Fighting for Same-Sex Marriage Rights
How San Francisco Jews Forged an Intra-faith Alliance
by Rachel Biale, Karen Erlichman, Lisa Finkelstein and Rebecca Weiner , December 5, 2008
http://www.jewcy.com/tags/prop_8In the summer of 2008, four Bay Area Jewish organizations allied to support the California Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling and to defeat a ballot proposition, Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage. In November 2008, Proposition 8 passed, by a narrow margin; the fight for same-sex marriage rights in the State of California continues. Despite the failure to beat back Prop 8, the intra-faith organizing effort of these Bay Area Jewish organizations was itself a success, offering a blueprint to the Jewish community for how we can come together around political and social issues of joint interest. This article was originally published in the Fall issue of Zeek's quarterly print magazine (subscribe here)--Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, Editor, Zeek
When the California Supreme Court issued its historic same-sex marriage ruling on May 15, 2008, a virtual "Kol haKavod!" cheer reverberated throughout Jewish LGBT communities around the country.
The community immediately began mobilizing and organizing. In the San Francisco Bay Area, staff and members from the LGBTQ-based Congregation Sha'ar Zahav started planning a visible queer, Jewish celebratory and social justice presence at City Hall.
