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California Faces Marriage Issues of Its Own: No On Knight
California Faces
Marriage Issues of Its Own: No On Knight
by Donald R. Eggert
Opponents of a California ballot item that would make same-gender marriages invalid in the state recently received a boost from activists across the country — and it may get another boost from Vermont in the future.
After two failed attempts to pass a Defense of Marriage Amendment through the state legislature, California will become the first state in the US to put such an issue up for statewide referendum.
During a presidential primary on March 7, California voters will decide on Proposition 22, also known as the Knight Amendment, which reads, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”
Creating Change Participants got involved with the No on Knight campaign by pledging and raising upward of $25,000 for the cause.
On Saturday evening, 54 conference attendees “flexed their political muscles” by canvassing Oakland neighborhoods to educate residents about the potential damaging effects of the Knight initiative.
“The most critical thing we can do to win these kinds of campaigns is to talk face-to-face with fair-minded voters across this state,” said Dave Fleischer, the NGLTF Policy Institute Senior Fellow who led the canvass. “When they encounter us at their doors, the fuzzy version of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender becomes more clear — it becomes a human being.”
Sixty percent of the 518 people canvassed said they would vote against the Knight initiative, while 169 voters were still undecided.
Proposition supporters have endorsements from Catholic and Mormon leaders and financial backing of almost $1 million from the Family Research Council and the Christian Coalition.
No on Knight organizers expect to face a huge media campaign attacking not only the idea of same-gender marriage, but the GLBT community in general.
“Our tactic has been to emphasize that this amendment and the campaign that supports it is unfair, divisive, and intrusive — it is definitely an anti-gay referendum, “ remarked San Francisco City Supervisor Mark Leno, a leader in the No on Knight movement.
No on Knight has also advocated ‘considering the source’ of the proposition, amendment sponsor Pete Knight. He has rejected both his gay brother, who died from AIDS, and his gay son, who recently came out against his father’s initiative in an op-ed piece in The Los Angeles Times.
No on Knight campaign manager Mike Marshall believes Knight is attempting to legislate a statewide resolution to the conflicts within his own family. “The Knight Initiative is not, as Pete Knight and its backers claim, about defending marriage. It’s about attacking families. We need only look at the impact of Pete Knight’s beliefs on his own family to see what his initiative is truly about and what it would do to families across the state, “ said Marshall.
A final tactic might be available to the campaign from right here in Vermont.
“A positive marriage decision in Vermont could be used to put a face on what same-gender marriage looks like for California voters, said Tracey Conaty, press secretary for No On Knight.
She added, “We would hope that if any Vermont couple travelled to California, their marriage certificate would not evaporate at the airport, and that they would have access to the same services married people in California have.”
Leno noted that the Baker v. State case was an important consideration in No On Knight strategizing. “We originally wanted to include ‘unnecessary’ in our litany of ‘unfair, divisive, and intrusive’, because currently there isn’t a state which does recognize same gender marriages,” he said. “We reconsidered this, so that a Vermont decision would not change the focus of our campaign.”