The San Francisco Chronicle reports on their Politics Blog that Another prominent LGBT group wants to wait on gay marriage vote until 2012.
The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club — the nation’s oldest LGBT Demo club — thinks 2012 would be better, too. After hearing a presentation from San Francisco pollster Amy Simon this week, the club’s board decided — after much debate — that there might not be enough time to right the wrongs of the last campaign.
“We believe that our ability to do the groundwork critical to success, and not our outrage over the passage of Prop. 8, should drive the decision,” say the ABTers.
Going for it in 2010, “would require a rush that could possibly cause our community to take shortcuts, miss important messages and fail to make critical connections. If we set the vote for 2010, we essentially need to net 1,000 voters per day, a theoretically achievable but extraordinarily ambitious goal.”
Last Monday, a coalition of 30 LGBT, civil rights, labor groups, and individuals signed on to a joint letter advocating that the movement to Repeal Proposition 8 should focus on a 2012 as a target date for a ballot initiative (Repeal of Prop 8: Prepare to Prevail in 2012). The two oldest LGBT political organizations in Orange County, the Harvey Milk Stonewall Democrats (formerly the Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club) and the Elections Committee of the County of Orange (California’s oldest LGBT PAC) are part of that original group.
The Chronicle story reports:
Next week, same sex marriage supporters are gathering in San Bernadino to take their collective pulse about what their next step should be. Don’t expect to see a consensus on 2010 v. 2012, but you should see some serious telltale signs.
I plan to be at that meeting so I’ll let you know what happens.
I think 2012 is a big mistake, with Obama on the ballot, there will be another large African American turnout, which favors H8.
Brian,
You have bought into the myth that the Affrican-American vote was responsible for the failure to stop Proposition 8. African-Americans were not any more significant than Latinos, or Caucasians in the 2008 election as far as the votes in favor of Prop 8 were concerned.
The demographic that needs to be addressed are voters who attend church regularly. That demographic, across all ethinic communities, was the margin of victory for Prop 8. To address that disparity and effectively mitigate its effect, we need time. A 2010 effort does not allow enough time to accomplish that objective.
And just to make it perfectly clear, the turnout models based upon the most recent polling show a 3% greater margin of favorability towards repeal in 2012 over 2010.
2010 would be the mistake, not 2012.
Chris, how true.
The real mistake would be to renew the contract of the team that ran it last time. Kors and Jean LOST the election. Plain and Simple, BAD MANAGEMENT (not to mention month long vacations in the heat of battle.
This is a serious issue, in need of serious stategy. The Gay community ios a lot like the internet, there are no clear leaders. Therefore, message continuity is diffacult to mantain.
The fight needs to be not in the Bay Area, Not in West Hollywood, but in Huntington Beach, Riverside, South Orange County, East LA and Fresno, where sensabilities can be addressed.
Horde the cash and kick some ass in 2012.
DUPLOJOHN,
Some might argue that if Kors had taken a longer vacation Prop 8 would have been defeated. 🙂