Equality Lost: Same-sex Marriage is a Civil Rights Issue of the 21st Century
The elections are over, but for many couples the battle has just begun.
It's been a painful few weeks for Tim Ky and his husband Larry Riesenbach. After California voters reinstated the ban on same-sex marriages, their six-year-old son Aaron asked, "Will you pretend you're not gay?"
"No," Tim responded. "We need to live proudly."
And so the small family from South Pasadena is maintaining a brave front despite their heartbreak. Because long after the new U.S. president takes office and campaign workers return to their normal lives, Tim and Larry need to fight on towards an uncertain future.
To illustrate their cause, Aaron's colorful crayon artwork urging people to vote "no" on Proposition 8 still hangs in the front window of their home.
For them and many other same-sex couples, Nov. 4 marked both a major milestone in the fight for equality with the election of the nation's first African American president and a major setback with the passage of Proposition 8 in California and similar constitutional bans in Arizona and Florida.
"It was such a bittersweet moment," said Tim, who is first generation Chinese American. After over 11 years of dating and domestic partnership, Tim and Larry legally married June 17 in a small West Hollywood ceremony.
For the first time, he was able to call Larry his husband. No matter what happens, Tim says he'll never stop.
"He is my husband."
But with their marriage status in limbo, what happens now? Across the U.S., rallies and vigils continue to take place like spontaneous outbursts of emotions. Lawsuits have been filed and a child's political artwork continues to stay up like an act of defiance when all other campaign signs have been taken down.
It's a fight for equality that cuts across all racial and socioeconomic borders, and many say it has only just begun.
"I believe that same-sex marriage will be one of the key civil rights issues of the 21st century," said Ted Namba, civil rights chair of the Arizona JACL.
APAs in the Divide
"About 400,000 votes divided us," said Jennifer Pizer about the difference between the "no" and "yes" votes on Proposition 8. "We came close. We fell short and that is heartbreaking."
Despite the defeat, the senior counsel for Lambda Legal - a national legal organization that advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community - says she sees this measure as an example of steady progress. In 2000 Proposition 22, a similar measure to ban gay marriage in California, passed with a higher percentage.
"I see the celebration of love and marriage over the past five 
months as providing a positive education to the rest of the country," said Pizer.
In May, the Calif. Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage led to as many as 18,000 such marriages. Because of Proposition 8, these unions may be challenged in court.
But gay rights advocates say at the very least people are talking about marriage equality.
"It's hard to find someone in California who doesn't know about Prop. 8," said Karin Wang, vice president of programs for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC).
About 54 percent of APA voters surveyed by APALC in L.A. County supported Prop. 8, said Wang. Young APAs - between the ages of 18 to 35 - and fluent English speakers strongly opposed the measure. The challenge was with the higher population of first generation APAs, which anti-gay marriage groups targeted with high concentrations of in-language media ads.
The lesson here is that younger people are good on this issue, said Wang. "They get it. That's the silver lining. It's just a matter of time before justice will prevail."
On Nov. 14, civil rights groups including APALC filed a petition with the Calif. Supreme Court to stop the enactment of Proposition 8 on the grounds that, among other things, it would mandate discrimination against a minority group.
The court has invalidated a voter initiative before, according to APALC. In 1990, it overruled an initiative that would have stripped the courts of their role as independent interpreters of the state's constitution.
"Should it be so simple to take away rights from a minority with a popular vote?" said Wang, who cited antimiscegenation laws as examples of a majority population discriminating against another minority group - APAs.
The last of the antimiscegenation laws was overturned with Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 landmark case, for which then civil rights advocate William M. Marutani argued the cause for the JACL by special leave of the court.
"To me, Prop. 8 is an attempt to marginalize people based on who they are not what they've done," said Rev. Mark Nakagawa of the Centenary United Methodist Church in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. "It's consistent with all other race-based laws made to exclude someone."
Beyond California
In the fight for marriage equality, most of the resources came to California even though two other states had similar constitutional bans on their Nov. 4 ballots.
"We really wanted to win here," said Wang.
Arizona's Proposition 102, which bans same-sex marriage, passed and drew the most votes of all the state ballot measures.
"I believe that generally Arizona APAs support same-sex marriage," said Namba, whose 19-year-old daughter Lauren voted for the first time in the recent elections and contributed to the growing strength of the state's APA and youth vote.
"Many APAs understand that it was not that long ago that APAs were not allowed to marry who they wanted because of the color of their skin. For this reason, many APAs tend to fight for the rights of others," said Namba, who also pointed out that the city of Tempe, which has a large student population was strongly opposed to Proposition 102.
"Perhaps our younger voters have the correct vision on this same-sex marriage issue?"
In Florida where Amendment 1, a constitutional change that would have struck the anti-Asian Alien Land Law from the books, failed to get the 60 percent benchmark to pass. But Amendment 2, barring same-sex marriage, passed.
And in Arkansas, voters passed a measure aimed at barring gay couples from adopting.
"I see that coming down the pipe. It's a sad, sad thing," said Tim.
"And whose rights are next up on the ballot?" said Larry.
Moving Forward
After the elections, controversial exit polls showed that African Americans and Latinos strongly supported Proposition 8. But many gay rights proponents say these polls are not always accurate.
"It's too easy to find a scapegoat," said Wang.
Many like Tim and Larry, are trying to put their anger aside and work on broadening coalitions. They told their son Aaron that the civil rights movement took many steps forward and backwards. And now Barack Obama is president-elect.
"Our side also needs to do a much more effective job of communicating that this is about civil marriage and nothing else," said Riesenbach.
Henry Kameya, whose daughter is gay, agrees.
"Sexual orientation is not a choice," said the San Fernando Valley JACL chapter member. "As long as we are aware that some Asian Pacific Islander gays contemplate suicide because they lose hope of being understood by the API community, we feel a sense of urgency in our advocacy work."
Reports of churches overwhelmingly supporting a gay marriage ban don't show the full picture either. Shortly before the elections, APA religious leaders held a press conference in Little Tokyo to express support for same-sex marriage. Among them was Nakagawa, a Sansei.
"The Bible does not end with the last page of the book," said Nakagawa, about the strand of theology that says people have to continually be open to God's revelations to the world.
"You can read the Bible literally or seriously. I choose to read it seriously," he said.
He recently officiated a same-sex wedding between two Sansei women. It was the same type of ceremony as all of the other weddings he has performed except for a few changes of words here and there. What surprised him was the outpouring of support from community members. About 200 people were there to celebrate love.
"There would've been more if they could've fit."
JACL to Continue to Press for Marriage Equality
Following passage of Proposition 8 in California, the JACL has joined with other civil rights groups to submit an amicus brief in support of the Petition for Writ Mandate in the case of Strauss, et al v. Horton, et al.
The Writ requests that the Calif. Supreme Court issue an order invalidating Proposition 8 in its entirety.
As an amici, JACL supports the petitioners' claim that no Californian should be denied equal protection.
"The JACL supports the invalidation of Proposition 8 because it effectively eliminates the protections of the state's Equal Protection Clause for same-sex couples with regards to their fundamental right to marry," said JACL National President Larry Oda.
Proposition 8, which passed in the Nov. 4 elections, would change the state constitution to identify "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
In the past, JACL has been a strong supporter of marriage equality. In 1967, the JACL was an amici in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Loving v. Virginia, the seminal case that struck down antimiscegenation laws in 17 states.
"We have not forgotten that as Asian Americans, we, too, were once the victims of marriage discrimination in this country. Racism was the motivating factor back then, and it is incumbent upon us to be vigilant and not allow homophobia to guide our laws today," said Oda.
The passage of Proposition 8 overruled portions of the In re Marriage Cases where the Calif. Supreme Court held that statutes precluding same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.
The JACL, in 1994, was one of the first civil rights groups in the nation to affirm its support for marriage equality. The organization stated in a resolution that marriage equality "was a constitutional right that should not be denied because of a person's sexual orientation."
"The JACL has always worked for maintaining the Equal Protection Clause of the constitution," said JACL National Director Floyd Mori. "Any union of a couple that is based on love, mutual respect, sacrifice, and lifetime commitment should be afforded the same legal rights and process regardless of what the union is called by institutions within our society."
"Who one chooses to love and marry should be an individual and personal choice, not one limited by illegal and discriminatory laws," said Ron Katsuyama, JACL vice president for public affairs.
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