It’s an exciting and important time to be engaged in the struggle for LGBT equality, and it is an especially critical time as we work toward marriage equality for all Americans. Last week was truly inspiring as we watched our California State Senate make history by becoming the first legislative body in the nation to pass an equal marriage bill. It was a day to be proud of California politics, and of the 21 Senators who stood on principle and cast votes for equality. Among those was our own state Senator Christine Kehoe, whose passionate floor remarks and leadership on this issue only reaffirm her place as a champion of our community.

The passage of Assembly Bill 849 – the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act – means the measure can now move to the state Assembly for a concurrence vote. The Senate vote was an important and historic step toward ending marriage discrimination, and increased public understanding that our lives, our families and our partnerships are worthy of the basic human dignity that marriage equality provides.

So many LGBT San Diegans and our allies have volunteered time, contacted legislators and made monetary contributions in support of marriage equality. This vote would not have happened without our collective work. Thank you for helping to change hearts and minds – we are making history together!

While we know our work is not yet done, this is also an important time to be grateful for the hard work of our community organizations and activists who have so tirelessly fought against marriage discrimination in our state, including The Center’s coalition partners in the marriage equality battle: Equality California, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of San Diego-Imperial Counties, Planned Parenthood, the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, and many other local, state and national organizations. Many thanks to each of those committed partners!

However, in spite of this significant victory, we must continue to strengthen our capacity to fight for our rights and our relationships. Right now, as LGBT Californians, we are living under the threat of two proposed constitutional amendments, which both, if passed in June 2006, would repeal existing domestic partnership protections and obligations and create a permanent ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

These looming ballot initiatives require us to get even more engaged at all levels. We must be mobilized like we have never been before. When each of us wakes up on June 07, 2006 (the day after the primary election), we will want to know that we did everything we could do to end marriage discrimination: expended every dollar, given every hour, walked every precinct, talked to every family member, helped in every way we could to prevent the complete elimination of our rights that we now face. We will want to have an answer to the question our youth will ask: “Where were you and what did you do?”

As we move forward, The Center’s Marriage Equality and Education Project, created in 2004, remains absolutely committed to its efforts to help educate the general public in San Diego about the harmful impact of marriage discrimination on LGBT Californians. To learn more about The Center’s Marriage Equality and Education Project, check out our Web page at http://www.thecentersd.org/marriageproject.asp, or visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for more information. To get involved, please contact Eddie Valtierra, The Center’s Marriage Equality and Education Project coordinator, at (619) 692-2077 ext. 111, or at evaltierra@thecentersd.org. To learn more about the statewide campaign to defeat these initiatives (Equality for All), please contact geoff@eqca.org.

In addition, I hope you and your friends will join us next Monday, Sept. 12, for an important community forum at The Center, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. This gathering will be a great chance to hear about the statewide campaign’s (Equality for All) efforts to defeat the anti-LGBT ballot initiatives, and to learn about local San Diego efforts to educate all San Diegans about the impact of marriage discrimination from San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination.

The equal marriage struggle continues to be one of the most important civil rights struggles of our lifetime. If you can’t make the meeting, please get involved in any way that you can – we need your voice, your energy and your resources!