Equality California splash Benefit Parfty at Donna Sachet’s Imperial Palace on Aug. 23. Assemblyman Mark Leno and Donna enjoyed gthe splash guys on the deck after Mark spoke ab out how important it is to defeat Prop 8. Photo by Rink.

For the third year in a row, Donna Sachet held “Splash,” a fundraiser for Equality California at her Imperial Palace on Aug. 23. The two years before, these were poolside parties. Of course the pools were no more than 6x4 feet and were above-ground. Still, it was nice on a hot day in her patio to stick your feet in the cool water and splash around a bit. Which is why this year I feel I must expose Donna for the fraud she is. When I arrived, I looked around to find the little pool. Little was right! It was a miniature doll-size pool on the registration table, with a Barbie doll dressed like Donna in a bathing suit and a Ken doll in a swimwear outfit. I had brought what I thought was a tiny bathtub duckie, but compared to the dolls, it was gigantic! Anyway, after a few cocktails, I forgave Donna for the deception (truthfully, I was never really angry; it was just fun to pretend to be). Donna did provide a delicious spread catered by Michael Loftis and Eric Forbes (cucumber and smoked salmon sandwiches cut out into star shapes, chevre potato bites with bacon, melon and prosciutto skewers, and delicious little burger sliders from Best-o-Burger by Steve Weber, not to mention lovely cocktails made from Krol vodka, provided by Michael Daniels and mixed by Richard Sablatura. For dessert there were cookies provided by Dan Glazer of Hot Cookie. The host committee was James Hollenbeck, Dan Joraanstad, and Robert Byhre.

The patio garden was specially filled with RED flowers, since that is Donna’s trademark color. There were umbrellas for those who needed to get out of the sun. And on the benches everywhere were spread official Equality California (EQCA) beach towels. Suddenly a summer wear fashion show began, put on by Isaiah Carter and Petyr Kane of Citizen/Body on Castro Street with sexy, macho male models Tom Oliver, Darin Lanfair, Sammie Edwards, Markus Ram, Carlos Figueroa, and Cody. Soon they wore nothing but very tight Speedos. Cue Carr Orf’s “Carmina Burana,” and out sashayed Sachet in a smashing red lady’s slinky swimsuit and matching sarong. She lip-synched Connie Francis’ “Where the Boys Are,” which got everybody excited.

Topping that, State Assemblyman (soon to be State Senator) Mark Leno stopped by. “Just because we don’t have a state budget yet, doesn’t mean we couldn’t pull together some funds at Donna’s love shack,” he joked. He then referred to the Nov. 2003 State Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts that ruled - not unlike Hawaii and Vermont Supreme Courts before it – that there is no constitutional basis for discrimination in denying marriage licenses to loving same-sex couples. He said the decision stated that our nation’s history has taught us that ‘separate’ is seldom, if ever, equal. “The decision said the only remedy to undo discrimination is marriage and marriage alone, and that no parallel construct such as civil unions or domestic partnerships would do,” said Leno, “because it would perpetuate a destructive stereotype and suggest there is something inferior and unstable about the way same-sex couples love.” He said, “Irrespective of our race, creed, color, religion, nation, origin, language, sexual orientation, or gender identity – the thing that makes us human beings is our ability to love.” He pointed out that it has never been done in California to write discrimination into the constitution, which is exactly what Proposition 8 is attempting, and which is why EQCA and so many others are fighting to defeat the homophobic measure. “Constitutions are to expand the rights of our democracy; not to contract,” he said. “So we have to raise an ungodly amount of money. More than Donna earns in a month!” He warned that the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization, gave more than $1 million last week, and the Mormons are kicking in massive amounts of money, as well as sending emails to 700,000 Mormons in California. “We are fighting dollar for dollar, but I am very confident that as more and more people understand what we’re talking about, that we are going to win,” he said.

“When people learn more about this issue, they will realize this is only fair. Why would we deny individuals the right to marry the person he or she loves?!” Leno concluded, “Conservatives claim they want smaller government, so why would they want our government involved in the most intimate decision making process a human being ever makes?”