New Head Of EQCA Resigns

Recently appointed Equality California executive director Roland Palencia has resigned less than five months after replacing Geoffrey Kors. Via press release:

"Equality California serves a critical role in the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality in the state of California," said Palencia. "Over the next year, the movement in California faces a unique set of challenges that demands leadership uniquely positioned to take those challenges head-on, strengthen the organization and bring together the diverse parts of our movement into a powerful force for change. It's been my privilege to serve as the Executive Director of Equality California and I will continue to be an avid and involved supporter of EQCA and its work for equality."

Last week the group announced that it would not pursue placing a repeal of Proposition 8 on the 2012 ballot.

Geoff Kors To Leave Equality California

Equality California executive director Geoff Kors revealed today that he'll be leaving the organization this spring. EQCA spearheaded the unsuccessful attempt to defeat Proposition 8 in 2008. Seth Hemmelgarn at Bay Area Reporter:

Kors, who has been EQCA's only executive director since it was created in 1998, announced this morning (Friday, December 3) that he's resigning from the group, effective March 31. The date marks the eve of his ninth anniversary with the state's biggest LGBT rights organization. "I felt I'm ready to do some different things," Kors, 49, told the Bay Area Reporter , adding that nine years is a "long tenure" for the leader of a political organization like EQCA. He has yet to decide where he'll go next and has not applied yet for any other jobs.

Widely criticized for his leadership of the unsuccessful fight to defeat Prop 8 in the fall of 2008, Kors declined to talk about regrets or things he would've done differently. Instead, he talked about his accomplishments. He said when he became executive director, there was a staff of two, there was no statewide LGBT political action committee, and California was "a state with very limited rights" for same-sex couples. At the time, couples had less than 15 legal rights and protections, and there are now more than 400. He also pointed to employment and housing protections for transgender people

Read Hemmelgarn's complete analysis of Kors' tenure.

Quote Of The Day - Geoff Kors

"One of the things I sincerely hope Ken Mehlman has done or will do is to explain to George W. Bush how denying LGBT people equality causes real harm and how the GOP's anti-equality platform and campaigns lead to teen suicides and hate crimes. I hope he explains how bigotry impacted him and that he has asked George W Bush to join his wife Laura in supporting marriage equality. If he can convince Bush to publicly change his position that would be powerful.

"And I hope he shares with the public how the GOP used animus towards gay people to pass anti-marriage state constitutional amendments, as that will bolster the federal Prop 8 case. What he does to undo the damage he caused can be a part of his legacy and working with AFER to help overturn Prop 8 is a good start. We all have to hope he goes all out and proves he is a talented political strategist -- this time on the side of equality." - Equality California head Geoff Kors, speaking to reporter Rex Wockner.

HomoQuotable - B. Daniel Blatt

"In his latest email, the head of the gay affiliate of the California Democratic Party 'Equality California' tells us about 'the U.S. Constitution’s promise of equality for all'. Funny, I’ve read the U.S. Constitution more times than I can count and have never found. The framers did indicate that the charter’s purpose includes securing 'the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity'.

"Save for the Fourteenth Amendment when the word, 'equal,' appears, it only refers to legislative voting. And that Amendment specifies that 'No State shall make or enforce any law' which denies 'to any person within its jurisdiction.' Not sure how you get from that to a 'promise of equality.' Sorry, Geoff, you can’t read your ideological watchword into the constitution. It just ain’t there." - Gay Patriot blogger B. Daniel Blatt, hoping to be the next gay kapo quoted in court filings against marriage equality.

Equality California: We'll Wait For 2012 Before Attempting A Repeal Of Prop 8

In a conference call with activists and reporters, this afternoon Equality California announced their decision not to pursue a repeal of Proposition 8 until 2012. Veteran reporter Rex Wockner was on the call and quotes Equality California head Geoffrey Kors as saying that if another group pursues the repeal in 2010 and qualifies for the ballot, Equality California will support them.

Over on EQCA's blog, they make this demographic justification for their decision (among other reasons):

Younger, more supportive voters are much more likely to vote during the presidential election in 2012 than in a gubernatorial election in 2010, which will be comprised of more older, unsupportive voters. And the extra three years will add young people who are now 15, 16 and 17 to the voter rolls. All together, analysis demonstrates that we go in with 4% more support in 2012 than 2010 on these factors alone.

As other marriage equality groups react to EQCA's decision, I'll add what they have to say to this post. Be sure and read Rex Wockner's play-by-play of today's conference call.

UPDATE: Protect Marriage executive director Ron Prentice responds to EQCA's decision:

"Notwithstanding the decision by EQCA to shift focus to a 2012 election, which they readily admit is a crass political decision, they will lose then just as surely as they would in 2010 or any other year. The people have spoken twice on this issue, both times reaffirming traditional marriage. If asked to do so, they will indeed vote again to protect traditional marriage."

"The pro-gay marriage advocates had all the advantages they could ever hope for in 2008, including a misleading ballot title and summary, the sympathetic (and ultimately proven to be false) claim that a vote for Prop 8 would be a vote to "divorce 18,000 couples," the benefit of asking for a "no" vote, and a very favorable electorate driven by the historic election of Barack Obama as President. They will never have these advantages again. But for all they had going for them in 2008, they failed, because the people are not with them.

UPDATE II: Yes! On Equality is very unhappy. Via press release:

We are extremely disappointed, but not surprised, by Equality California’s decision today to wait until 2012 to go back to the ballot for marriage equality in California, especially since every poll we conducted shows majority support within the LGBT community (including 70 percent of EQCA’s own membership) to put a marriage equality initiative on the ballot next year. Every indicator and every consultant we’ve met with (including those that ran Barack Obama’s campaign and Winner Mandabach Campaigns, which has run more “yes” ballot initiatives than any other consultant or firm in the country) tells us we can win marriage equality back in 2010.

The latest poll figures show that support for gay marriage has gained two percentage points. The polling does not take into account additional provisions we will be including in the ballot language, which have shown to boost support well above 53 percent. Grassroots support and momentum for a ballot measure in 2010 is extremely high. Equality California has raised $1 million in three months and the Courage Campaign, which supports 2010, raised $200,000 in just the past seven days. We are confident some of our large donors, who are reluctant to support us right now, will be with us when we begin the campaign. We already have submitted ballot language to the Attorney General’s office for November 2010 and we are meeting on August 29 to begin planning strategy, a full seven months before any campaign strategy was developed to defeat Proposition 8 in 2008. We are disappointed that Equality California will not be joining us, but the “Coalition for 2010” will be moving forward and will win back marriage equality next year.

Equality California Invites Miss CA USA Carrie Prejean To Meet LGBT Students

Equality California wants Carrie Prejean to understand the power homophobia has to hurt LGBT youth, especially in light of two recent suicides caused by anti-gay bullying. EQCA has invited Prejean to meet gay leaders and LGBT youth.

Equality California (EQCA) has invited Miss California Carrie Prejean to meet with leaders from her home state lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations, LGBT students and a family headed by a same-sex couple to start a dialogue about who LGBT people are and the harm that is caused by denying LGBT community members equality. "Miss California probably doesn't realize how hurtful her statements are, especially to LGBT youth," Kors said. "But this is about something much bigger than the issue of marriage alone, and I have to believe that if she meets us, she will come to see our humanity, and at the very least, I hope she will understand that what she says as Miss California can either hurt people or bring them together."

Read their letter to Prejean here. (PDF)

No On 8 Says "We Messed Up"

Rex Wockner has posted a recapping of the Equality Summit now going on in California, where leaders of the marriage equality movement there have expressed regret over hiring professional lobbyists to run the No On 8 campaign. An excerpt:

More than 400 gay activists gathered at the Los Angeles Convention Center Jan. 24 to organize and strategize to win back same-sex marriage in California. But attendees at the daylong Equality Summit spent just as much time looking backward -- at the errors made by the leadership of the No on 8 campaign in its failed effort to stop voters from re-banning same-sex marriage.

And, for the first time since the Nov. 4 election, several of those leaders publicly detailed what they did wrong.

"When I look at what was the biggest mistake, when I lie awake at night prepping my e-mails I'm going to send to all of you and I think about the biggest mistake that we made, it's that we've turned everything over to political experts and political consultants," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. "And I would never ever do that again. You know, when we started Equality California, everyone was, like, 'Hire professional lobbyists to go lobby on LGBT issues,' and I was, like: 'You gotta be kidding. We're going to do our own lobbying because it's about our lives and we know what we're talking about and we know how to do this.' One thing, you know, that I would never do again ... we should have been in the strategy room and part of those (consultants') conversations, and that was a huge mistake."

Wockner notes that some are complaining about how summit organizers are handling dissent from outsiders at the conference.

"Today is about the same people ... taking control of anything that goes forward, being in charge, and collecting the money and having the power," said Miki Jackson, a longtime lesbian and AIDS activist in Los Angeles. "These people are control junkies, they are power junkies, and we are at their mercy," Jackson said in an interview, singling out Kors and Kendell by name. "They're up at the podium and they're talking at everyone. ... Grassroots people can't even stand up and ask a question. It has to be read (from a notecard) by a moderator. There isn't a rift between the grassroots and the No on 8 usual suspects -- there is a wall they have built. We have a place, and they want us in it. You can see it here today."

Read Wockner's entire report.

[Photo credit: Rex Wockner]

No On 8 Executive Committee Names Revealed By Activist Michael Petrelis

Throughout the Proposition 8 battle, the No On 8 campaign refused to publicly identify its executive committee members, much to the consternation of many in the LGBT press. In December, San Francisco-based activist/troublemaker Michael Petrelis filed one of those fancy liberal Freedom Of Information requests with the state. And yesterday he got the names. According to Petrelis, the names were on a public state site all along, but were so effectively cloaked from any search, nobody could find them. The names were hiding in plain sight, all legal and shit.

"No on 8" Executive Committee, Principal Officers:

-Geoff Kors, executive director, Equality California
-Lorri Jean, chief executive officer, Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center
-Kate Kendell, executive director, National Center for Lesbian Rights
-Michael Fleming, executive director, David Bohnett Foundation
-Marty Rouse, national field director, Human Rights Campaign
-Heather Carrigan, ACLU of Southern California
-Oscar De La O, Beinestar Human Services in Los Angeles
-Sue Dunlop, Los Angeles
-Maya Harris, ACLU of Northern California
-Don Howes, Los Angeles
-Dennis Herrera, City Attorney of San Francisco
-Dr. Delores Jacobs, chief executive officer, San Diego LGBT Community Center
-Joyce Newstadt, San Francisco
-Tawal Panyacosit, director, Asian and Pacific Islander Equality in San Francisco
-Rashid Robinson, Los Angeles
-Kevin Tilden, communications/political consultant, San Diego
-"No on 8" treasurer, Steve Mele, founder of ML Associates in West Hollywood

Petrelis: "May they all spend the next year sweeping the streets of their gay neighborhoods and doing many acts of penance for squandering $45 million of gay community dollars and losing gay marriage quality in California."

I wouldn't go as far in condemning the No On 8 folks as Petrelis does, although he's never been known for subtle criticism. Mistakes were made, definitely. But keep in mind that these are all good people, in some cases, our very best. Rather than destroy them, we need to help them be more effective in the next fight.

Gay Orgs React To Warren Selection

Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force:

"President-elect Obama campaigned on a theme of inclusivity, yet the selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation is a direct affront to that very principle. This was a divisive choice, and clearly not one that will help our country come together and heal. We urge President-elect Obama to withdraw his invitation to Rick Warren and instead select a faith leader who embraces fairness, equality and the ideals the president-elect himself has called the nation to uphold."

Joe Solmonese, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign:

Dear President-elect Obama

Let me get right to the point. Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans. Our loss in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our community has faced in 40 years. And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.

Rick Warren has not sat on the sidelines in the fight for basic equality and fairness. In fact, Rev. Warren spoke out vocally in support of Prop 8 in California saying, "there is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population ... This is not a political issue -- it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about." Furthermore, he continues to misrepresent marriage equality as silencing his religious views. This was a lie during the battle over Proposition 8, and it's a lie today.

Rev. Warren cannot name a single theological issue that he and vehemently, anti-gay theologian James Dobson disagree on. Rev. Warren is not a moderate pastor who is trying to bring all sides together. Instead, Rev. Warren has often played the role of general in the cultural war waged against LGBT Americans, many of whom also share a strong tradition of religion and faith.

We have been moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country. And that you have publicly called on religious leaders to open their hearts to their LGBT family members, neighbors and friends.

But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination. Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.

Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California:

"It is appalling that President-elect Barack Obama would invite California Pastor Rev. Rick Warren, an ardent supporter of Prop 8 and someone who is opposed to the equality of LGBT Americans, to give the invocation at his inauguration. Would President-elect Obama invite someone to give the invocation who supported eliminating the civil rights of a minority other than the LGBT community? Of course he wouldn't! This is a slap in the face to the millions of LGBT Americans who supported his historic candidacy"

It's Make Or Break Time On Prop 8

Reportedly, internal polling at Equality California shows Prop 8 at a dead heat right now. But this just in from executive director Geoff Kors:

On Tuesday, the other side reported donations of $2.2 million, dwarfing the $255,650 we reported, and called on their donors to contribute another $3 million. With this enormous sum of money they are buying every available ad space on TV in California to blast even more of their hateful lies and prevent our messages from being seen. Unless we raise $3 million in the next three days we will likely lose.

Donate to save marriage equality in California here.

Protection For CA Gay Seniors

Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that will protect LGBT seniors in nursing homes.

The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires licensed health care professionals who have constant interaction with seniors to attend a training program on preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

"Some members of the (LGBT) community living in nursing homes have been denied their most basic rights, including the simple choice to spend time with a loved one, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. "We appreciate the support of Gov. Schwarzenegger and the legislature for approving this measure, which will proactively create a culture of respect and understanding for all seniors living in care facilities."

EQCA said basic rights such as the choice to live in the same nursing home with a partner and the right to hospital visitation are routinely denied to older same-sex couples.

(Via - PrideSource)

California DPs Win Property Tax Case

Gays domestically-partnered in California are now protected from increased property taxes in the event of the death of one of the partners.

(San Francisco, CA, January 3, 2008) - Today, in a major victory for same-sex couples, the California Supreme Court denied a petition by county assessors seeking review of a California Court of Appeal decision affirming the validity of basic property tax protections for domestic partners. The Court's decision means that the validity of these protections is now secure. No further appeals are possible.

On October 3, 2007, the California Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed the validity of a Board of Equalization rule that protects domestic partners from increased property taxes when one of the partners dies and the other inherits the couple's home. California law has long provided
this protection for surviving heterosexual spouses.

Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors: ""We are very pleased with the Court's ruling today, reaffirming that asurviving domestic partner should not lose the family home because he orshe must pay taxes that a surviving married spouse does not. The fact that this lawsuit moved forward in the first place further illustrates the need to grant same-sex couples the ability to marry in California. Then we would not have to waste time and tax-payer money to defend these kinds of very sensible and vital protections."