Reversing bias against gays

An editorial — 11/20/2008 5:29 am

California let the cause of equality down this year, just as Wisconsin let it down two years ago.

But that does not mean that the votes in these two states on measures to ban same-sex marriage were identical.

Wisconsin wrote discriminatory language into its state Constitution for the first time -- an indefensibly awful move. But Wisconsin had never allowed same-sex couples to marry.

California did something even more unsettling. After the courts had determined that gays and lesbians in that state had a right to marry their partners, marriages began to be performed. Families finally received the legal recognition they had a right to expect.

The Nov. 4 referendum vote took that right away.

It is bad enough when rights are denied.

It is, somehow, even worse when they are taken away.

No wonder then that the reaction to the California result has extended far beyond the borders of the Golden State. A protest in Madison over the weekend drew a large crowd, and featured our favorite protest sign: "I pay all my taxes, I want all my rights."

Protests are appropriate. But so too is a strategy for reversing discriminatory initiatives in California, Wisconsin and across the country.

That will be the point of a town hall meeting organized for tonight by Fair Wisconsin, the group that evolved from the fight against the constitutional amendment in 2006.

This is a meeting worth attending, just as this is a fight worth engaging in.

Here are the details:

Fair Wisconsin Town Hall: The Impact of the 2008 Election on LGBT Wisconsinites

7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20

Michelangelo's Coffee House, 114 State St.

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