[Educationforall] Sign the Petition--Demand the City Attorney Not File Charges Against the Equality 9!

[Antonio Perez]

Nine residents of San Diego are facing charges including up to 90 days of jail time if convicted, simply for sitting in at the County Clerk's Office on August 19, 2010, to demand marriage licenses for themselves and their friends.  Those nine people need you to sign this letter to the City Attorney asking him NOT to file charges against the Equality 9.  Read one member's testimonial below, then please sign the letter at the link here: http://www.petitiononline.com/equal9/petition.html

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On August 19, 2010, I went to the San Diego County Clerk's Office with the genuine hope that our friends Tony & Tyler Dylan-Hyde might be allowed a marriage license that day.  They had made an appointment after Judge Walker ruling that Prop 8 was unconstitutional on August 4, 2010 prompting the San Diego County Clerk's Office to announce that they would begin accepting appointments for same-sex couples to be married, beginning on August 19th.  By the 19th however, the 9th Circuit had made the decision, based on an appeal from the bigoted authors and defenders of Prop 8, to impose a stay on Judge Walker's historic decision, delaying indefinitely what aught to have been a final step in the progress for LGBT equality in this state.  

For some reason, when Prop 8 was passed--and immediately challenged in court by the ACLU--no stay was imposed on the marriage ban for same-sex couples while it's constitutionality could be debated in court.  But when the backers of Prop 8 wanted to delay it's legal overturning by a California State Supreme Court Judge, their wish was granted.  

The Dylan-Hydes and one other same-sex couple, Ditchi Davila and Claire Manning, asking for their marriage licenses that morning were refused their appointments and their licenses.  Nine of us, who had come in support of their right to marry--including another couple, Michael Anderson & Brian Baumgardner, who also sought to get married that day--were not immediately ready to leave.  We announced that we would remain peacefully, but stay until the County Clerk could respond to the legal argument presented to him that day by the Dylan-Hydes that it was in fact the duty of all California clerks to uphold the law of this state as ruled by a California Supreme Court Judge on the case.  

I don't believe, and will never believe, that any of us committed any crime during our visit to the County Clerk's Office that day by staying after some of our friends were denied their appointment.  Nevertheless, we were forcibly removed before 9:30 in the morning, and brought to jail in hand-cuffs, none of us able to return to work after our morning's appointment, since we were not released until late in the day.Those nine of us are now facing charges from the City Attorney for choosing to sit in to demand our civil rights on that day.  It is my belief however, that if the City Attorney doesn't drop the charges against us, it will be a reflection not on our "criminality", our moral characters or behavior as residents of San Diego, but on the backwardness of the City of San Diego to be upholding a law that still bans same-sex couples from marrying in the first place.  

Rosa Parks should never have been arrested for defending her right to sit at the front of a bus in Birmingham, Alabama.  Susan B. Anthony should never have been charged and fined for daring to exercise the same right to vote in this country that her male counterparts had.  Neither should any of us be tried or charged for simply demanding the right of our friends to be married by the State of California after Judge Walker ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional."Cecile VeillardPresident, San Diego Alliance for Marriage EqualitySAMEalliance.com 

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Read the full text of the petition letter:

To:  Office of the City Attorney of San Diego We urge the San Diego Attorney General’s office to drop all charges against the “Equality 9”— local activists who were arrested on August 19, 2010 at the County Administration Building on Pacific Highway.

The Equality 9 engaged in a peaceful sit-in when the County Clerk would not issue Marriage Licenses to two same-sex couples that day, as they were willing to do for any opposite-sex couple that stepped into the office. The 9 were arrested by dozens of Sheriff’s Deputies in full riot gear and military-style formation. They were shackled and marched out to buses, then were brought to jail where they were processed and spent several hours. 

In the weeks before the sit-in, U.S. District Court Judge Walker ruled, “Because Proposition 8 disadvantages gays and lesbians without rational justification, Proposition 8 violates the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.” But yet Prop 8 lives on, thanks to a stay that was imposed until it is decided that its defenders have completely exhausted their appeals. We believe this is absurd; the courts should not suspend the people’s constitutional rights until those who despise them are satisfied. The stay must be lifted. 

Now, the new Attorney General of California, Kamala Harris, is asking the courts to end the stay. Within the past few months, nationally, Congress and President Obama voted to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Recently, the Obama Administration signaled that they will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, the law which maintains marriage inequality at the federal level. With the edifice of official discrimination crumbling all around us, the City should not persecute activists who are proving to be on the right side of history. 

The Equality 9 are not criminals and should not be treated as such. By demanding that the institutions of government grant them their constitutional rights, they acted in the finest tradition of Civil Rights struggle in the United States. Drop all Charges against the Equality 9! 

Sincerely, 
The Undersigned



Support this petition!

1.  Post the petition as a link on your facebook wall, telling your friends why they should also sign it!  Tweet the petition if you're on twitter!2.  Type in "San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality" on your facebook search bar, which will bring up the link to the petition at the top of the page, and comment in the thread on it so that others will see the petition too!3.  FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR FRIENDS AND CONTACTS!!!The Equality 9 need all of the support they can get.  The more petitions we can gather (and SAME has already collected nearly 100 signatures in person on our paper petition), the stronger a public campaign we can build.  We plan to deliver these petition signatures to the City Attorney's office once we reach enough signatures to make an impact, in an attempt to prevent the nine of us ever having to face charges or spend a day in court for visiting the County Clerk's office for marriage licenses on August 19, 2010.  They Equality 9 believe we can win if forced to fight the charges, but we'd rather save ourselves the time, and the city the embarrassment.  You can help by please signing and forwarding this petition today!!!


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