Nov 20 2008
InvalidateProp8.org distributes $60,000 to Protect Marriage Equality
The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center recently announced today that its InvalidateProp8.org Web initiative raised more than $60,000 to support the effort to overturn Proposition 8.
The California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to review challenges to Proposition 8, the voter-approved constitutional amendment that denies gays and lesbians the right to wed.
More than 2,300 postcards, one for each donation, are being sent to Mormon church President Thomas Monson, acknowledging that a donation has been made in his name to invalidate Prop. 8 and restore the right to marry to all Californians.
The initiative was announced at a press conference in front of the Los Angeles Mormon
Temple, three days after the election, as a message to the leaders of the Mormon church that no one’s religious beliefs should be used to deny fundamental rights to others.
At the urging of church leadership, Mormons contributed more than $15 million to fund the deceitful advertising campaign that resulted in the initiative’s passage by a small margin.
“It is a travesty that the Mormon church bought this election and used a campaign of lies and deception to manipulate voters in the great state of California,” said the Center’s chief executive officer Lorri L. Jean. “They’re entitled to their beliefs, but not to impose them upon the constitution or laws of California.”
About $40,000 of the money raised so far will be given to the ACLU, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the three non-profit organizations that have jointly filed a lawsuit in the California Supreme Court challenging Proposition 8. Another $20,000 remains in a fund that will be used to support grass-roots activities for full marriage equality.
Donations have come from nearly all 50 states and from countries around the world including, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Denmark, England, Germany, Japan, Singapore and South Africa.
InvalidateProp8.org remains active and will continue to raise and distribute funds to support the effort to overturn Prop. 8 and send postcards to the president of the Mormon church.
Details: visit www.lagaycenter.org.
