricer / Project Director, Century Group / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Kristine Kiser / Accountant, Kristine M. Kiser, Cpa / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,500
Eric Chen / Research, Ucla / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Thomas Butler / Real Estate, Fortress Investments / American Fork, UT / $1,000
Fang Lu / Engineer, Broadcom / Rowland Heights, CA / $5,000
Cay Pooley / Accountant, Mosaic / San Luis Obispo, CA / $1,350
David Paxman / Teacher, Byu / Provo, UT / $1,000
Tracy Pickett / Executive Support, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $3,000
Garth Pickett / Accounting, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $3,000
Richard Marshall / Vet, Sutter Inst For Med. Resrch / El Dorado Hills, CA / 1,000
Angela Li / Software Engineer, Yahoo!, Inc. / San Mateo, CA / $1,300
Bruce Jensen / Engineer, Raytheon Co. / Goleta, CA / $1,250
Linda Reeve / Landscape Design, Self- Linda Reeve / Alamo, CA / $9,500
Ca State Council Knights/columbus / Fontana, CA / $8,889
Lasco Enterprises / Spring Valley, CA / $1,000
David Pace / President, High Valley Construction / Villa Park, CA / $1,000
Calvary Chapel Mission Fund / El Centro, CA / $2,000
High Valley Construction Co, Inc / Anaheim, CA / $1,000
Central Christian Church / Lancaster, CA / $2,490
Larry La Monica / Property Manager, La Monica Properties / Carson City, CA / $1,000
James Lee / Pharmacist, Yorba Linda Pharmacy / Anaheim, CA / $1,000
William Albert / Developer, Sares-regis Group / Irvine, CA / $1,000
William Wilson / Dentist, William G Wilson Dds / Modesto, CA / $1,000
Lisa Call / Teacher, Los Altos School District / Los Gatos, CA / $1,000
Brad Zimmerman / Grading Contractor, Quest Engineering / Tustin, CA / $2,500
Sharleen Peterson / Research Clerk, Bank Of America / Alhambra, CA / $1,000
Paul Manwaring / Ces Coordinator, Ces Seminars/institutes / Twin Falls, ID / $1,800
Linda Williams /Cpa, Ristau & Co Inc Cpas / Turlock, CA / $1,000
Keith Rowbotham / Tradebinder, Allied Binding Co / Corona, CA / $1,000
Robyn Robinson / Insurance Broker, Robyn Robinson / San Juan Capistrano, CA / 1,000
Kenneth Woolley / Ceo, Extra Space Inc. / Salt Lake City, CA / $5,000
Angie Crosby / Teacher, Anaheim City School District / Newport Beach, CA / $1,000
Melanie Jensen / Insurance Broker, Sheppard & Assoc. / Orangevale, CA / $1,000
Tevita Piutau / Contractor, Self - Tevita Piutau / Ontario, CA / $3,300
Ralph Ogden / Attorney, Law Offices Of Ralph C. Ogden / Modesto, CA /$1,000
Sarah Pack / Therapist, Emq Children And Family Services / San Jose, CA / $2,000
Neal Proctor / Appraiser, Appraisal Net / Folsom, CA / $3,000
William Obryant / Director, Unitedhealthcare / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,000
Hierbert Gillespie / Attorney, Gillespie Law Office / Roosevelt, UT / $1,000
Steven Olsen / Psi Network, Inc, President / Laguna Niguel, CA / $24,999
David M. Fenn / Contractor, Fenn-robbins Homes / Lake Arrowhead, CA / $1,000
Daniel F. Johnson Forensic Services / Canyon Country, CA / $1,000
Ashcraft Design / El Segundo, CA / $1,000
Keven D. Oreilly / Physician, Dr. Kevin Oreilly / Redlands, CA / $1,000
Eric Fors / Comm. Loan Underwriter, Bank Of America / S. Pasadena, CA /$1,000
Jeremie D. Mckee / Mngr., Npc / Corona, CA / $1,000
Robert C. Van Sweden / Finance, Gfi Energy Ventures / Santa Monica, CA / $1,000
Bradley E. Haag / R.e. Appraiser, Appraisal Solutions / Lehi, UT / $2,000
Daniel E. Burgoyne / Mngr., Ca Dgs / Folsom, CA / $1,000
Matthew Perona / Acct., Price Waterhouse Coopers / Concord, CA / $1,500
The following individuals or organizations (according to ElectionTrack.com) have donated money to the California Proposition 8 campaign which seeks to ban same sex marriages. Please do not patronize them. 8 = HATE. Thanks!
John Griffiths / Dentist, John C. Griffiths, Dds, Mds, Pc /Las Vegas, NV / $1,000
Anne-Marie Anderson /Consultant, Cps Human Resource Svc. / Rocklin, CA /$3,900
Darren Hulstine / Sales, Patterson Dental / Santa Maria, CA / $1,500
Dale Olsen / Contractor, The Floor Show Of California / Lemon Grove, CA / $1,000
John Sawyer / President, Penhall Company / Laguna Hills, CA / $2,500
John Sawyer / President, Penhall Company / Laguna Hills, CA / $1,000
Samuel Coates / Attorney / Palo Alto, CA / $2,500
Fieldstead And Co. / Irvine, CA / $95,000
Margaret Friedrich / Farmer, Friedrich Enterprises / Paterson, CA /$1,000
Frank Winger / Insurance, Aim / Santa Ana, CA /$2,500
Andre Carli / Professor, Cal. State Univ. Sacramento / Elk Grove, CA / $1,000
Container Supply Co., Inc. / Garden Grove, CA / $250,000
Wesley C. Hilton / V.p. Ins. Sales, Dominion Insurance / Lafayette, CA / $1,250
Kemp Burnham / Software Developer, Xact Ware Inc. / Lehi, UT / $1,000
Koreen Martone / Budget Analyst, State Of Ca. / West Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Gary Mcarthur / Dc, Ppc / Paradise, CA / $1,000
Gary Melman / Investment Manager, Horus / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Barnabas Chen / Manager, World Trend, Inc. / Pomona, CA / $1,000
Gayle Wells / Seminar Business, Empty Spools Seminars / Moraga, CA / $1,000
Lambeth Consulting / Greenwood, CA / $1,000
Stephen Elgorriaga / Sheep Rancher, Stephen Elgorriaga Livestock / Madera, CA / $1,000
Country View Farms / Pierce, NE / $2,500
Roy Menchavez / Equip. Eng., Venzon Engineering / Mountain View, CA / $1,000
Frank Velasquez / Coo, Cornerstone Technologies / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Tyler Albrechtsen / Healthcare Administrator, Victoria Care Center / Oxnard, CA / $1,000
Bruce Andrus / Hotel Owner/operator, Huntington Hotels / Park City, UT / $20,000
Daniel Brinton / Physician, East Bay Retina Consultants / Lafayette, CA / $2,000
Stan Lee / Pharmacist, Nelsons Drug Store / Upland, CA / $5,000
Jeffrey Puryear / Lab Research Assoc., Texas Agrilife Research Station / Bryan, TX / $1,000
Matthew Wade / Medical Resident, Uc Irvine / Salt Lake City, UT / $2,000
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $2,909
Robert Gray / Consultant, Rg-construction Consultants / Plumas Lake, CA / $2,000
Robert Mendenhall / Pres., Western Governors University / Salt Lake City, CA / $1,000
John Mcgaffey / Manager, Polara Engineering / Fullerton, CA / $2,000
Garth Pickett / Accounting, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $2,000
Tracy Pickett / Executive Support, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $1,999
Lisa Myler / Wedding Planner, Myler Weddings / American Fork, UT / $10,000
Jerner Construction, Inc. / Turlock, CA / $1,000
Paula Barnes / Scheduler, Disneyland / Mission Viejo, CA / $3,000
Michael Brown / Attorney, Michael R. Brown, A Law Corp. / Lake Forest, CA / $1,200
Earl Goodman / President, Goodman, Gene, Dtl, Inc. / Chandler, AZ / $9,999
James Mclaughlin / Investment Management, Lincolnshire Management, Inc. / New Canaan, CT / $1,000
Donald Nanney / Attorney, Gilchrist & Rutter, Pc / Pasadena, CA / $1,000
Coalition For The Protection Of / Las Vegas, NV / $5,000
William Allen / Orthodontist, North County Orthodontist / Carlsbad, CA / $1,000
Morgan Lynch / Management, Lago Di Como / Cedar Hills, UT / $2,500
Scott Haskins / President, Facl, Inc. / Santa Barbara, CA / $5,000
Jessica Wooden / Rn, Sutter Roseville Medical Center / Rescue, CA / $1,500
Yvonne Tsai / Consultant, Kingdom Design / Irvine, CA / $1,000
Caleb Nelson / Self Employed, Unishippers Of Oakland/oregon / Albany, OR / $1,000
Jan Pinney / Insurance Broker, Pinney Insurance Center, Inc. / Granite Bay, CA / $10,000
Ken Campbell / Personnel Officer, City Of Long Beach / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,000
Price Funeral Chapel, Inc. / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Kevin Neubert & Associates Inc. / Lake Arrowhead, CA / $1,000
Scott Borgia / Tax Director, Armanino Mckenna / Morgan Hill, CA / $1,000
Leading Edge Duplication, Inc / Moorpark, CA / $1,700
Joseph Ray / Civil Engineer, P G & E / Rodeo, CA / $1,000
Kimberly Sneddon / Teacher, Chino Usd / Brea, CA / $1,000
Tisha Harty / Office Manager, Law Office Of Douglas Harty / Castaic, CA /$1,000
Steven Udvar / Manager, Pacific Life Insurance Co. / Dana Point, CA / $1,000
Lorin Rocks / Engineer, Tandberg Television / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Melenaite Piutau / Contractor, New Epoch Construction / Ontario, CA / $2,000
Heath Fields / Shipping/receiving, Terico / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Container Supply Co., Inc. / Garden Grove, CA / $1,520
Blake Wettengel / Attorney, Snell & Wilmer / Laguna Niguel, CA / $1,000
Cheryl Aday / Real Estate, Provident Realty / Upland, CA / $1,000
Ray Zinn / Ceo, Micrel Inc. / Atherton, CA / $1,500
Gregory Tuttle / Dentist, Gregory K Tuttle Dds / El Dorado Hills, CA / $5,000
Katherine Foster / Manager, Cisco / Mountain View, CA / $2,000
David Boyce / Cpa, Brown, Fink, Boyce & Astle / Folsom, CA / $4,000
Michael Lee / Researcher, Natl Inst. For Materials Science / Elk Ridge, UT / $1,500
Joel Gibson / Consultant, Permanente Medical Group / Albany, CA / $1,000
Courtney Sirard / Medical Provider, Woodland Hospital / Woodland, CA /$1,000
Alex Spjute / Attorney, Hughes Hubbard & Reed / Redondo Beach, CA / $1,000
Wei Li / Engineer, Sensage / Daly City, CA / $1,000
Sherri Steenburgen / Real Estate, First Team Real Estate / Anaheim, CA /$2,341
John Lewis / Doctor, Tpmg / Cupertino, CA / $1,000
Kevin Schick / Programmer, Synteract Inc. / Carlsbad, CA / $1,000
Anne Jones / Calligrapher, Self - Anne Jones / North Hollywood, CA / $1,000
Sherry Jagard / Program Manager / Simi Valley, CA / $1,000
Walter Gubler / Professor, Uc Davis / Davis, CA / $1,000
Montgomery Painting / Cerritos, CA / $1,000
Jeff Lemmon / Businessman, New Star / Pacific Grove, CA / $1,000
Brandon Ballard / Investment Advisor, Investools Inc. / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Matthew Thueson / Office Manager, Roll Services / Tucson, AZ / $1,000
Lawrence R. Taylor / Cpa, Gallina, Llp / Antelope, CA / $1,000
Carl Trubschenck / Dentist, Carl Trubschenck Dds Inc. / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Christopher Porter / Vp Sales, Pearson / Folsom, CA / $1,000
Ryan S. Beck / Physical Therapist, Western Physical Therapy / Orland, CA / $1,000
David Bjarnason / Analyst, Western Investment / Salt Lake City, CA / $1,000
Ralph E. Carr / Social Worker, Dept. Of Children & Family Serv. / Downey, CA / $1,000
Kirk Phillips / Civil Engineer, City Of Claremont California / Upland, CA / $1,000
Tca Partners, Llp / Fresno, CA / $1,000
Thomas Carmack / Attorney, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosa / Mountain View, CA / $1,000
Mike Power / Engineer, Intuit / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Rhonda Killion / Secretary, Church On The Rock / Woodland, CA / $1,000
Brian Avery / Property Manager, Acco Mgt. / Mountain View, CA / $1,000
Blaine Ray Workshops / Consultant / Pismo Beach, CA / $1,000
Scott English / Programmer, Tmmg / Yorba Linda, CA / $2,000
Special Funds / Santa Clarita, CA / $2,675
Bolt Motorcycle Hardware / Atascadero, CA / $1,000
Ridgway Pope / Accountant, County Of Ventura / Ventura, CA / $1,000
Daniel Trueba / Doctor, U.s. Navy / Stonington, CT / $1,000
Alta Home Care Inc. / Riverside, CA / $2,500
Mark Riem / Audio Visual, Self Employed-mark Riem / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Chris Barlow / Finance, Lombard Street Partners, Llc / San Ramon, CA / $1,000
Tulikininifo Penieli / Intl. Export., Dhl Express / Lawndale, CA / $1,000
Metal Related Services, Inc / Chatsworth, CA / $2,000
Kawika Tupou / Engineer, Alg Corp. / Camarillo, CA / $1,000
Brian Everett / Architect, Nmr Architects / Orangevale, CA / $1,250
Cory Reid / Loss Mitigation, Consumer Protection Institute / Moraga, CA / $1,000
Kendell Ricks / Dentist, Village Dental / Bonsall, CA / $1,000
Alekisanita Vimahi / Merchandiser, Retail Marketing / Millbrae, CA / $1,500
Cooley Family Investment Llc / Higley, AZ / $10,000
Andrew Hunt / Civil Engineer, City Of Sacramento / Folsom, CA / $1,000
Craig Yeates / Auditor, Us Department Federal Government / Camarillo, CA / $1,000
Robert Ludlow / Dentist, Self Employed - Robert Ludlow / Modesto, CA / $5,000
Katherine Laret / Teacher, San Juan Unified School District / Orangevale, CA / $1,000
Sandra Ball / Manager, Treehouse Almonds / Lemoore, CA / $1,000
Bruce Stephenson / Cpa, Gallina Llp / Granite Bay, CA / $1,000
Mann Construction / Santa Barbara, CA / $1,000
Golding Publications / Canyon Lake, CA / $1,000
M By 6 Inc / Stockton, CA / $1,000
Richard Reep / Hrm, Home Depot / Shingle Springs, CA / $2,000
David Hilburn / Nursing Home Administrator, Sherwood Healthcare Center / Granite Bay, CA / $5,000
Danielle Peterson / Gis Analyst, Granite Construction / Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Ken Sanofsky / Ceo, Path Solutions / Angoura Hills, CA / $1,000
Scott Kuhnen / Paper Stock Dealer, Recycling Industries / Yuba City, CA / $28,750
John Larcabal / Optometrist, Brea Optomatry / Brea, CA / $1,000
Wailana Kamauu / Agent, Wailana Kamauu Ins. Agency / Sonoma, CA / $1,000
Lori Hooke / Civil Engineer, Ventura County / Ventura, CA / $1,200
Gordon Jones / Chemical Salesman, Cardinal Industry / Thousand Oaks, CA / $2,000
Calvary Chapel Corona /Corona, CA / $2,533
Trentman Corporation / Auburn, CA / $1,000
Bart Walker / Owner, Barts Electric / Pleasant Valley, MO / $1,000
Huesser Neweight Llc / Concord, CA / $1,000
Nathan Jensen / Attorney, Morrison & Foerster / San Diego, CA / $10,000
Randall Hatcher / Human Resources, MAU, Inc. / Augusta, GA / $5,000
Margaret Mccauley / Landscaper, Pml Landscape / Clovis, CA / $1,000
Brian Hayes / Restaurateur, Aunt Fannys Hot Pretzel / Auburn, CA / 1,000
Craig Huey / Advertising, Creative Direct Marketing Group / Torrance, CA / $1,000
Elizabeth Thomas / Teacher, Burbank Usd / Burbank, CA / $1,000
Shelburne Ponsford / Pres., Systems Information Tech. / Santa Rosa, CA / $1,000
Rodney Hewitt / Chief Risk Officer, Centrue Bank / Manlius, IL / $2,500
Kelley Drake / Supply Chain Mgt, Lsi Corp / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Thomas Larson / Engineer, Cal Trans / San Diego, CA / $9,900
Jason Swart / Owner, Specialized Dairy Svc. / Ontario, CA / $1,000
Steven Turner / Attorney, Jones Turner, Llp / Irvine, CA / $1,000
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $328
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $981
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $46
Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $83
Lauri Janssen / Accountant, Intermountan Health Care / West Jordan, UT / $1,000
Lee Monson / Air Attack Capt., Dyncorp International / Atascadero, CA / $1,000
Byron Johnson / President, Eml Associates Inc. / Manteca, CA / $1,000
April Bullard / Business Owner, Scv / Whittier, CA / $1,000
Debra Cabeza / Programmer, City Of Los Angeles / Montebello, CA / $1,000
Michael Manning / Cpa, Qlogic Corporation / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $20,000
Dan Northcutt / Property Management/real Estate, Northcutt Properties Inc. / San Diego, CA / $1,000
Brian Thulin / Teacher, Lausd / Simi Valley, CA / $1,000
Lance Dane / Small Business Owner, Self Employed - Lance Dane / Lafayette, CA / $2,500
Karen Rohm / Professor, California State University / San Bernardino, CA / $1,000
Karen Merrill / Finance Director, Bcbg / Pasadena, CA / $1,000
Nancy Hales / Self Employed, Hales Engineering / Camarillo, CA / $5,000
Lupeni Tuaone / Construction, L.t. Concrete / Chino, CA / $1,614
Ryan Hall / Real Estate, Keller Williams / San Clemente, CA / $1,000
Brent Webb / President, Rpm / Granite Bay, CA / $5,000
David Bills / Teacher, Sbcusd / Corona, CA / $1,000
Michael Wach / Self Employed, Self - Michael Wach / Pomona, CA / $1,000
Theron Brown / Nuclear Radiologist, Va / Torrance, CA / $1,200
Robyn Evans / M.d., Self - Robyn Evans / Redlands, CA / $2,500
John Lewis / Physician, Tpmg / Cupertino, CA / $2,000
Craig Ferguson / Accountant, Craig W Ferguson / Laguna Niguel, CA / $1,000
Marsha Saylors / Secretary, Tire Man / Santa Rosa Valley, CA / $2,500
Barnabas Chen / Manager, World Trend, Inc. / Pomona, CA / $1,000
Reybro, Inc. / Vista, CA / $5,000
Quality Recycling / Lakeside, CA / $2,000
Linda Reynolds / Bookkeeper, Quality Recylcing / Escondido, CA / $2,000
Calvary Chapel Of Costa Mesa, Inc / Santa Ana, CA / $9,000
Mont Flora / Manager, Liberty Heating & Air / Laguna Hills, CA / $5,000
Robert Eakin / Tutor, Mobile Math Tutoring / Carmichael, CA / $3,000
Chuck Musselwhite / Pastor, The Village Chapel / Lompoc, CA / $1,000
Nicole Whitman / Administrator, Greystar / Thousand Oaks, CA / $1,200
Brian Sprague / Analyst, Dept. Of Energy / Fair Oaks, CA / $1,000
Phillip Fletcher / Dentist, Phillip Fletcher, Dds / Redwood City, CA / $1,000
Lin Whatcott/ Accountant, Davita Inc. / Maple Valley, WA / $10,005
Adam Smith /Cpa, Pwc / Santa Ana, CA /$4,000
Marty Walker / Pastor, The Sanctuary / Santa Clarita, CA / $2,500
Michael Lee / Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher / Sierra Madre, CA / $1,000
Donovan Sanchez / Food Services, Mtc Dining Services / Fairfield, CA / $1,000
David Watts / Engineer, Aeris Communications / Morgan Hill, CA / $2,000
Daniel Jensen / Owner, Jensen Fasteners / Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Dan Darchuck / Investment Advisor, Ubs / Clovis, CA / $1,000
Karen Floyd / Trainer, First American Title / Newcastle, CA / $2,500
Calvary Chapel Montebello / Montebello, CA / $1,000
Scott Anderson / Executive, Zenith Specialty Bag / Chino Hills, CA / $1,000
Steven Clark / Manager, R.l. Co. / Orangevale, CA / $1,000
Janet Mahoney / Nursing, Scripps Health / San Diego, CA / $1,000
Matthew Major / Engineer, Lockheed Martin / Sunnyvale, CA / $1,000
Paul Eumurian / Engineer, Boeing / Anaheim, CA / $1,000
David Warner / Periodontist, David A. Warner Dds / Whittier, CA / $1,000
Integrated Dental Implant Services / Las Vegas, NV / $1,000
John Ludwig / Dentist, John B. Ludwig Dds Dental Corp. / Santa Clara, CA / $1,000
Craig Paullin / Partner, 14000 Avalon, Llc / Los Angeles, CA / $2,500
Richard Snelson / Accountant, Ernst & Young Llp / Newhall, CA / $5,585
Brent Griffiths / Self Employed, Brents Carpet One / Newhall, CA / $1,000
Gordon Maughan / Medical Doctor, Self Employed / Palos Verdes Estates, CA / $1,000
Scott L. Larson / Mngr., Scandia Rec., Inc. / Ontario, CA / $1,000
Richard Teerlink / Real Estate Consultant, Richard M. Teerlink Consulting / Gold River, CA / $2,500
Mark Warden / Executive, The Bergman Corp. / San Jose, CA / $1,000
James Elison / Geologist, Paso Creek Reources / Bakersfield, CA / $1,000
Mark E. Abel, Dds / Auburn, CA / $1,000
Douglas Myers / Cpa, Douglas S. Myers, Cpa / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,000
Dallin Large / Pool Cover Repairman, Cover Care / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Patrick Foley / Ceo, Rirock Technologies, Inc. / Redlands, CA / $5,000
Mark Walton / Accountant, Reading Intenational, Inc. / South Pasadena, CA / $1,000
Wikitoria Lovett / School Teacher, San Bernardino City Usd / Redlands, CA / $1,580
Lois Lafrance / Cinematic Artist, Activision / Thousand Oaks, CA / $1,000
Scott Wallace / Engineer, Carlsbad Manufacturing Corp / Chula Vista, CA / $1,000
Steve Keithly / Vice President, Whittier Mailing Products / La Mirada, CA / $3,000
Paul Kepes / Risk Manager, Ctc, Llc / Chicago, IL / $9,900
Monica Kepes / None, N/a / Chicago, IL / $9,900
Salvatore Cordileone / Clergy, Catholic Diocese Of San Diego / San Diego, CA / $2,000
Lance Paddock / Teacher, Alvord Usd / Fullerton, CA / $1,000
New Covenant Church / Martinez, CA / $3,050
Nathan Birchall / Cfo, Ranch Capital / Encinitas, CA / $1,000
Ken Swanson / Engineer, Sun Microsystems / San Jose, CA / $3,000
Patrick Svedin / Sales, Sanofi Pasteur / Salt Lake City, UT / $1,000
Jay Mortensen / Consultant, South West Dealer Services / Laguna Hills, CA / $2,500
Edward Weaver / Teacher, Tehachapi Usd / Tehachapi, CA / $1,000
Jay Clark / Produce Dealer, A & Z Produce / Centerville, UT / $25,000
Scott Eckern / Artistic Director, California Musical Theatre / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Rodney Remington / Physician, Self - Remington / Clovis, CA / $1,000
Harold Stevens / Building Contractor, Stevens Construction / Lancaster, CA / $1,200
David Payne / Self Empoyed, Muzicraft / Santa Barbara, CA / $9,550
Behrouz Younessian / Cfo, The Brass Ring Inc. / Oceanside, CA / $2,000
Robyn Evans / M.d., Self - Robyn Evans / Redlands, CA / $1,000
Todd Johnson / Dentist, Todd L Johnson Dds / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Todd Johnson / Dentist, Todd L Johnson Dds / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000
Benjamin Whitesides / Principal, Orange County Logistics / Huntington Beach, CA / $1,000
Michael Freeland / Optometrist, Family Optometry Of Camarillo / Camarillo, CA / $1,000
Stuart Watt / Attorney, Amgen / Camarillo, CA / $2,500
Stuart Watt / Attorney, Amgen / Camarillo, CA / $2,500
Drew Dellenbach / Sales, Bms / Corona, CA / $1,500
K. Melton Higgins / Ceo, Ca Bapist Foundation / Fresno, CA / $1,000
Arthur Birtcher / Real Estate, Birtcher Anderson / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $1,000
Barry Magaoay / Advisor, Lee Financial Group / Kapolei, HI / $1,000
Shelley Mitchell / Owner, Strategy Micro / Laguna Hills, CA / $1,000
Brian Mendenhall / Manager, Pendum / Lake Forest, CA / $1,000
Drew Dellenbach / Sales, Bms / Corona, CA / $1,500
K. Melton Higgins / Ceo, Ca Bapist Foundation / Fresno, CA / $1,000
Arthur Birtcher / Real Estate, Birtcher Anderson / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $1,000
Don Francis / Manager, Cbs / San Ramon, CA / $2,500
Jeff Hendrickson / Manager, Legacy Professional Services / San Clemente, CA / $3,500
John Mcgaffey / Manager, Polara Engineering / Murrieta, CA / $1,000
Mike Denning / Consultant, Ernst & Young / San Clemente, CA / $3,000
Jeff Grover / Manager, Solecon / Modesto, CA / $1,000
Lu Little / Admin Asst, Rw Little Ins Agency / Los Angeles, CA / $8,500
Robert Little / Ins Agent, Rw Little Ins Agency / La, CA / $9,500
Richard Zamboni / Manufacturer, Zamboni, Co / Paramount, CA / $1,000
Donovan Cyndi / Secretary, Gaelic Electric / Santa Barbara, CA / $1,000
Calvary Bible Church / Bakersfield, CA / $2,255
Donn Crummer / Real Estate Mgmt, Crummer Realty Mgmt Group / Santa Ynez, CA / $1,000
Ronald Smith / Professor, Biola University / San Bernardino, CA / $1,000
Helen Boltz / Chemical Plant Manager, Tressidewl-kirley / Mesa, AZ / $5,000
Myron Randall / Computer Programmer, Firemans Fund / Penngrove, CA / $1,000
Dave Barlow / Real Estate Broker, Barlow Williams Realty / Camarillo, CA / $1,000
Bohl, Nixon & Schoneman / Ventura, CA / $2,000
Jon Van Woerkom / Attorney, Aig / Roseville, CA / $1,001
Orion Wood / Consultant, Orion Wood Consulting / Newark, CA / $2,500
Frank Johnson / Engineer, Naval Facilities Eng Service Center / Oxnard, CA / $1,000
Robert Frost / Project Manager, Ace Hardware / Clayton, CA / $1,000
Patrick Fitzgerald / Cpa, Pricewaterhouse Coopers Llp / Mission Viejo, CA / $2,000
Jon Hickman / Investment Analyst, Mdb Capital / Pleasant Hills, CA / $1,000
Scott Letellier / Sports Exec Big League Dreams Usa, / Palos Verdes Estate, CA / $1,500
Sally Lee / Vp Media, Guthy-renker Corp. / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
John Warren / Cpa, John Warren Cpa / Uniah, CA / $1,000
Dan Lang / Attorney, J.d. Lang & Associates / Westlake Village, CA / $1,000
Kelley Ivancovich / Farmer, Ivancovich Farms / Porterville, CA / $1,500
Alan Colledge / M.d ., Central Utah Clinic / Lindon, UT / $1,000
John Griffiths / Orthodontist, John C. Griffiths, Dds, Mds, Pc / Las Vegas, NV / $1,000
Darren Wight / Finance, Insight Health Corp / Laguna Niguel, CA / $1,500
Dana Del Francia / Ceo, Bullet Freight Systems / Anaheim, CA / $1,000
America Francis / Apartment Manager, Spieker Companies / San Ramon, CA / $2,000
Bruce Higginson / President, Awc / Garden Grove, CA / $2,001
Brian Gibson / Operations Manager, Hewlett-packard / Antelop, CA / $1,000
Jennifer Johnson / Manager, Coraticum Asset Mgt. / Holladay, UT / $2,500
Mark Lindgren / Pilot, Fedex / San Luis Obispo, CA / $5,000
Thomas Brasher / Insurance, Brashers Insurance Svc. / Newcastle, CA / $2,500
Jeff Nelson / Tech Support, Shields, Harper & Co. / Vacaville, CA / $1,800
David Knowles / Insurance, David Knowles Insurance / Sacramento, CA /$1,000
Jon Iverson / Cpa, Jon Iverson, Cpa / San Jose, CA / $5,000
Michael Schield / Manager, Orpor, Inc. / Laguna Woods, CA / $2,500
Eric Schwarz / Consultant, Omni Management / Thousand Oaks, CA / $2,000
Roman Catholic Bishop / Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Schmoekel Insurance Agency, Inc / Sacramento, CA / $1,000
Eugene Van Zee / Pastor, Faith Community Church / San Jacinto, CA / $1,064
Travis Clawson / Potato Processor, Joy Foods / Laguna Beach, CA / $1,000
Aldric Porter / Co-producer, Columbia Pictures / Santa Rosa Valley, CA / $5,000
Richard Jordan / Prof, Natural Success International / Laguna Niguel, CA / $25,000
Anne Weaver / Rn, Kaiser Sand Teresa Hospital / San Jose, CA / $1,000
Janet Smith / Interior Design, Labelle Maisor / Altadena, CA / $1,000
Kevin Riches / Business Owner, Self - Riches Group / Portola Valley, CA /$1,000
Stephen Taylor / Financial Advisor, Bank Of The West / Sacramento, CA /$1,000
Robert Pratt / Attorney, State Of Ca. / Woodland, CA / $1,000
Susan B. Jones / Psychotherapist, Susan B. Jones, L.c.s.w. / Yuba City, CA / $5,000
Gregory Clark / Consultant, Cirrus Financial / Dublin, CA / $21,500
William Orlando / Manager, Aes Ins. / Concord, CA / $1,000
Ross Biesinger / Financial Advisor, Morgan Stanley / Palm Desert, CA / $1,000
Lise Dimartino / Teacher, Lammersvill School District / Tracy, CA / $1,000
Friends Of Ron Packard / Carlsbad, CA / $5,000
Pam Peterson / Executive, Folsom Lake Ford / Granite Bay, CA / $1,000
Iris Marshall / Designer, Hyundai Kia / Laguna Hills, CA / $1,000
Carole Waite / Teacher, Los Angeles Usd / Huntington Park, CA / $10,000
Karen Cooper / Tech, C.h.w. / Riverside, CA / $1,000
Meghann Pricer / Project Director, Century Group / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Kristine Kiser / Accountant, Kristine M. Kiser, Cpa / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,500
Eric Chen / Research, Ucla / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000
Thomas Butler / Real Estate, Fortress Investments / American Fork, UT / $1,000
Fang Lu / Engineer, Broadcom / Rowland Heights, CA / $5,000
Cay Pooley / Accountant, Mosaic / San Luis Obispo, CA / $1,350
David Paxman / Teacher, Byu / Provo, UT / $1,000
Tracy Pickett / Executive Support, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $3,000
Garth Pickett / Accounting, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $3,000
Richard Marshall / Vet, Sutter Inst For Med. Resrch / El Dorado Hills, CA / 1,000
Angela Li / Software Engineer, Yahoo!, Inc. / San Mateo, CA / $1,300
Bruce Jensen / Engineer, Raytheon Co. / Goleta, CA / $1,250
Linda Reeve / Landscape Design, Self- Linda Reeve / Alamo, CA / $9,500
Ca State Council Knights/columbus / Fontana, CA / $8,889
Lasco Enterprises / Spring Valley, CA / $1,000
David Pace / President, High Valley Construction / Villa Park, CA / $1,000
Calvary Chapel Mission Fund / El Centro, CA / $2,000
High Valley Construction Co, Inc / Anaheim, CA / $1,000
Central Christian Church / Lancaster, CA / $2,490
Larry La Monica / Property Manager, La Monica Properties / Carson City, CA / $1,000
James Lee / Pharmacist, Yorba Linda Pharmacy / Anaheim, CA / $1,000
William Albert / Developer, Sares-regis Group / Irvine, CA / $1,000
William Wilson / Dentist, William G Wilson Dds / Modesto, CA / $1,000
Lisa Call / Teacher, Los Altos School District / Los Gatos, CA / $1,000
Brad Zimmerman / Grading Contractor, Quest Engineering / Tustin, CA / $2,500
Sharleen Peterson / Research Clerk, Bank Of America / Alhambra, CA / $1,000
Paul Manwaring / Ces Coordinator, Ces Seminars/institutes / Twin Falls, ID / $1,800
Linda Williams /Cpa, Ristau & Co Inc Cpas / Turlock, CA / $1,000
Keith Rowbotham / Tradebinder, Allied Binding Co / Corona, CA / $1,000
Robyn Robinson / Insurance Broker, Robyn Robinson / San Juan Capistrano, CA / 1,000
Kenneth Woolley / Ceo, Extra Space Inc. / Salt Lake City, CA / $5,000
Angie Crosby / Teacher, Anaheim City School District / Newport Beach, CA / $1,000
Melanie Jensen / Insurance Broker, Sheppard & Assoc. / Orangevale, CA / $1,000
Tevita Piutau / Contractor, Self - Tevita Piutau / Ontario, CA / $3,300
Ralph Ogden / Attorney, Law Offices Of Ralph C. Ogden / Modesto, CA /$1,000
Sarah Pack / Therapist, Emq Children And Family Services / San Jose, CA / $2,000
Neal Proctor / Appraiser, Appraisal Net / Folsom, CA / $3,000
William Obryant / Director, Unitedhealthcare / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,000
Hierbert Gillespie / Attorney, Gillespie Law Office / Roosevelt, UT / $1,000
Steven Olsen / Psi Network, Inc, President / Laguna Niguel, CA / $24,999
David M. Fenn / Contractor, Fenn-robbins Homes / Lake Arrowhead, CA / $1,000
Daniel F. Johnson Forensic Services / Canyon Country, CA / $1,000
Ashcraft Design / El Segundo, CA / $1,000
Keven D. Oreilly / Physician, Dr. Kevin Oreilly / Redlands, CA / $1,000
Eric Fors / Comm. Loan Underwriter, Bank Of America / S. Pasadena, CA /$1,000
Jeremie D. Mckee / Mngr., Npc / Corona, CA / $1,000
Robert C. Van Sweden / Finance, Gfi Energy Ventures / Santa Monica, CA / $1,000
Bradley E. Haag / R.e. Appraiser, Appraisal Solutions / Lehi, UT / $2,000
Daniel E. Burgoyne / Mngr., Ca Dgs / Folsom, CA / $1,000
Matthew Perona / Acct., Price Waterhouse Coopers / Concord, CA / $1,500
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