Yesterday, Tuesday, I attended Equality California’s biggest Lobby Day ever! About 700 marriage supporters went to the Capitol to talk to their legislators about why they should vote for HR 5 and SR 7, dual resolutions in the Assembly and Senate calling for Prop 8 to be overturned.
Timing is everything. Looked grim at first, with drenching downpours. The legislators were in lock-down over their inability to pass a budget. The whole day could have been a bust as pols tried to find their way out of gridlock.
As it turned out, the Assembly Judiciary Committee went forward with a hearing on HR 5 -- and we witnessed this event first-hand. Here's a link to the video. There was testimony from United Farm Workers (co-founder Delores Huerta), National Center on Lesbian Rights (Shannon Minter, whose oral argument in front of the California Supreme Court last year laid the groundwork for the Court's historic decision), and EQCA's exec Geoff Kors who argued that rights should not be decided by “popularity contests.” (Video starts at 09:05 and goes to 14:14)
Then, there was a stream of heart-felt and moving testimony from grassroots citizens. See video here, fast forward to 23:27 and watch through 46:00. And, for a head-shaking-bordering-on-comic-if-they-weren't-so-earnest look at the opponents, watch 47:22 to 1:11:00 to see what we're up against.
Timing is everything. Looked grim at first, with drenching downpours. The legislators were in lock-down over their inability to pass a budget. The whole day could have been a bust as pols tried to find their way out of gridlock.
As it turned out, the Assembly Judiciary Committee went forward with a hearing on HR 5 -- and we witnessed this event first-hand. Here's a link to the video. There was testimony from United Farm Workers (co-founder Delores Huerta), National Center on Lesbian Rights (Shannon Minter, whose oral argument in front of the California Supreme Court last year laid the groundwork for the Court's historic decision), and EQCA's exec Geoff Kors who argued that rights should not be decided by “popularity contests.” (Video starts at 09:05 and goes to 14:14)
Then, there was a stream of heart-felt and moving testimony from grassroots citizens. See video here, fast forward to 23:27 and watch through 46:00. And, for a head-shaking-bordering-on-comic-if-they-weren't-so-earnest look at the opponents, watch 47:22 to 1:11:00 to see what we're up against.
We watched as the Committee passed the resolution in a 7 to 3 vote. If approved by the Assembly, it would put the legislature on record as opposing Prop 8.
Democracy in action. And a "not-for-profit" organization doing it's thing to influence public policy.
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