Kamala Harris Has Our Backs – San Francisco Bay Times

By Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis–

It was around 8:00 PM on Wednesday, March 4, 2009, the night before the California Supreme Court was to hear oral arguments to determine whether Proposition 8, which took away the freedom to marry from LGBTIQ couples in love in California just 4 months earlier, violated the state constitution. I was leading a large rally on the steps of San Francisco City Hall to urge the court to overturn the unprecedented anti-LGBTIQ measure. As we neared the end of the rally, someone came up from the back and said, “Kamala Harris is here and she’d like to speak.”

We were delighted – and impressed. Prop. 8 was approved just a few months before with about 52% of the statewide vote. Harris, then San Francisco’s district attorney, has already announced his candidacy for California attorney general. She faced a tough primary race in her first run for statewide office and an even greater challenge in being elected the state’s first black, first Asian American and first female attorney general. But Harris wasn’t about to back down from her commitment to marriage equality and LGBTIQ rights. She took time out of her busy schedule and did her best to support marriage equality and be present with the LGBTIQ community as we continued to collectively feel the heartbreaking passage of Prop. 8.

Moreover, after Harris’ election as California attorney general, she refused to defend Prop. 8 in court, stating, “I firmly believe that Proposition 8 violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the US Constitution.” Her refusal to defend the ignominious initiative was essential to its demise. In 2011, Harris said she was “confident that justice will prevail,” and she was right.

We will never forget the afternoon of June 28, 2013, when the federal courts surprised everyone by allowing LGBTIQ couples in California to remarry, not the usual 30 days after a US Supreme Court decision was issued, but at just 2 days after the US Supreme Court accepted a lower federal court ruling invalidating Prop. 8. We dropped everything and went to City Hall to celebrate with queer couples and fellow marriage equality supporters. And Kamala Harris was doing the same. In fact, she was rushing to City Hall to officiate the wedding of Sandy Stier and Kris Perry, one of the plaintiff couples in the federal Prop. 8, on Twitter “(en route to SF City Hall. Let the wedding bells ring!”

And amid the euphoria, Harris had to fulfill his responsibilities as California’s top law enforcement official. Local officials in Southern California were telling the other couple of Prop 8 plaintiffs, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, that the local clerk’s office could not issue the couple a marriage license until they received a directive from the state of California, clearly unaware that the district attorney generic. she herself was about to officiate at Stier and Perry’s wedding.

Southern California marriage equality advocates were soon on the phone with people gathered at San Francisco City Hall, who told Harris what was happening. Harris was on the phone and didn’t skip a beat. She explained clearly and forcefully to the reluctant local official (clearly surprised that she was speaking to the Attorney General herself and not a staff member), “You must begin the marriages immediately.” And Harris added with a smile: “Enjoy. It will be fun!”

Harris was already the merry warrior.

Indeed, we remember the first time we met Harris in person on Election Day morning, November 8, 2005, in the Castro. The LGBTIQ community and pro-choice advocates worked in coalition to defeat Proposition 73, a right-wing initiative that threatened young women’s access to safe abortions statewide. We and many other volunteers gathered preparing to go door to door to vote. Harris spoke to us all and with a big smile on his face he exclaimed, “I love campaigning!” It was clear why. He loved connecting with people and inspiring them to exercise agency in the political process.

And that’s what Harris and her running mate Tim Walz are doing today, inspiring a new generation to get involved in the political process to boldly chart a path for the future that’s far different from their opponents. If those who value equality and democracy work together to elect Harris and Walz, himself a fearless and unabashed supporter of LGBTIQ rights, the White House will remain a place that does not “turn around” and clearly supports us as people LGBTIQ.

John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for more than three decades, were plaintiffs in the California marriage equality case decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. Their leadership in the grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA helped in 2015 legalize same-sex marriages. at the national level.

6/26 and beyond
Published on August 22, 2024