If you’re reading this you probably couldn’t go to Nevada Virginia New Mexico or another swing state to help bring hope and change to the United States Nov. 4. Yet by uniting as Californians to stop Proposition 8 Pepperdine University has the chance to make history too.
After decades of struggle the California Supreme Court recognized this year that separate is not equal when it comes to marriage. This otherwise very conservative court ruled that every couple in California – gay or straight – has an equal right to marry.
But in the wake of this tremendous victory for civil rights a group of ultra conservative organizations and individuals is working to eliminate the right to marry for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples with Proposition 8.
The backers of the proposition are now spending millions of dollars a day in an attempt to persuade Californians to use the state’s constitution to hurt friends neighbors and family members. You witnessed the result of those millions first-hand when the Proposition 8 campaign exploited the name of Pepperdine University to benefit its message of intolerance. They may have millions of dollars but we have the power to stop them.
In the past few weeks something extraordinary has been happening in California. Just like when your student body and administration struck back against the improper perception that Pepperdine supported Proposition 8 we have been fighting back against the onslaught of right-wing money – and winning 8 – by taking matters into our own hands.
It’s no mistake that the backers of Proposition 8 used your University’s name to add legitimacy to their argument and it’s up to you to set the record straight.
It may be old fashioned – a campaign that is actually based on people reaching out to other people – but it is working. Fueled by new technologies like social networking sites – and some old-school tools like the telephone – this campaign has already made millions of personal appeals.
I don’t read from any script or pay attention to “talking points.” I just say in my own words why I feel it is so important that we treat everyone in this state equally. I talk about how I was just married and how angry I would be if somebody tried to use the government to take away that right.
On Nov. 4 we are going to move America forward. Between right now and when the polls close on Election Day we need to do everything in our power to make sure that a flood of right-wing money doesn’t move our state backward.
Please join me and do more than vote “No” on Proposition 8. Please join me and take part in a groundbreaking movement that is protecting our fundamental freedoms by galvanizing millions of Californians to work together to protect our friends and neighbors and to safeguard our own civil rights.