Prop. 8 battle enters new stage

Posted on November 20, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized

The long campaign, the hard-fought election and the coast-to-coast street protests are over. The fight has just begun.

Even as court challenges to Proposition 8 proceed, about 100 supporters of same-sex marriage assembled Monday at the Billy DeFrank Lesbian and Gay Community Center in San Jose to plot their next political steps. Gay rights leaders in San Francisco are organizing an even bigger “town meeting” on Thursday to spark a series of planning meetings across the state.

Opponents of same-sex marriage are not sitting pat. In the wake of Saturday’s national protests, supporters of Proposition 8 are also preparing for more legal and political battles in 2010 and beyond.

With the two warring camps over same-sex marriage talking about steps as extreme as challenging the tax-exempt status of churches or a potential recall of “activist judges,” Saturday’s Internet-generated protests, which some have called “Stonewall 2.0″ after the seminal gay rights uprising in 1969, were far from the last clash in the fight over same-sex marriage.

“What we’re doing now is building a movement,” said Stuart Gaffney, one of the organizers of Thursday’s San Francisco meeting. “There is more excitement and energy than I’ve seen in a long time about people coming together and wanting to have input as to what this movement looks like.”

Self-examination & more of Prop. 8 battle enters new stage

San Jose Mercury News