Theo-fascist Tony Perkins and friends tell us who gets civil rights and
who doesn’t (Video: Family Research Council, via Right Wing Watch)
I
“To penalize someone because of their sexual orientation is like what used to happen to us; to be penalized for something which we could do nothing [about] — our ethnicity, our race. I would find it quite unacceptable to condemn, persecute a minority that has already been persecuted.”
— Desmond Tutu, South African Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner comparing apartheid and homophobia
II
Civil Rights Groups Petition Calif. Supreme Court
to Stop Enactment of Prop. 8
In the petition, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Equal Justice Society, California NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. argue that in order to protect the fundamental rights of all Californians, a higher standard is required to overturn the right to marry. Minority communities cannot be stripped of their fundamental rights by a simple majority vote.
“We would be making a grave mistake to view Proposition 8 as just affecting the LGBT community,” said Eva Paterson, president of the Equal Justice Society. “If the Supreme Court allows Proposition 8 to take effect, it would represent a threat to the rights of people of color and all minorities.”
— Eva Patterson, president and co-founder of the Equal Justice Society
III
Religious Leaders, Faith Organizations File Lawsuit
to Invalidate Proposition 8
SAN FRANCISCO — November 17, 2008 — Today, the California Council of Churches and other religious leaders and faith organizations representing millions of members filed a petition with the California Supreme Court asking the Court to invalidate Proposition 8. The petition argues that Proposition 8 poses a severe threat to the guarantee of equal protection for all and was not enacted through the constitutionally required process for such a dramatic change to the California Constitution.
The petition is filed on behalf of the California Council of Churches, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, two Episcopal Bishops (of California and Los Angeles), the Progressive Jewish Alliance, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations and the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of California, and the Northern and Southern California Nevada Conferences of the United Church of Christ. The groups are represented by Eric Isaacson, based in San Diego, and by Jon B. Eisenberg of Eisenberg and Hancock, LLP, based in Oakland.
“Proposition 8 poses a grave threat to religious freedom,” said Rev. Rick Schlosser, Executive Director of the California Council of Churches. “If the Court permits gay men and lesbians to be deprived of equal protection by a simple majority vote, religious minorities could be denied equal protection as well — a terrible irony in a nation founded by people who emigrated to escape religious persecution. If the Court permits Prop 8 to take effect, religious discrimination similarly could be written into California’s Constitution.”
— California Council of Churches
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