Civil rights groups: Prop 8 threatens the rights of people of color

by Michael Jones · 2008-11-14 18:28:00 UTC
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no on 8Wow. Check out this quote from Eva Paterson, president of the Equal Justice Society.

"If the Supreme Court allows Proposition 8 to take effect, it would represent a threat to the rights of people of color and all minorities."

The quote addresses a petition filed by a number of civil rights groups today, urging the California Supreme Court to stop the enactment of Proposition 8.  The petition says that not only did Proposition 8 circumvent the legal process for revising a state Constitution, but that by eliminating the right of marriage for a particular minority group, Prop 8 mandates discrimination.

The petition was filed by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Equal Justice Society, California NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.  After the jump, we'll include quotes from representatives from each organization.

This is great to see.  Despite efforts by conservative media to show a divide between civil rights groups, people of color groups and LGBT rights groups, there's common ground here for everyone to come together and support marriage equality.

Eva Patterson, President, Equal Justice Society: "We would be making a grave mistake to view Proposition 8 as just affecting the LGBT community.  If the Supreme Court allows Proposition 8 to take effect, it would represent a threat to the rights of people of color and all minorities....Let's not forget the landmark 1967 case of Loving v. Virginia, which allowed two people of different races to marry.  People then believed it was acceptable to keep Mildred Loving from marrying a white man because of their ideas of who should marry whom. We must not return to those times."

John Trasviña, President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund: "Proposition 8 contradicts the most basic protection guaranteed by the California Constitution, which is the right to equal protection of the laws.  We can not allow the Constitution to sanction discrimination against one group of people."

John A. Payton, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund: "Direct democracy cannot override the California Constitution, which requires more than a majority vote to deprive a minority group of their fundamental rights."

Alice A. Huffman, president of the California State NAACP: "We cannot become a society that picks and chooses who is entitled to equal rights.  We should include all people from all walks of life in the entitlement to all freedoms now enjoyed by the majority of our population As a civil rights advocate, we will continue the fight of eliminating roadblocks to freedom."

Karin Wang, Vice-President of Programs for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center: "Consistent with core equal protection principles, minority communities must not be stripped of their fundamental rights by bare majority rule.  California went down this path before when the majority population chose to bar interracial marriages involving an unpopular minority: Asian immigrants. The state Constitution exists exactly for this reason - to protect the fundamental rights of minority communities."

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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