Behind the Scenes of Proposition 8: Sonja Eddings Brown

blogs (Brown was the Deputy Communications Director and spokesperson for the Proposition 8 Protect Marriage Campaign):

...In the past week, I was tasked to find a location in Los Angeles where Protect Marriage might be able to offer comment when the California Supreme Court handed down its decision on Proposition 8. This may surprise you, but the Protect Marriage campaign was not welcome anywhere in Los Angeles following last November 4th’s election. Perhaps this does not surprise you. Either out of fear, or fear of appearing supportive of our odd tradition of marriage, facilities like the Museum of Tolerance, The Bonaventure Hotel, City Hall, Marriott Hotels, Hilton Hotels, or any hotel would not welcome Protect Marriage for fear of retaliation or protests. We feared using these locations as well because of the great potential for sabatoge. Calling City Hall, for instance, was a dead end for a democratic cause like Protect Marriage. Not only did Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa support legalization of gay marriage, but also the entire Board of County of Supervisors and virtually
everyone in City and County government. How helpful do you believe City Hall would be in facilitating a Protect Marriage press conference? When the Office of City Permits was contacted to schedule an event, our calls were not returned, our requests ignored.

Fortunately, a principled owner of the elegant Santa Ann Doubletree Hotel felt differently, and that is why Los Angeles Protect Marriage press conferences, for safety reasons, and out of necessity, were held in Orange County. Security was necessary, police protection was required, but our work was completed.

Seven months later, the environment in Los Angeles this week remained the same. The Los Angeles Press Club, whose express mission is to host public press conferences, didn’t return our calls. Dialing hotels in the San Fernando Valley was equally fruitless. Two prominent hotels, which shall remain nameless, agreed to host us, and then later in the day delivered polite phone calls, declining. A hotel north of the San Fernando Valley actually had one member of its catering staff call and offer us any room of our choice, and another member of their catering staff call and state that unfortunately, nothing large enough was available to accommodate Protect
Marriage.

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Labels: California, culture, gay marriage, Proposition 8

posted by Imapp Staff at 12:24 PM VOTE

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