This weekend more than 120,000 people will line University Avenue for our annual San Diego LGBT Pride parade. It’s one of the best and biggest parades and festivals in Southern California. It’s a fabulous street party, and at the same time it’s so much more than a party. For the hundreds of those committed to building the infrastructure of our community and engaged in fighting back against an anti-LGBT amendment to the California Constitution, the 120,000-plus crowd affords an incredible opportunity.

Every year we try to figure out some way to make the most of this opportunity: How can we gather greater numbers of names and contact information to connect them to information? How can we get the more than 120,000 who will brave the crowds to attend the Pride parade to be more educated about our collective civil rights struggle? This year, with the ballot measure looming, there is even more urgency attached to our efforts to get people educated and involved.

As San Diegans we are fortunate to be home to one of the nation’s largest Pride celebrations. This year we have a chance to reach all those who attend Pride, and get out the message about what’s at stake for the LGBT community in the June 2006 election.

In June 2006 our ballots will include a discriminatory amendment to the California Constitution that would ban marriage for same-sex couples and eliminate all the protections currently available to domestic partners in California. Not just one, but three such amendments have already been submitted to the Attorney General’s Office!

This attempt to write discrimination into our state constitution is a personal and harmful attack on our community. The passage of such a measure would have a tangible and damaging impact on California families. It not only denies same-sex California couples the right to marry, but actually takes away the existing protections and responsibilities that help take care of our families and children!

The nation will be watching as California tackles this important issue. Many on the other side are already saying that even in California we’re going to lose this amendment fight; that, yes, we can get 120,000 people out to party during Pride, but we can’t turn them out to vote; that we care more about partying than we do about our own equality. I don’t believe that and neither do the other LGBT leaders in California. More than 300 organizations have begun to mobilize against this latest hateful effort.

We must face this challenge with the full force of our community’s resources – our money, our efforts, our time, our conversations and our stories. San Diego will play a pivotal role in the defeat of this amendment.

The 2005 Pride weekend will be the single, largest gathering of our community before June of next year. During this weekend, dedicated volunteers will be canvassing the parade route, asking you to sign a pledge card indicating that you’ll vote no on this constitutional amendment. I am personally asking you to take the time to complete one of these pledge cards – provide us with your contact information so we can keep you informed about what’s happening and can ensure you know when and how to cast your vote.

And if you are reading this, and won’t be attending Pride, you can also take the pledge online at thecentersd.org/marriageproject.asp, or visit this column online at www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the Web site.

The pledge card simply says, “Say No to Discrimination in California! No Californian should experience discrimination based on race, religious belief, disability, gender or sexual orientation!”

The stakes are high. San Diego must turn out at least 400,000 voters opposed to this amendment. If we knew we could count on 120,000 of the Pride parade attendees to cast “no” ballots, we’d be one-quarter of the way there. If we’d all commit to moving three other friends, family members or co-workers to also vote no, we could be victorious!

There’s no question that this past year has been both challenging and sobering. But Pride provides us all with moving and inspiring moments. It reminds us of where we have been, but also fills us with hope and possibility for where we can go.

I know what the crowds will look like this Pride weekend, and I don’t believe that the 120,000 people there only care about a party. I don’t believe it, and I don’t believe we have to lose. I have seen what this community can accomplish, together with their friends and allies, when all are committed and inspired.

We can be a powerful force. We show it during Pride weekend, but it is vital that we show it at the ballot box next June as well. I don’t believe that fair-minded Californians will give up on the greatest civil rights battle of our time so easily. Not in our California.