Beyond Prop 8: Where Do We Go From Here?

For their post-election debrief (which will be held in a few weeks -- due to a last-minute issue), Marriage Equality USA and a coalition of allies will employ a different tactic. “Now is time to come together to heal and constructively examine the Prop 8 campaign,” they said. “What went well and where we can improve, and to determine what we need to do at a grassroots level to advance our marriage equality movement within California and nationwide. We will have a community forum on strategic planning where we gather feedback – and funnel it into one document that can house our collective wisdom.”

Believe it or not, this meeting won’t have any panelists – and just the first 15 minutes will be a “review” of what happened. Afterwards, participants will break into small groups so that everyone can say (a) what worked and what didn’t this election, and (b) identify our response and our resources. It’s precisely this kind of bottom-up discussion that’s needed to keep the momentum going. The Prop 8 protests that happened across the country last weekend were not coordinated by the large LGBT organizations that have led the effort – but were organized by self-motivated people angry at what happened. Now’s the time to translate that energy into strengthening the movement – so that this never happens again.

Using a grassroots base that doesn’t have “inside access” is the secret to how groups like MoveOn have been so successful. The online organization, founded by two software engineers upset at the Clinton impeachment, wasn’t launched by well-connected activists. But by relying on its mass collective wisdom, it has pushed the envelope on important issues – while giving members an “ownership” in its campaigns. With Barack Obama’s election and a new progressive era on the horizon, MoveOn members will host local gatherings tonight to engage the grassroots – creating a similar roadmap for what next steps to take.

Now that the Supreme Court has announced they will hear lawsuits to overrule Prop 8, it is tempting to “sit back” and let the lawyers do their work – especially if you hear our side has strong legal arguments. But judges won’t do the right thing unless it’s politically feasible – and a sympathetic public movement is crucial to avoid blowback that the Court “ignored” the “will of the people.” If we win at the Supreme Court, don’t expect the right to take this defeat lying down – they will almost certainly target justices for recall. Which is why we need a very strong grassroots political movement to tell the Court we “got their back.”

But what if the Supreme Court doesn’t overrule Prop 8? Our remedy at that point is to promote a ballot initiative in 2010 to reinstate marriage equality – making a full-scale statewide campaign the next logical step. And if we really have to do that again, there’s a lot to learn from what just happened – where running a weak campaign ensured the defeat of what was an eminently winnable struggle. It’s painful to imagine having to go to the ballot again, but if we engage the grassroots we can finally win this.

Paul Hogarth is the Managing Editor of Beyond Chron, an alternative online daily newspaper, with whose permission this article is republished.