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There’s been a lot of distress, angst and outrage over how the No on 8 campaign was handled and, even as many of us really would like to just move on ... we keep learning more, and it only gets more disturbing. I killed a troubling No on 8 story I could have written a few weeks ago — because I was just too bored with it all, and I thought the newspapers that buy my articles probably were, too. No one else has written that story yet. But now we have this doozy.. It seems there was a letter. Written by Barack Obama. In June of last year. In which he denounced Prop 8 and congratulated all the gay couples who were marrying in California. It seems No on 8 had the letter. But decided not to do anything with it. Even when the Yes on 8 folks sent out a mailer using words from Obama to encourage a vote for Prop 8. Dan Savage is apoplectic (see tinyurl.com/cowyef). Andrew Sullivan is enraged (tinyurl.com/8hnfle). Towleroad is incredulous (tinyurl.com/agf9yv). Michael Petrelis got this ball rolling (tinyurl.com/b7729u) on his blog after he attended the Feb. 26 Town Hall on the No on 8 campaign.
The Obama letter, sent to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, said, in part: “I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution (and) I want to congratulate all of you who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks.” (Full letter: tinyurl.com/agf9yv.) This past Friday, Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, realizing that gays are likely going to lose the Supreme Court case aimed at overturning Prop 8, sent out a new fundraising appeal. EQCA, of course, was the public face of the No on 8 campaign and probably its biggest component. The letter reads: “We have a choice. Do we wait and hope the California Supreme Court overturns Prop 8? Or do we start right now and do the hard work needed in every corner of California to ensure that a majority of Californians support the freedom to marry for same-sex couples? But how much we are able to accomplish depends on your support. Make a donation right now to fund the groundwork for an aggressive campaign to talk to Californians in areas we lost in the last campaign. Donate so that we can hire field organizers that will work in key areas of the state, including the Central Valley, Inland Empire, Orange County, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego. Donate to build relationships in communities of color and faith throughout California. Donate to support the interactive web community that brings together activists across the state. Donate to develop the most effective messaging that will move voters. The No on 8 campaign was faced with limited resources until the very end. We need to avoid that mistake if we are to win this time. Win or lose in the Supreme Court, we need to be ready for what lies ahead. Will you step up now? http://www.eqca.org/donatetowin.” I might as well just say what so many of you are saying in your e-mails, which is, this letter could be translated as, “Give us another $40 million, and trust us not to make a mess next time.” Kors is unhappy with me at the moment anyway, so what the hell. He says I wrongly blame EQCA for the lame, gay-free TV ads the No on 8 campaign ran. He wants folks to know that (a) he and EQCA were just one of many entities that made up the No on 8 campaign, (b) EQCA’s main role in the campaign was fundraising, and (c) the No on 8 executive committee (which Kors was a member of) wasn’t responsible for the ads, because it wasn’t really involved in that aspect of its own campaign, because that aspect of its own campaign was handed over carte blanche to outside consultants, who did whatever they wanted. Points (a) and (b) are true. Consider them conceded. Point (c), however, is yet another story that’s not been written. Nobody on the No on 8 executive committee is willing to take any real responsibility for those crummy ads. It was, instead, all the consultants’ fault. I don’t think so. 1. The executive committee hired the consultants, and the consultants served at the pleasure of the executive committee. And 2. What kind of executive committee doesn’t supervise its employees? Alas. It’s not like there’s a bunch of rival EQCAs out there to turn to. Or is there an option? I got another fundraising letter last week about gay marriage in California. It came from the Courage Campaign, and was signed by Milk actor Sean Penn, director Gus Van Sant, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, historical consultant Cleve Jones, producers Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks. Let’s see what they had to say: “Today is a turning point. And, as Harvey Milk used to say so often, we’re ‘here to recruit you.’ A few minutes ago, the California Supreme Court heard the final oral arguments in the case to overturn Proposition 8. Within 90 days, we will know whether the court will restore equal rights or uphold injustice. No matter what the state Supreme Court decides, the fight for equality will continue in California and across the country. If we win, the same people who backed Prop 8 will find another way to undermine equal rights. If we lose, we will need to take our case to the people of California again. No matter what, we’ll eventually need to win full equality under federal law. At nearly 700,000 members and growing, the Courage Campaign is building an army to prepare for this fight — the kind of people-powered movement that Harvey Milk would lead. A movement that proudly portrays — and tells the stories of — the people victimized by the discrimination of Prop 8, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the Defense of Marriage Act. We’re here to recruit you. Will you help the Courage Campaign build this movement? Please contribute what you can today to restore marriage equality to California and bring equal rights to America: http://www.couragecampaign.org/BuildTheArmy.” The letter continued: “Harvey Milk understood the need to organize communities from the bottom-up, the need for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people to be out and proud as leaders in this movement, and the need for straight allies to join them in solidarity. That’s why we worked so hard to get the film ‘Milk’ to movie screens across America. We wanted to show a new generation of Americans how Harvey organized to win landmark victories in the fight for equal rights. Just like Harvey did in 1978 when he led the movement to defeat the ‘Briggs Initiative,’ the Courage Campaign is organizing across California to repeal Prop 8 — training marriage equality activists at ‘Camp Courage’ events, launching Equality Teams county-by-county, and producing online videos like the heartbreaking ‘Fidelity,’ viewed by more than 1 million people. The only way we will win true equality in California and across the country is by giving people the power to do it themselves. And that’s what the Courage Campaign is doing. Please contribute what you can afford today to help the Courage Campaign build this people-powered army from the ground up.”" I don’t know very much about the Courage Campaign. Its Web site is couragecampaign.org. I covered one of its events in Los Angeles in January, but ended up not writing about it, and then I met its founder, Rick Jacobs, again here in San Diego recently when gays picketed the boycotted Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel as Bill Clinton spoke inside (story: tinyurl.com/bcmezv). I liked Rick’s style that day. But, looking at the two letters above, it sounds like maybe the Courage Campaign gets it. Sure, they could just be sounding all the right notes to plug into the loathing of EQCA and No on 8 that not only refuses to fade away, but actually seems to be growing. Or...maybe the Courage Campaign is different and would fight Prop 8 using the proven approaches that Harvey Milk et al. used to beat Prop 6 in 1978. (For my post about the 1978 campaign, see tinyurl.com/5qlxde.) If so, you may have a choice of what to do with your money if you want same-sex marriage to return in California. You can give more bucks to the folks who admit they botched it (see tinyurl.com/cp2jl9 and tinyurl.com/c95p9m) or you can take a leap to the only other group that’s emerged on the scene, and give it a chance. I’m not saying EQCA couldn’t see the light and get it right next go-around. And I’m not saying I’ve vetted the Courage Campaign in detail and know it is the answer. What you might want to do is sign up at both groups’ Web sites and pay attention to what they say and what they seem to be doing, then make your call. Maybe, in the end, you’ll want to fund both. But don’t wait too long. If the gay side is going back to the ballot to try to un-amend the state constitution, it needs to jump on that horse pretty much right now.
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