Prop 8 Repeal Will Not Make 2010 Ballot

Love Honor Cherish, the primary group behind the Sign for Equality campaign, has sent out a press release announcing that they have failed to collect the requisite 700,000 signatures for the November 2010 ballot.

INITIATIVE TO REPEAL PROP 8 WILL NOT BE ON THE BALLOT IN 2010

All-Volunteer Petition Drive Triggered Conversations Across California

(LOS ANGELES - April 12, 2010)

Love Honor Cherish, which spearheaded an effort to place an initiative on the November 2010 ballot to repeal Proposition 8 and restore equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, announced today that the proponents did not gather the 694,354 signatures necessary to place the proposed initiative on the ballot. The group vowed to work toward the repeal of Prop 8 at the next general election in November 2012.

"This is a heartbreaking moment," said John Henning, Executive Director of Love Honor Cherish. "Despite the dogged efforts of hundreds of volunteers across California, we did not get the signatures we needed within the 150-day window set by the state."

Under California law, it is too late to mount a new effort to repeal Prop 8 in 2010. "Regrettably, Prop 8 will remain as a stain on our constitution until at least 2012, and perhaps later," said Henning. He challenged activists statewide to rededicate themselves and unify behind a 2012 repeal effort.

Prop 8 passed by a margin of 52 to 48 percent. However, polls taken since the vote have shown that a majority of Californians now support the right of same-sex couples to marry, indicating that a new ballot proposition to repeal Prop 8 would be likely to pass in November 2010. In March, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed a 6 percent increase in support for equal marriage rights in just the last year.

The proponents of the repeal initiative sought to seize the momentum unleashed by the passage of Prop 8 and parlay it into a victory at the polls. "This signature campaign was the right thing to do in the wake of Prop 8," said Love Honor Cherish board member Lester Aponte. "We were determined to act affirmatively to achieve equality and we will continue to do that until Prop 8 has been finally repealed. We had hundreds of thousands of conversations with California voters about the right to marry and we know that we have moved hearts and minds. In the process, we have set the foundation for a future repeal effort and brought hope to thousands whose hearts were broken by the passage of Prop 8."

Love Honor Cherish was one of more than 40 groups supporting the repeal of Prop 8 in November 2010, and was part of the Restore Equality 2010 coalition. The campaign utilized a unique web-based social networking tool, located at www.SignForEquality.com, which enabled volunteers to download the petition form, watch training videos and join teams.

Love Honor Cherish is a Los Angeles-based grassroots organization committed to repealing Prop 8 and to developing a new generation of leadership on this issue. Formed in May 2008 to defeat Prop 8, it raised over $500,000 for the No on 8 campaign and mounted its own outreach and media efforts. After the passage of Prop 8, Love Honor Cherish began working immediately to secure its repeal by means of a new ballot proposition. For more information, visit www.LoveHonorCherish.org.

Bizarrely, that website has not been updated since November 2009. MadProfessah was with the diverse coalition of organizations and activists called Prepare to Prevail who said that we need more time to insure that the next time we go to the ballot to restore marriage equality for all Californians we are well-prepared, well-funded and well-positioned for victory. 2010 was too early for all three of those things to be aligned, although it is interesting that public opinion in favor of marriage equality has recently become a majority position in California polls.

2012 will almost certainly be the year that a Prop 8 repeal effort is attempted, but that will take a lot of work, even if we could start right now, and the 2010 versus 2012 debate became so heated that a lot of bridges were burned between activists and groups that need to work together. 2012 also has it's own complications in California because it is also the first year after 2010 Census when all legislative races will be run in brand new districts, so the Propositions will actually be less prominent in people's minds than the 100 contested legislative races for the Assembly and Senate (as well as the 50+ Congressional races). I know some people will be arguing that 2014 will be a more propitious year but I would argue against that.