Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 22:13:10 -0800 From: Doug.Case@sdsu.edu (Doug Case) Subject: URGENT ACTION NEEDED IN CALIFORNIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RE-DISTRIBUTE WIDELY January 23, 1996 LIFE - California's Lesbian/Gay & AIDS Lobby 926 J Street, Suite 522 Sacramento, CA 95814 916/444-0424, FAC 916/444-3059 Contact: Ellen McCormick, Assistant Legislative Advocate E-Mail: lmcagaylob@aol.com (Laurie McBride, LIFE Executive Director) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT AB 1982 (Pete Knight) ON A FAST TRACK . . . . . . 308.5 A MARRIAGE CONTRACTED OUTSIDE THIS STATE BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS OF THE SAME GENDER IS NOT VALID IN THIS STATE. Wednesday, January 24, 1996: The California State Assembly Judicialy Committee will vote on AB 1982 (Knight): a bill to block recognition of our marriages in California. The bill will likely pass, and go to the Assembly Floor for a vote NEXT WEEK. Within two weeks the bill will be in the State Senate. If we are to have any chance of stopping this bill, we need to act ***NOW*** . . . WE NEED ***YOU*** TO WRITE YOUR LEGISLATORS TODAY!!! This is the biggest threat to our civil dignity and our equality that we have faced in California. We must respond as never before. It must be clear that we will mobilize to fight this or any other attack. Don't know your legislators?? Call the Registrar of Voters (in your phone book in the County Government listings). Senator Lockyer, as the Democratic leader of the State Senate, NEEDS to know that this is your number one issue. Send him copies of the letters to your legislators. We must have Lockyer's support if we are to stop AB 1982 before it becomes law . . . Send those copies to Senate Pro Tem Bill Lockyer, State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814 (FAX 916/323-2234) EVERY ASSEMBLYMEMBER AND SENATOR NEEDS LETTERS -- FROM THE MOST LIBERAL TO THE MOST CONSERVATIVE. OVER THE NEXT 2 MONTHS THEY WILL BE VOTING ON OUR LIVES -- DON'T LET ANY OF THEM CAST THAT VOTE WITHOUT HEARING FROM *YOU*, THEIR CONSTITUTENT! SOME SUGGESTED POINTS FOR YOUR LETTERS: * We are families: some with children some without. All families deserve legal recognition. * We should be able to decide who we want to marry, not the State. * California currently recognizes all marriages legally performed elsewhere. Changing the law hurts married couples and their families, and would lead to confusion in the business world. If you're married in one state, you should be married in all of them. *Marriage law should never be based on prejudice, as it was against people of color and interracial marriages until just a few decades ago. OTHER ACTION ITEMS: E-MAIL "FAMILY" LIST: Become a Contact Point for LIFE's E-Mail Action Tree. We'll e-mail action items to you and them you send them on to family, friends, and co-workers. Keep up on the latest info and how you can help. . . To subscribe send a message to: lmcagaylob@aol.com ACTIVATE YOUR FRIENDS, CO-WORKERS AND FAMILY. Organize get-togethers, dinners, what-evers, for the purpose of writing letters. Help motivate those who care about you. Give them a chance to help. And let any "I-don't-do-politics" friends know that apathy ain't sexy.