Now that US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker has put the federal lawsuit challenging Prop 8 (Perry v. Schwarzenegger) on a fast-track to trial, a group of three former critics — Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union, yesterday, tried to get a piece of the action:
(SAN FRANCISCO, July 8, 2009) — Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today asked the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to allow Our Family Coalition, Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays to intervene in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a federal lawsuit challenging California’s Proposition 8. In an order issued June 30 and confirmed at a hearing on July 1, Judge Vaughn R. Walker granted a motion to intervene by supporters of Proposition 8, and declined to rule on a request by plaintiffs for an immediate injunction staying the marriage ban. He called instead for a trial to resolve a number  of critically important factual questions about LGBT people and constitutional rights including questions about same-sex couples as parents, whether Proposition 8 was passed with discriminatory intent, and whether allowing same-sex couples to marry undermines the stability of heterosexual marriages.
The response from The American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group behind the lawsuit, was swift and not unexpectedly harsh:
Dear Kate [Kendell], Jennifer [Pizer] and Mark [Rosenbaum]:
On behalf of the plaintiffs and our board, donors and supporters, I am writing to ask that you not intervene in Perry v. Schwarzenegger.
Given our willingness to collaborate with you, and your efforts to undercut this case, we were surprised and disappointed when we became aware of your desire to intervene.
You have unrelentingly and unequivocally acted to undermine this case even before it was filed. In light of this, it is inconceivable that you would zealously and effectively litigate this case if you were successful in intervening. Therefore, we will vigorously oppose any motion to intervene.
In public and private, you have made it unmistakably clear that you strongly disagree with our legal strategy to challenge Prop. 8 as a violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution. Your strident criticism of our suit has been constant:
(emphasis: mine)
AFER’s letter then cites chapter and verse on the three group’s public criticism of the lawsuit. The entire letter can be found at Towleroad, but here’s the part where the knife goes in and sharply twists:
Regrettably, you embarked on a public and private campaign to undermine our efforts to vindicate the federal constitutional rights of California’s gay and lesbian residents. We nevertheless remain willing to work closely with you at all stages of this case and welcome your continued participation in the district court proceedings as an amicus curiae.
But we cannot and will not support your motion to intervene. Your intervention would create a complex, multi-party proceeding that would inevitably be hampered by procedural inefficiencies that are directly at odds with our goal — and the goal of Chief Judge Walker — of securing an expeditious, efficient, and inexpensive resolution to the district court proceedings. As a result of your intervention, we could be mired in procedurally convoluted pre-trial maneuvering for years — while gay and lesbian individuals in California continue to suffer the daily indignity of being denied their federal constitutional right to marry the person of their choosing. Such potentially interminable delay is antithetical to the values on which your organization was founded and for which you and your supporters have fought so tirelessly. Delaying equal marriage rights in California serves none of our interests.
Again, we continue to welcome your input and advice as we move forward in this case. We look forward to working with you to resolve this issue and bring the focus back to the constitutional issues at hand.
Sincerely,
Chad H. Griffin
Board President
(emphasis: mine)
Ouch!
Veteran reporter Rex Wockner shared this bit, the pièce de résistance, from author, playwright, and activist Larry Kramer:
i implore your three organizations, lambda legal of los angeles, national center for lesbian rights, and aclu lgbt project, to not interfere with the olson/boies case. you will only botch up what they are trying to achieve. you have thus far not achieved it on your own and with your own tactics, so why are you trying to kybosh someone who has come along with fresh new energy, ideas, and clout? you are only behaving in the worst possible bitchy way, the way gay groups can fall victim to when their feelings are hurt. keep your noses out of it, will you please? i beg of you. you should be cheering these guys from the sidelines and showering them with gratitude for coming along and trying to help us in our hugely enfeebled position, brought on in great part by our inability to work together effectively ourselves. you are only perpetuating this useless behavior.
Larry Kramer’s ferocity is legendary among AIDS activists, so I’m surprised to see his demand in lowercase instead of all caps, which, seems more suitable in this instance.
I have nothing but admiration for Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union, but the American Foundation for Equal Rights is cookin’ on this lawsuit. Allow them the credit and the space they’ve earned on this one.
Click for Printable Version
