Latino, Religious Rights Groups Oppose CA Initiative to Ban Same-Gender Marriage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Striking back at cynical efforts to garner Latino support for a state ballot initiative to ban recognition of same-sex marriage, Latino civil rights advocates and members of the religious community today placed a full-page advertisement opposing the measure in California’s largest Spanish-language newspaper, La Opinion.

At a news conference today, the groups called the initiative divisive and reminded the public that supporters of Proposition 22, as the initiative is known, are the same people who supported Proposition 187, the anti-immigrant measure passed in 1994 and later invalidated by the courts.

“Pete Knight, who is the author of Proposition 22, is the same person who distributed a racist and anti-immigrant poem about Latinos in the state legislature,” said Renee Saucedo, of La Raza Centro Legal. “The poem describes immigrants as ‘breeding’ and “trash” and living off welfare. It is hypocritical that the Knight campaign is trying to win the Latino vote by purchasing ads on Spanish-language television.”

“Proposition 22 only divides and undermines our families,” said Lisa Maldonado, of the ACLU of Northern California. “All families need support and recognition, whether they are gay and lesbian or traditional nuclear families. Proposition 22 violates the hard-earned civil rights to members of our community.”

Many Latino leaders including Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers, Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, and San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzalez oppose Proposition 22, she noted.

Participants in today’s news conference include Susan Leal, San Francisco City Treasurer; Susan Contreras of the League of United Latin American Citizens;Maria Blanco, Executive Director of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; and Irma Herrera, Executive Director of the Equal Rights Advocates.

For more information on Proposition 22 and other efforts around the country to ban same-gender marriage, visit these ACLU Web sites:

ACLU of Northern California
http://www.aclunc.org/lesbian-and-gay/knight.html

ACLU of Southern California
http://www.aclu-sc.org/ballot/propostion22.htm

ACLU National Lesbian and Gay Rights Project
http://archive.aclu.org/issues/gay/hmgl.html