Now, more than ever, your vote is needed as LGBT equality will be on the ballot when California voters go to the polls on June 6. By now you probably know that right-wing, anti-LGBT organizations have failed to submit the requisite number of signatures to qualify an anti-marriage equality constitutional amendment for the 2006 elections in California. Thanks to the work of an incredible coalition of LGBT and allied organizations, talented and dedicated volunteers and generous donors, we pulled off a victory no other state in the nation has achieved. However, after enjoying a brief moment of joy – okay, that's enough – we need to get back to work. The temporary two-year reprieve from a statewide constitutional amendment initiative on marriage equality does not change the very real fact that marriage equality, and equality for the entire LGBT community and other communities, are very much on the ballot in California this year.
Our goal of securing LGBT equality in California by the end of the decade is at a very critical junction. The outcome of the primary and general elections will determine whether we will have a governor who will sign legislation – from safe schools to marriage equality to funding for LGBT health and social services – to ensure the safety, dignity, and equality of LGBT individuals; whether we will continue to have an attorney general who will ensure that anti-LGBT ballot measure titles and summaries accurately reflect the harm that their passage would cause; and whether we will have pro-equality officials in other key statewide constitutional offices for the next four years. With the very real prospect of one or more statewide anti-LGBT ballot measures in 2008, whoever holds these offices – and the stature that comes with them – will be positioned to have a very significant impact on whether we win or lose these critical battles.
The upcoming elections also will determine whether the California Legislature that is sworn in on December 4, 2006 will have a minimum of 41 Assembly members and 21 senators who will vote for LGBT equality and will ensure that our community receives our fair share of funding for essential programs and services. Last year, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by Equality California, passed by with the bare minimum number of votes in each chamber. If we are going to be able to succeed in 2007, we cannot afford to lose our majority in either house. We must re-elect the members running for re-election who stood with us and voted for equality. We must also win dozens of open seats including several key seats where pro-equality candidates are vying against anti-equality candidates in both the primary and general election. Slightly more than 50 percent of the legislators who voted for equality last year are not seeking re-election to their present seat due to term limits or because they are seeking another office. We simply cannot afford to have a pro-equality legislator replaced by an anti-equality legislator.
This year's election also will determine whether California's historic LGBT Legislative Caucus remains strong and vibrant. As a result of term limits, California could see the number of openly LGBT legislators drop from the present six to two in just two years. Several openly LGBT candidates are running in hotly contested races with the hope of joining and maintaining the caucus.
If all of this isn't enough to convince you to get involved, there are so many other critical issues that we are facing. From immigration to choice to the war in Iraq to privacy, there are many important issues in addition to LGBT equality to care about.
It is for these and so many other reasons that every LGBT person needs to vote and get actively involved, in the upcoming June 6 election. EQCA PAC needs volunteers to phone bank out of our offices into targeted districts, walk precincts, and do other election related activities. To volunteer, e-mail [email protected] or call (415) 581-0005. To vote, you can go to your polling place election day, go to your county registrar's office between now and June 6, or vote in the privacy of your own home by requesting an absentee ballot (you don't have to be out of town to be an absentee voter in California). Better yet, you can do what I am doing and become a permanent absentee voter and receive your ballot in the mail in each and every election. You can download the form at www.eqca.org or from the California secretary of state's Web site, then simply fill it out and mail it in. Your ballot will be sent to you and you can take your time filling it out at home.
Just think, now there is something else you can do as an LGBT person while naked and in bed: VOTE.
Geoffrey Kors is executive director of Equality California.