The Courage Campaign announced Monday that it is not supporting an effort to repeal Proposition 8 in 2010. The statement is not surprising, as Courage had gone off the radar in recent weeks, leading to speculation that it was against becoming involved in the attempt to repeal Prop 8, which officially started a couple of weeks ago when an initiative submitted by the group Love Honor Cherish was approved for signature gathering by state officials.
In August, Equality California, the state's largest LGBT lobbying group, announced that it would work to repeal Prop 8 in 2012. Since then, all eyes have been on Courage, a large statewide, progressive grassroots organization that while not specifically LGBT-focused, was founded by an openly gay man and has increasingly become involved in gay rights issues.
Now that Courage has made its decision based on the conclusion that "the pieces are not all in place" to wage a successful repeal effort, no major statewide organization is on board with what is a quixotic effort by one man – Love Honor Cherish's John Henning – and an unknown number of volunteers who are now gathering signatures for the 2010 ballot initiative.
We say that it's time to pull the plug on this nascent 2010 effort.
In its release issued Monday, Courage called for more research and time to build support for the restoration of marriage equality in California. In recent months, the group has been working with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund on research, and while that data has yet to be made public, it's likely that the two organizations discovered what EQCA detailed in its own report earlier this year: The majority of voters do not support same-sex marriage. No matter how you slice it, support for marriage equality needs to be comfortably above 50 percent. And in California, that is not yet the case.
The rise of Courage
In the weeks after the passage of Prop 8 last year, many grassroots activists hitched their wagons to Courage. Some of them did little or no work for the No on 8 campaign and felt guilty after Prop 8 passed. Others worked on the No on 8 campaign and became upset and disillusioned over the mismanagement and mistakes. All seemed to be looking for new leadership. And the Courage Campaign was only too happy to step in. Rick Jacobs, the founder and chair, stated publicly that marriage equality activists should return to the ballot box year after year, if necessary, to secure equal marriage rights. That, of course, fed right into the sentiments of the grassroots activists, who were certain that support for marriage equality had increased in the wake of large rallies last fall.
This year, Courage started holding its successful Camp Courage weekend retreats, where a couple of hundred people gather and learn to share their "stories of self," that is, short stories about themselves and, in this particular case, why they support marriage equality. The idea is to send these individuals into the field and have them share their stories with neighbors, co-workers, and others as part of a broader strategy to increase support for same-sex marriage. It's a great concept and one that can work, but it needs more time.
In fact, Courage members who were deeply involved in the Obama campaign last year used this story of self concept in their outreach work to voters.
Despite all the people engaged in this newfound activism, the poll numbers on same-sex marriage have remained stagnant.
Transparency needed
One of Courage's faults, however, is its obsession with secrecy. We experienced that first-hand last May when the Bay Area Reporter was booted from a leadership town hall meeting in Fresno because "top secret" poll results were to be discussed – even though we had already obtained the results of the poll. Jacobs told us then that he didn't think we should use the information, saying that it gave "$86,000 worth of information to the opposition." But there was nothing earth-shattering in the findings. It was basic information that's widely known: People generally support us if they know us; including a religious exemption in any ballot language for same-sex marriage would increase its chances of passage; and that same-sex marriage would likely do better in a presidential election year when more people vote.
This week, Steve Hildebrand, who helped run Obama's campaign and has been working on research with Courage, told us that just because there is a high level of interest in their research doesn't mean it should be made public. And he said that Courage doesn't think it's in the best interest of the marriage equality movement to share their strategic research with the media, "as it would result in news stories that provide vital strategic information to our opponents."
So much for believing in the grassroots, transparency, and all that. Those activists who faulted the No on 8 campaign for not being transparent should be just as critical of Courage and its decision not to release its research.
Lots to do
Aside from that glaring lack of transparency, Courage is correct in its bottom line conclusion that 2010 is not the year to attempt to repeal Prop 8. The LGBT community still needs to form strong coalitions with communities of color and the faith community. It's shortsighted when we hear people of faith ridiculed by gays. Don't they realize that we need their support? Even the snarky comments directed at Mormons are not helpful because they feed into the perception – perpetuated by conservative Christians – that LGBTs have no faith. So we as a community need to grow up and have a more mature conversation.
The 18,000 or so same-sex couples whose marriages remain legal in California need to be featured now while we are between campaign seasons. Many of them are raising families and can put a human face on the issue of marriage equality.
And the canvassing and other outreach efforts that both Courage and EQCA are doing must continue. Public opinion is being changed, but it will take more time and patience.
Finally, with Courage and EQCA coming to basically the same conclusion – that 2010 is not the year to try and repeal Prop 8 – it might be productive for the two groups to work together on some of these projects. We have heard anecdotal stories of volunteers from the two organizations getting along in the field, which needs to be duplicated at higher levels of leadership because the time for big egos is over.
Love Honor Cherish, meanwhile, likely will continue its signature gathering, but for what? It's highly doubtful the initiative will qualify and the time and energy could be put to better use like winning over supporters. With Courage's decision, it's clear that 2010 is not only unworkable, it is unwinnable.