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Finally, Some Prop 8 Leaders Who Aren't Afraid of a Little Fight
Back in October, the Yes on 8 "people" challenged California's Superintendent of Schools, Jack O'Connell, to a debate about gay marriage. According to Yes, even the remotest possibility of learning anything about gay marriage is harmful to children. Nothing hateful about that!
Anyway, the No side refuse to debate. In fact, not only did (self-described) Campaign Manager Steve Smith hide from the debate, but his response was obscured from public view in a hard-to-find PDF. (But we dug up the text and included it after the jump.)
But now there's a debate happening for real! Gloria Allred and Andy Pugno will argue about how California defines marriage On January 14 at The National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 North Central Ave, Los Angeles. (Gloria is one of the lawyers suing to overturn Prop 8; Andy is a lawyer who opposes California's equal protection clause.) Tickets are $20, and throwing of vegetables is strictly forbidden.
This is a fight that, obviously, the gays will win in the long run. In fact, the run probably isn't even that long. Getting the anti-marriage folks on record, explaining just how crazy their position is, can only hasten along the cause of civil equality.
Disclosure: SFist_Matt is the creator of Stop8.org, and does behind-the-scenes organizing for the gars.
Steve Smith's letter, which is actually pretty well-written for a cop-out. We guess it would have been hard to get away with texting back "srry am 2 bzy 4 gays rt nw."
SENT VIA EMAIL AND COURIER October 28, 2008 Frank Schubert Campaign Manager, protectmarriage.com - Yes on 8 1415 L Street, Suite C-259 Sacramento, CA 95814 Dear Frank: Thank you for your letter. It would be a disservice to the people of California to debate an issue that is completely unrelated to Proposition 8. As you know: Jack O’Connell, the state’s top educator and the nonpartisan-elected Superintendent of Public Instruction says Prop. 8 has nothing to do with schools and that your campaign’s use of children to make this false claim is “shameful.” Delaine Eastin, his predecessor, says Prop. 8 has nothing to do with schools. Dr. Ted Mitchell, the President of the State Board of Education, says Prop. 8 has nothing to do with schools. His predecessor, Reed Hastings, says Prop. 8 has nothing to do with schools. The California Teachers Association says Prop. 8 has nothing to do with schools. And leading newspapers have concluded Prop. 8 has nothing to do with schools. The only debate worth having in California is why you have pursued such a deceptive campaign strategy. That debate is one you can conduct alone - with your conscience. Cordially, Steve Smith Campaign Manager NO on Prop 8