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.

Prop 8 Summit To Restrict Media

As has been documented here and on many other LGBT blogs, the decision making of the No On 8 campaign was largely done behind closed doors, much to the concern of many donors who questioned several critical strategies of the operation.

Later this month there will be a postmortem summit of No On 8 organizers and again, media access will be restricted. Unsurprisingly, some people are pretty pissed about that. Veteran reporter Rex Wockner sends us this report:

A Jan. 24 summit in Los Angeles to strategize about "winning back marriage rights" in California will be only partially open to media -- a decision that has led to the resignation of one member of the organizing committee and to complaints from California gay media figures.

The Equality Summit apparently will bring together some 150 activists to organize and strategize in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8, the Nov. 4 ballot measure with which voters amended the state constitution to re-ban same-sex marriage.

But according to summit coordinator Anne Marks of Equality California, "the planning committee decided that at some portions of the summit where sensitive strategy discussions were to take place, it could only be advantageous to our opposition if those discussions and plans were
made public, so limiting press, or making these sessions off-the-record, would make sense."

That decision isn't sitting well with some folks, especially given that the failed No on 8 campaign, in which Equality California was the biggest force, has been widely criticized for its insularity.

"I resigned from the planning committee of the Equality Summit because I felt that the press should be allowed into the entire conference," said longtime activist Robin Tyler (pictured), who was a plaintiff in the California same-sex marriage case and, with her partner, Diane Olson, half of the first same-sex couple to marry in Southern California after the state Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage took effect June 16.

"This issue was discussed on a telephone call last week, and by a majority vote, the organizing committee decided not to let the press into the entire conference," Tyler said in a Dec. 30 e-mail to reporters. "After the call, I ... felt very uncomfortable with this decision. I asked for it to be brought up again, as I think total media access is an extremely important issue. When I was told that the newly elected 'Executive Committee' had decided not to bring the issue up again, I resigned. ... It felt like the same old 'secretive' process that had happened during the No on 8 campaign."

Wockner quotes Frontiers editor Karen Ocamb: "Responsible journalists have a long history of respecting legitimate requests to go off the record when discussions turn to strategy or issues of a politically sensitive nature," Ocamb said. "LGBT journalists... represent the thousands of individuals who contributed to and volunteered for the No on Prop 8 campaign and if people are going to be asked to be engaged again, they have a right to know what happened, who will lead them, and (to have) at least a sense of what's coming next. And at this stage, that can only happen through us."

There's an interesting discussion on this issue going on in the comments at Pam's House Blend, including statements from folks that voted to bar media from some of the meetings. Some of them aren't too happy with Robin Tyler right now.

(Photo by Rex Wockner)

Rolling Stone Rips No On 8

Rolling Stone has published a lengthy piece by Tim Dickinson about the campaign to fight Prop 8. A small excerpt:

"This was political malpractice," says a Democratic consultant who operates at the highest level of California politics. "They fucked this up, and it was painful to watch. They shouldn't be allowed to pawn this off on the Mormons or anyone else. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, and now hundreds of thousands of gay couples are going to pay the price."

And more:

The No on Prop 8 campaign, meanwhile, was oblivious to the formidable field operation that the other side was mounting. Worse, its executive committee refused to include leaders of top gay and lesbian grass-roots organizations, which deprived them of an army of willing foot soldiers. "We didn't have people going door to door," admits Yvette Martinez, the campaign's political director. The field operation consisted of volunteers phone-banking from 135 call centers across the state, an effort that didn't begin ramping up until mid-October. "They had no ground game," says a leading Democratic consultant. "They thought they could win this thing by slapping some ads together. It was the height of naiveté."

National Center For Lesbian Rights head Kate Kendall responds in the story's comments:

"When Dickinson called to interview me about the No on Prop 8 campaign it became obvious he wasn't interested in the facts about the campaign, he wanted only information that supported this hit piece. When he didn't like my answers, he just asked more leading questions. We lost. Yes, as in any campaign, mistakes were made, but to quote from unnamed sources and anonymous gay leaders running for cover in the wake of this devastating loss while ignoring all facts that don't support your assasination attempt against those who worked tirelessly for months is not jouralism, it's just trash. Dickinson should ply his "blaming the victim" tactics with the National Enquirer."

LA Times: Prop 8's Lessons

Wondering where all those protesters were before the election, the Los Angeles Times doles out some blame.

Same-sex marriage advocates produced only one hard-hitting commercial, depicting a pair of Mormon missionaries ripping up the wedding license of a married gay couple, but didn't air it until election day. The campaign made little effort to reach out to the African American community, whose large turnout and overwhelming support of Proposition 8 were enough to put it over the top. And while it's nice that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now says he hopes that the courts will overturn the initiative, he was all but invisible before Nov. 4.

The failure of leadership extends beyond the governor. If there was a public face to the No on 8 campaign, it was San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is (notoriously) heterosexual. Where were the gay leaders? It's hard to imagine the civil rights movement of the 1960s succeeding without Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X, or to imagine the women's suffrage movement without the likes of Susan B. Anthony.

Wresting equal rights from a society reluctant to grant them isn't easy. It can take years of nonviolent resistance, passionate speeches and even in-your-face radicalism. If people who voted yes on Proposition 8 say they didn't see it as a civil rights matter, that's because until now there has been nothing resembling a civil rights crusade by the gay community. Courts can assist downtrodden groups, but they never have and never will be enough to guarantee equality on their own.

As I said here many times, the commercials were crap. They were timid, cloying and completely free of the actual faces of ACTUAL gay people. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with those pussy-footing messages. The one good ad mentioned above, which only aired on election day, wasn't even done by No On 8.

No On 8 Says "Not So Fast"

Citing as many as four million still uncounted ballots, California marriage equality advocates are refusing to concede a loss on Proposition 8.

The Associated Press this morning reported that Californians adopted the measure calling for a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage and overturning the state Supreme Court decision that gave gay couples the right to wed just months ago. But opponents of the measure say they would not concede the outcome, despite vote totals showing supporters of Proposition 8 with a 400,000-vote advantage. Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said 3 million to 4 million ballots remain uncounted statewide.

"The fact is depending on the turnout model we are looking at millions of votes yet to be counted," Kendall said. The race is too close to call. People's fundamental rights hang in the balance." Passage of Proposition 8 could represent a crushing political defeat for gay rights activists, who had hoped public opinion on the contentious issue had shifted enough to help them defeat the measure.

It also could represent a personal loss for the thousands of couples from California and others states who got married in the brief window when they could. Legal experts have said it will have to be resolved in court whether their unions remain valid if Proposition 8 is approved.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen was expected to issue an estimate of the number of uncounted ballots late today or Thursday. It could take days to process all of them. Proposition 8 supporters declared victory early today, saying their model shows them with an insurmountable lead.

Frank Schubert, manager of the Yes on 8 campaign, declared victory shortly after midnight -- but opponents called that declaration "presumptuous." "We had more than 100,000 (supporters) walk precincts for us, and they have delivered a great victory," Schubert told supporters.

Yes On 8's lead has widened by almost 100,000 over the afternoon.

All Precincts Totals

	Choice		Votes	%
	Yes		5,319,905	52.4%
	No		4,841,736	47.6%

98% of precincts reporting

Updated 11/05 12:20PM PST

Pelosi "Honors Her Conscience"

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went on local San Francisco television on Friday to oppose Proposition 8. Pelosi has said that campaign finance laws prevent her from making an anti-8 advertisement because her name is on this year's ballot, although her campaign did make a $10K donation.

Thousands Rally Against Prop 8 In San Diego's Gayborhood

Describing it as the largest LGBT event to hit San Diego outside of gay Pride, our man Rex Wockner attended a huge anti-Prop 8 rally last night in that city's biggest gayborhood.

Between 7,000 and 10,000 people took to University Avenue in San Diego's heavily gay Hillcrest district the evening of Nov. 1 to protest Proposition 8, the Nov. 4 ballot measure that would amend the California Constitution to re-ban same-sex marriage, negating the California Supreme Court decision that legalized it.

The protest took place as some 15,000 Christians from around the nation prayed in San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium for passage of Prop 8. My blog post on that is here. Republican San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and his lesbian daughter Lisa attended the gay event. Amazingly, the gay protest was organized entirely via e-mail and, to the best of my knowledge, it was the biggest gay street action in the 14 years I've lived here, apart from the gay pride parade, which draws about 150,000 people.

Here are the latest (and possibly, final) ads from No On 8.

Sports Heroes Say No On 8

Basketball hero Magic Johnson and retired San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young (through his wife) have both come out against Proposition 8.

Via the No On 8 official site:

Magic Johnson, enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame after winning five NBA championships as a Los Angeles Laker, and three Most Valuable Player awards, has lent his voice to the chorus of those calling Proposition 8 wrong and unfair. In a recorded telephone call to California voters, Johnson says: "This is Magic Johnson calling to ask you to join me and Barack Obama in opposing Proposition 8. Prop 8 singles out one group of Californians to be treated differently – including members of our family, our friends, and our coworkers. That is not what California is about. So this Tuesday, vote no on Proposition 8. It is unfair and wrong. Thanks." The telephone message from Magic Johnson will reach millions of California voters in the final days, urging voters to reject this discriminatory and unfair initiative.

And while Hall Of Fame quarterback Steve Young's wife says that her husband is making no official endorsement, No On 8 yard signs have been placed in the yard of their Palo Alto home. Steve is a prominent Mormon and a direct descendant of Brigham Young. His wife, Barbara Young:

"I am very passionate about this issue and Steve is completely supportive of me and my work for equality," Barbara Young said in a statement to the Mercury News after midnight. "We both love our Church and are grateful that our Church encourages us to vote our conscience. Steve prefers not to get involved politically on any issue no matter what the cause and therefore makes no endorsement."

Last month the 49ers retired Young's number. His number was 8.

Today: Double Your Donation To Prop 8 With The Help Of Tim Gill

Tim Gill, the founder of software giant Quark and gay social network Connextion, has made a $100K matching donation to No On 8.

Gill said “Proposition 8 needs all of our support to be defeated and protect marriage for gays and lesbians not just in California, but across the country. This amendment would eliminate the equal treatment of all Californians and write discrimination into the state constitution.”

Gill will match dollar for dollar all donations made by midnight tonight via the Connextion giving link.

Bill Clinton Says No On 8

Via Equality California:

In a telephone call to California voters, President Clinton delivers the following message regarding the unfairness of Proposition 8:

"This is Bill Clinton calling to ask you to vote NO on Proposition 8 on Tuesday, November 4th. Proposition 8 would use state law to single out one group of Californians to be treated differently -- discriminating against members of our family, our friends and our co-workers.

"If I know one thing about California, I know that is not what you're about. That is not what America is about. Please vote NO on 8. It's unfair and it's wrong. Thank you."

The calls from President Clinton went to millions of registered California voters overnight.

UPDATE: From Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California:

The latest Field Poll, released this morning, shows that our campaign ads are working. Now that we are finally up on the air equal with the other side, we have turned our deficit in the polls into a very narrow lead with 49% indicating they plan to vote no and 44% saying they intend to vote yes.

Unfortunately, the same poll found that 22 percent of those surveyed had already voted -- and that this group voted "yes" on Proposition 8, 50 to 44 percent. That's why it is so critical that over the weekend we convince any undecided voters to vote NO on Tuesday. We need your contribution NOW!

This will be an extremely close race that will be decided by the 7 to 10% of voters still up for grabs. We must continue to stay on the air equal with the other side in order to convince these voters to vote NO.

Our new hard hitting television ad, narrated by actor Samuel L. Jackson, reminds voters of the history of discrimination starting with the internment of Japanese Americans during World War 2. Watch our new ad.

We need to raise a minimum of $1.5 million today to keep this ad on the air over the weekend and on Monday. Donate Now!

With your help we will defeat this attempt to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry the person they love and strip away our dignity. Please continue your support with a donation and ask the people who care for you to do the same keep this new ad on the air.

Samuel Jackson Says No On 8

An excellent new clip from Samuel L. Jackson appeals to black voters.

Latest Poll: Yes On 8 Down By 5

The latest Field Poll, released last night:

Over the past six weeks, a proposed constitutional amendment that would end same-sex marriage in California has gained substantial ground but still trails by a five-point margin heading into Tuesday's election.

A new Field Poll shows Proposition 8, one of the most closely watched state ballot measures in years, is supported by 44 percent of likely voters. Forty-nine percent oppose it, and 7 percent are undecided.

In the last Field Poll, released Sept. 18, the measure was behind by 17 points.

"It's certainly closer than it was before the advertising campaign hit," said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. "A lot of that has to do with the campaigning on the Yes (on 8) side."

The battle for Prop 8 is now the most expensive social referendum fight ever waged, and is the second-most expensive campaign this year behind the presidential race.

According to outside estimates, the campaigns for and against Proposition 8 have raised more than $60 million in donations, setting a new record nationally for a social policy initiative—and trumping every other race in the country this year in spending except the presidential contest.

By comparison, the second-highest campaign spending numbers in the country can be found in Minnesota's Senate race between the Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and comedian Al Franken, where the sides have raised about $35 million combined. Similar initiatives to ban same-sex marriage in Arizona and Florida have raised just over $11 million combined.

Who Would Jeebus Hack? Cyber Attack On No On 8 Fundraising Site Continues

Last night's cyber-attack on No On 8's site is continuing.

The denial-of-service (DoS) attack on NoOnProp8.com that started last night continues. When you attempt to go to the URL, it either will time out or, perhaps, eventually load after a long delay.

How does this happen?

In one common DoS scenario, it would be this:

Botnets of infected Windows computers under the control of cyber criminals have been instructed to hit NoOnProp8.com with more requests for its main page than the servers can handle.

Why does this matter?

The Web page is how the folks fighting Prop 8 are raising the money they need to put ads on TV to try to win on Nov. 4.

The Christianists have shrewdly waited until the precise moment when funds are most desperately needed. Who would Jeebus hack?

UPDATE: This just in from No On 8:

The NO on Prop 8 Web site was hit by a massive cyber invasion called a distributed denial of service attack (DoS) that took down the site for several hours last night, with the assault originating not just in-state, but from Texas, New Jersey and Georgia.

The NO on Prop 8 campaign's Web site attack started late yesterday afternoon when the Web team was alerted by higher-than-normal traffic. The traffic escalated over the next several hours, slowing the system and by 10 pm, a small team of engineers concluded that that NO on 8 website was under a full cyber attack.

"I'm sure we'll hear a lot of denials today from the Prop 8 campaign, but this is clearly an orchestrated attempt to tear down what has become one of the largest grassroots movements in California electoral history," said Patrick Guerriero, NO on Prop 8 Campaign Director. "We have reported this to the FBI and other federal authorities and we have secured our site in ways we never thought would be necessary. But make no mistake - this was an attack against individual rights, not just a Web site."

From what the NO on Prop 8 campaign knows, the DoS attack started yesterday from a small number of individuals. It is believed the attacks, which occurred throughout the night, came from California, Texas, New Jersey and Georgia. The attacks to the site increased from a small number of hosts to dozens. As IP addresses of attackers were blacklisted, new IP addresses emerged and attacked. The NO on Prop 8 campaign has reported the DoS to the FBI and the Secret Service, which has jurisdiction over such attacks to prevent breaks in the national financial networks.

Hackers Attack Gay Marriage Sites

The No On 8 and Say No 2 sites were the apparent victims of a cyber attack last night. Via press release:

Today the NO on Prop 8 campaign's Web site was the victim of what appears to be a coordinated attack designed to bring the system down. According to http://www.responsetrack.net/lnk/calitics/1855212/?14LGF0093D5/ , the denial-of-service attack (DoS) on the NO on Prop 8 website occurred before 11:30pm, Wednesday, October 29th and coincides with a similar attack on Florida's NO on 2 campaign, the Constitutional Amendment Against Marriage Equality.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, an attacker attempts to prevent legitimate users from accessing information or services. By targeting a computer and its network connection, or the computers and network of the sites, an attacker may be able to prevent someone from accessing email, web sites, online accounts (banking, etc.), or other services that rely on the affected computer. The most common and obvious type of DoS attack occurs when an attacker "floods" a network with information. The NO on Prop 8 campaign will provide additional details as they become available.

Both sites are are back up at the moment. I'll add more details to this story if they become available.

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.

No On 8 To Air YouTube Clips

Via press release:

In a first for an American political campaign, the NO on Prop 8 campaign will pay to air two spots that were originally produced and uploaded to YouTube by supporters completely independent of the campaign.

"We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of talent and creativity that has just exploded on the Internet," said Patrick Guerriero, NO on 8 campaign director. "People just can't believe how unfair and wrong this initiative is and they're creating innovative Web-based viral spots to get the word out to vote NO on Prop 8. We thank everyone who has put their talent and time in spreading the word about the importance of opposing Prop 8."

The independently produced spots have been a huge hit on the Web. There have been more than 3 million views of videos that appear on the campaign's YouTube channel. Several spots in the channel have been ranked as "#1 Most Viewed" and "#1 Most Discussed" in the Nonprofits and Activism Category. The channel has consistently been ranked in the top 100 Most Watched Channels.

"The power of all of these YouTube videos is that they represent a chorus of voices, a community of people who may never have met or spoken but share the same passion that discrimination is wrong. They have immediate credibility," said Chris Maliwat, the campaign's web strategy director.

Late last week, the NO on Prop 8 campaign approached the producers of two of the spots and asked them to pare down their Web videos into 30-second commercials. The ads, entitled "Constitution" and "Moms," will begin running statewide tomorrow. During the summer, in a completely organic and grassroots fashion, people independently produced their own messages and uploaded to YouTube.

Here are the two clips, both of which I've posted in longer form in recent weeks.

RELATED: Rex Wockner called for this move earlier in the month.

Hollywood Says No On 8

Sen. Diane Feinstein Says No On 8

No On 8 notes:

The ad's placement on statewide television happens to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the murder of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk. Feinstein, who was President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors 30 years ago, immediately became the city's mayor at a time of great unrest and anguish. Re-elected twice, she became the first California woman elected to the United States Senate.

Don't Be A Douche

The funniest No On 8 ads are from YouTubers Don't Be A Douche On 8.