Court Decision Doesn't Stomp Hope in Long Beach
By Zamná Ávila
Tom Crook, a former hotel manager who is disabled and wheelchair bound, would have wed his partner of 10 years, Paul Raines, had Raines lived long enough to experience a California that allows legal marriage rights to same-sex couples.
More than a year after the California Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the state’s constitutional protection of marriage extends to same-sex couples, the same court on May 26, 2009, upheld Proposition 8, a voter-approved measure that strips gays and lesbians of the right to wed legally.
“You almost have to take your rights and assume them before someone else takes them [from you],” said 61-one-year-old Crook. “Marriage doesn’t change anyone else’s life; it enhances it.”
Crook was among approximately 2,500 demonstrators who took to the street and voiced their discontent following the court’s decision.
“I don’t have anyone to marry but I would love the option to get married,” Crook said.
Theresa Murphy and Stacy Kelso, who married on July 11, 2008, after 14 years together, blame the passage of the measure on the influence of out-of-state campaign money and misinformation.
“I feel profound sadness,” said 47-year-old Murphy. “The voice of California was overrun by people outside of the state.”
Nevertheless, LGBT activists take into account that the state’s high court also held legal the more than 18,000 same-sex weddings that took place between June 16 and Nov. 4, 2008, a silver lining in the cloud of inequality.
“We are reminded that although we have been hurt — we mourn, we are angry — we still have 18,000 glimmers of hope,” said Mikaela Sanchez, a member of grassroots group Long Beach Equality, which organized the protest.
Hand in hand, gay and straight couples marched along gay-friendly Broadway Avenue and toward Bixby Park.
“Freedom makes this a personal issue for us,” said John Eddy, a heterosexual Long Beach resident. “I have an 11-year-old son. He’s straight, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t have gay grandchildren.”
Eddy and his life partner, Nicole Street, said they have participated in other marches in support of same-sex marriage.
“We want to raise our family to have all the rights and privileges that they need and deserve,” Street said. “What it boils down to is that we just care about people.”
Men, women and children held signs and chanted: “Gay, straight, black, white; marriage is a civil right” as they headed toward First Street and Junipero Avenue, where community leaders encouraged the audience.
“In some ways it’s cut us deeper,” said Kim Woods, executive director of The Gay & Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach. Woods compares the passage of Proposition 8 with the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the measure. “You stand for truth, justice, what’s right. And none of that can be taken away from you — not now, not ever.”
While LGBT activists and their supporters are weighing the option to push a ballot measure in upcoming elections that would make same-sex marriage legal, they vow to continue their struggle.
“They say the majority spoke,” Woods said. “We’ll see about that, because we will be the majority.”
That day will mark the true spirit of California, Murphy said. “This is not just about us; it’s about fairness and equality,” she said. “I’m hoping this is just a step toward a better outcome in the long run. We’ve made tremendous strides in the last 25 years. This type of culture doesn’t change overnight.”