National
Calif. Supreme Court to hear Prop 8 case
Will determine if opponents have legal standing to appeal ruling on marriage issue
The California Supreme Court voted unanimously on Wednesday to decide the question of whether supporters of Proposition 8, the ballot measure that repealed Californiaās same-sex marriage law, have legal standing to appeal a federal court decision last year invalidating the ballot measure.
In a statement released late Wednesday, a court spokesperson said the state Supreme Court would expedite the process for receiving legal briefs and planned to schedule oral arguments for the case in September.
Its decision, expected later in the year, would determine whether same-sex marriage opponents can proceed with their appeal of a U.S. District Court decision last year invalidating Proposition 8 on grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution by denying same-sex couples the right to marry.
The legal standing issue surfaced in 2009 when former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and then-Attorney General Jerry Brown, now the governor, refused to defend Prop 8 against a lawsuit filed by two same-sex couples.
The private citizens who organized Prop 8 were allowed to intervene on its behalf during the district court proceedings, including a civil trial. But gay rights attorneys challenging the ballot measure on appeal argued that only the state could defend the measure because it was a state law.
On Jan. 4, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sidestepped a ruling on whether the district court was correct in declaring Prop 8 unconstitutional and sent the lawsuit filed by the gay couples to the stateās Supreme Court for an advisory ruling on the standing question.
If the California Supreme Court rules Prop 8 supporters lack legal standing, the district court ruling would take effect, allowing same-sex couples to marry as they had during the short period of time before voters approved Prop 8 in the November 2008 election.
However, most legal observers believe the Prop 8 backers would respond immediately by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay to prevent same-sex marriages from resuming until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether it would take the case on its merits.
Most legal observers believe the case will ultimately wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, if the California Supreme Court rules in favor of granting legal standing to Prop 8 backers, the case would go back to the Ninth Circuit appeals court, which would then hear the case on the merits of whether Prop 8 violates the U.S. Constitution, as gay rights attorneys and the same-sex couples who brought the lawsuit claim it does.
In its statement released today, the California Supreme Court gave a legal explanation of the question it says it will answer after deliberating over the case:
āWhether under Article II, Section 8 of the California Constitution, or otherwise under California law, the official proponents of an initiative measure possess either a particularized interest in the initiativeās validity or the authority to assert the stateās interest in the initiativeās validity, which would enable them to defend the constitutionality of the initiative upon its adoption or appeal a judgment invalidating the initiative, when the public officials charged with that duty refuse to do so.ā
The courtās statement says Prop 8 supportersā attorneys must file their opening brief for the case by March 14, and attorneys representing the same-sex couples seeking to invalidate Prop 8 must file their response by April 4.
āThe California Supreme Court shortened the normal briefing schedule to expedite consideration and resolution of the issues in the matter and to accommodate oral argument as early as September 2011,ā the statement says.
Jennifer Pizer, an attorney for Lambda Legal, an LGBT legal advocacy group thatās monitoring the Prop 8 case, called on the California Supreme Court to confirm that Prop 8 backers donāt have legal standing to appeal the case.
Prop 8 supporters āare not law enforcers and have the same limited rights as everyone else to litigate only when their own rights are at stake, not merely to assert their opinions about othersā rights,ā Pizer said in a statement.
āInitiative proponents also cannot step into the shoes of the attorney general, the governor or other state officials,ā she said. āThe reason for this is basic: the governor and attorney general are elected by the people to represent all the people, not just one point of view on one issue, out of countless, competing concerns.ā
A spokesperson for Prop 8 supporters, including the National Organization for Marriage, which campaigns against same-sex marriage rights, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Chad Griffin, president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is financing the same-sex couplesā lawsuit seeking to overturn Prop 8, said his group is hopeful that they will prevail and same-sex marriage will be declared a constitutional right.
āAFER is challenging Prop 8 not only for our plaintiffs, two loving couples who want to marry, and not only for the thousands of loving couples like them, but for the simple reason that our laws should treat everyone equally,ā he said.
National
Trump refers to Anderson Cooper as āAllisonā
Crude insults continue in effort to attract male voters
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump referred repeatedly over the weekend to CNNās Anderson Cooper as āAllison Cooper.ā
Cooper, one of the nationās most prominent openly gay television anchors, moderated a town hall last week with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump last Friday called Anderson āAllisonā in a social media post, then used the moniker again at a Michigan rally.
āIf you watched her being interviewed by Allison Cooper the other night, heās a nice person. You know Allison Cooper? CNN fake news,ā Trump said, before adding, āOh, she said no, his name is Anderson. Oh, no.ā
Trump repeated the name during another Michigan rally on Saturday, according to the Associated Pres, then followed it up during a reference in Pennsylvania. āThey had a town hall,ā Trump said in Michigan. āEven Allison Cooper was embarrassed by it. He was embarrassed by it.ā
Describing Anderson Cooper as female plays into offensive and stereotypical depictions of gay men as effeminate as Trump continues to pursue the so-called ābro vote,ā amping up crude and vulgar displays in an effort to appeal to male voters.
Pennsylvania
Transgender Honduran woman canvasses for Harris in Pa.
Monserrath Aleman is CASA in Action volunteer
A transgender woman from Honduras has traveled to Pennsylvania several times in recent weeks to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates.
Monserrath Aleman traveled to York on Aug. 31 and Lancaster on Sept. 21 with a group of other volunteers from CASA in Action.
They door-knocked in areas where large numbers of African Americans, Black, and Latino voters live. Aleman and the other CASA in Action volunteers urged them to support Harris, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and other down ballot Democratic candidates.
Aleman will be in Harrisburg on Nov. 2, and in York on Election Day.
“We achieved the goal that we had in mind and that we wanted to achieve,” she told the Washington Blade on Oct. 22 during a Zoom interview from Baltimore. “We knocked on doors, passed out flyers.”
Aleman cited Project 2025 ā which the Congressional Equality Caucus on Thursday sharply criticized ā when she spoke with the Blade.
“We know that there is a Project 2025 plan that would affect us: The entire immigrant Latino community, the LGBTI community, everyone,” said Aleman. “So that’s why I’m more motivated to go knocking on doors, to ask for help, for support from everyone who can vote, who can exercise their vote.”
She told the Blade that she and her fellow volunteers “did not have any bad response.”
Aleman grew up in Yoro, a city that is roughly 130 miles north of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa.
She left Honduras on Nov. 25, 2021.
Aleman entered Mexico in Palenque, a city in the country’s Chiapas state that is close to the border with Guatemala. The Mexican government granted her a humanitarian visa that allowed her to legally travel through the country.
Aleman told the Blade she walked and took buses to Ciudad JuƔrez, a Mexican border city that is across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.
She scheduled her appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection while living at a shelter in Ciudad JuĆ”rez.Ā Aleman now lives in Baltimore.
“Discrimination against the LGBTI community exists everywhere, but in Honduras it is more critical,” said Aleman.
Aleman added she feels “more free to express herself, to speak with someone” in the U.S. She also said she remains optimistic that Harris will defeat former President Donald Trump on Election Day.
“There is no other option,” said Aleman.
National
HRC rallies LGBTQ voters in 12 states ahead of Election Day
10 Days of Action campaign targets pro-equality candidate
The Human Rights Campaign said it filled 1,426 new volunteer shifts and held 174 events across key swing states between Oct. 10-20 as part of its 10 Days of Action campaign.Ā
The LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group is working to mobilize and turn out voters in support of pro-equality and LGBTQ candidates, including the Harris-Walz ticket, on Election Day.
HRC reported exceeding its recruitment goals, noting the strong response across the 12 states as a āclear and resounding messageā that LGBTQ and allied voters are energized to back the Harris-Walz ticket.
To kick off the 10 Days of Action, Gwen Walz, the spouse of Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, spoke at a Philadelphia event that HRC and the Out for Harris-Walz coalition hosted on Oct. 10.
Walz highlighted her husbandās long-standing support for LGBTQ issues, such as his role in fighting to repeal “Donāt Ask, Donāt Tell” in Congress and banning so-called conversion therapy as governor, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.Ā
Other events launched canvassing efforts for Senate candidates, such as U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.), along with House candidates, such as Will Rollins and Mondaire Jones in California and New York respectively.
A virtual organizing call on Oct. 11 that the Out for Harris-Walz coalition hosted featured prominent figures, including actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Andy Cohen, U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), and Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, who is running for Congress.
To close out the 10 Days of Action, HRC President Kelley Robinson canvassed with LGBTQ organizers in Phoenix on Oct. 20.
In a statement, Robinson said the campaignās work is āfar from over.ā
āWe plan to spend every day until the election making sure everyone we know is registered to vote and has a plan to vote because no one is going to give us the future we deserve ā we have to fight for it and show America that when we show up, equality wins,ā she said. āTogether, we will elect pro-equality leaders like Vice President Harris and Governor Walz who value our communities and are ready to lead us forward with more freedom and opportunity.ā
A September HRC poll found that LGBTQ voters favor Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the presidential race by a nearly 67-point margin.
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