Advocates launch campaign for marriage equality ballot measure

In 2008, Californians voted for Proposition 8, which enshrined marriage in the California Constitution as being between one man and one woman.

This November, they get a chance to reconsider.

Proponents of a ballot measure to remove that definition from the state constitution came together in a virtual news conference Wednesday to unveil their campaign for what they’re calling the Freedom to Marry ballot measure.

The occasion was an auspicious one — 20 years ago next week, then-san Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom defied state and national laws and ordered city officials to begin handing out marriage certificates to same-sex couples in a period which came to be called the Winter of Love.

Former California Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg was there, and was among those who were married in San Francisco. On Wednesday, she said that discrimination against LGBTQ people “is not a new story,” and though the U.S. Supreme Court has made marriage equality the law of the land, she said that Republicans are conspiring to upend that law.

“This struggle is a long struggle, we’re not done with it yet,” she said.

Bamby Salcedo, who heads up the Translatin@ Coalition, said that across the country, LGBTQ people — particularly transgender individuals — are being targeted by hostile legislation.

“We must remain vigilant,” she said.

Assemblyman Evan Low, D-campbell, who authored the amendment that goes to the voters in November, challenged the notion that the ballot measure is a political ploy to boost voter turnout in a contentious presidential election year.

“Ultimately, we know that this is a nonpartisan issue, it is a bipartisan issue. Love is exactly that, it is love,” he said.

ACA 5, Low’s amendment, passed the Legislature with unanimous support, though most Republican lawmakers sat out the vote.

The amendment was opposed by a handful of conservative groups, including the California Capitol Connection, which in a statement of opposition said that marriage has been defined as being between man and woman “from the beginning.”