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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
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Well I know that it's a slow day when I find myself reading the California state constitution...
Re Gloria- she must be a nightmare to be around. I love how she pops up on any case that has major publicity. Time to get rid of those 90s style business suits [the kind you wear] honey.
For the sake of No8, I hope Allred does the good work in drawing out the Yes8 arguments.
If you want to see a good debate about gay marriage from before the prop 8 situation, here is a panel debate at berkeley (one of the panelists was then state senator carol migden). The debate took place in April, 2004, and may enlighten each side as to the other's arguments.
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http://fauxwhore.blogspot.com
If you want to see a good debate about gay marriage from before the prop 8 situation, here is a panel debate at berkeley (one of the panelists was then state senator carol migden). The debate took place in April, 2004, and may enlighten each side as to the other's arguments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dIfRoVW6Js
_____________________
http://fauxwhore.blogspot.com
Pay $20 to listen to Anthony Pugno? No thanks. I want to kick my television screen in when I hear an absolutist bigot lecture me why gay marriage should remain powerless in California. Incase anybody is unaware, here is a link to our amazing attorney general, Gerry Brown's, novel legal theory that he's using to argue against prop 8. He really lays into it on page 75-91.
http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/press/pdfs/n1642_prop_8_brief.pdf
This is awful news for equality supporters. Gloria Allred is a nut and is one of the few people in the world who is worse than the No on 8 people who ran the most miserable campaign of the cycle.
Interesting. If Prop 8 has nothing to do with children and education, why did the California Teachers Association union contribute $1,250,000 to the No on 8 campaign. It seems that their money would be better used in the classroom than on a campaign that they had nothing to do with... or do they? That is a lot of money for an uninterested party to contribute.
So, Chas, your argument is what? That there's a secret plot by California teachers to gay-marry their students?
I can't really see how Gloria Allred's involvement is going to help matters. She's a shameless publicity hound and the only cause she cares about is herself.
Chas,
Had the supporters of Prop 8 left the Constitution as is, and not tried to take away anyone's civil rights, we could have all spent money on other things no matter which side you sit on.
Have the No8's kicked out of the club all of the "leaders" of the pre-election campaign? I think that's a good first step. Keep 'em for they people skills, but don't let them anywhere near strategy. This goes for the peripheral kooks, too.
Chas,
You should be proud that our educators support equal rights...as we all know it was not so long ago that Proposition 6 was on the ballot and many great teachers were in danger of losing their job. Beyond that, one would hope that if there was an initiative against another minority (race, sex, religious affiliation...) they would also proudly support the position of equality.
What about the questionable practice of churches waging political wars? Shouldn't that affect their tax-exempt status? Correct me if I am wrong, but it kills me to see religious organizations pour money into political issues instead of helping others. To me, thats worse than teachers supporting equality.