The Latest Proposition

It's difficult to guess whether LHC will succeed in its effort to put Prop. 8 to a vote. But it is woefully underprepared to launch an advocacy campaign that can outgun the opposition. LHC is pretty short on cash; whereas Equality California received $3.2 million in contributions in 2010, LHC says it has only $500,000. The results of a recent poll--in which 48 percent of Californians said they sup...

American Prospect • Dec 20, 2011

Gay on Trial: Why more than marriage is at stake in the federal legal challenge to Prop. 8.

Perry v. Schwarzenegger indeed asks the "ultimate question" of whether gays have a federal right to marry, but because the case is alleging that Prop. 8 violated the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, the federal court decision will have implications for gay Americans in nearly every arena of public life, from housing to parenting to military service. The court is set to consider qu...

American Prospect • Nov 24, 2009

In DC, LGBT Activists Won by Playing the Long Game

Yesterday the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics rejected Bishop Harry Jackson's efforts to put recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states to a referendum. The reason the referendum was rejected was because the proposed law would go against D.C.'s comprehensive human rights law that says proposed laws that would have the purpose or effect of discriminating against people based on ...

American Prospect • Jun 16, 2009

We've Already Won the Battle Over Gay Marriage

More and more Democrats, and eventually even Republicans, will announce that where they once supported laws like the Defense of Marriage Act (signed by Clinton in 1996), they have come around to support marriage equality. But try to picture a politician going in the other direction -- saying that though he used to support same-sex marriage, he no longer does. It's almost impossible to imagine, bec...

American Prospect • Apr 14, 2009