Lambda Alert

The Lambda Community Center Calls YOU to Get Involved!



By now you've heard that the Attorney General has given approval to collect signatures to sponsors of a proposed Constitutional amendment that would repeal existing protections for legally-recognized domestic partnerships and ban same-sex marriage for ever. It affects your ability to make choices about your own life and your family. These new laws would:



• Repeal health insurance, hospital visitation, inheritance and medical leave rights.
• Prohibit an individual from seeking remedies for the wrongful death of his or her domestic partner.
• Permanently ban the California legislature, courts and governor’s administration from providing legal protections to, and imposing responsibilities on domestic partners.
• Strip away every domestic partnership right we have fought so hard to get!

We must learn all we need to do to protect the rights of our community. The Equality for All is a group formed of committed individuals, organizations, and activists who are ready to work on this initiative.



The Lambda Community Center will serve as a vital hub of information and can provide an opportunity to meet with other like-minded individuals who care about these issues. If you are interested in volunteering, please CLICK Here. If you would like to stay informed on local activities and what role the Center will play stay tuned for email updates and news alerts from the Sacramento Valley’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Community.



Stay abreast with all things LGBTI by going to our website www.lambdasac.org



~Jason R. Kirkland~
Lambda Community Fund
Lambda Community Center
(916) 442-0185 ext 103
(916) 325-1840 FAX
(916) 470-2169 cell
www.lambdasac.org
www.sacpride.org



A copy of the proposed legislation from Equality California follows:

CONTACT:
Sid Voorakkara, Equality For All Interim Campaign Director
Phone: (619) 795-4408 Email: sid@eqca.org

Sacramento Area: Steve Hansen, EQCA Legislative Affairs Associate Director
Phone: (916) 501-0525 Email: steve@eqca.org

EQUALITY CALIFORNIA AND EQUALITY FOR ALL DENOUNCE MEAN-SPIRITED BALLOT INITIATIVE TO ENSHRINE DISCRIMINATION IN THE CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION

Measure Would Repeal and Permanently Ban Existing Safety Net for Legally Recognized Domestic Partners

San Francisco, CA – An unprecedented coalition of diverse organizations today denounced a proposed constitutional amendment that would repeal the existing safety net for legally recognized domestic partners and permanently ban marriage protections for same-sex couples. The announcement comes in response to the California Attorney General’s authorization for sponsors of the measure to begin collecting signatures to qualify it for the ballot it for 2006.

"This extreme measure is nothing short of a nuclear weapon being launched at lesbian and gay Californians," said Geoffrey Kors, Executive Director of Equality California, California's LGBT Advocacy Organization. "It would totally wipe out all existing legal protections for legally recognized domestic partners and their children, leaving families vulnerable and placing children at risk. Equality California has been the lead organization working to obtain these legal protections for California, and we will continue working with our coalition partners to make sure that these rights, supported by both Democratic and Republican Governors, are not repealed," Kors added.

Equality California, and our more than 40 chapters across California, have been working for more than 2 years in anticipation of this type of assault by educating their communities and identifying voters who support equality. We have identified hundreds of thousands of Californians who support equality and have built a statewide coalition of LGBT and non-LGBT organizations who are standing together to fight this attack on our rights.

"The impact of this amendment would be devastating to hundreds of thousands of California families by taking away nearly all the responsibilities and protections currently afforded to legally recognized domestic partners," said Sid Voorakkara, interim campaign manager, Equality for All. "Californians have a long history of rejecting discrimination and we are confident they will reject this attempt to single out one group of Californians for permanent second class status."

Later this week, the Attorney General is expected to announce that two other measures with similar language may be placed in circulation for signature gathering. Any one of the measures, if passed, would deny California couples the ability to make medical, financial, and funeral decisions for themselves and their families. All three amendments would require a tax increase on property jointly owned by unmarried same-sex and senior citizen couples, upon the death of either partner.

In Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, and Utah, which passed similar constitutional amendments last November, the amendments have already been used as justification for denying domestic partner benefits, weakening domestic violence laws as they apply to unmarried couples and revoking custody agreements between same-sex couples.

" We have seen the effects of similar amendments passed in other states last year and their impact is real and immediate, not only to same-sex couples, but to thousands of other unmarried couples," continued Voorakkara. "The organizations behind this initiative have a long history of pushing an anti-gay agenda and they will run a campaign of lies and deceit to win."

The Equality for All campaign launched in May 2005 to defeat any proposed ballot initiative that would amend California’s constitution to permanently deny marriage protections for same-sex couples and eliminate the rights, protections and responsibilities afforded to legally recognized domestic partners.

Founded in 1998, Equality California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-based, statewide advocacy organization whose mission is to ensure the dignity, safety, equality and civil rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians. Equality California is one of the largest and fastest growing statewide LGBT organizations in the country. We can be contacted through our website at www.eqca.org.