Taking Politics Personally - Peninsula Activists Collaborate to Defend Marriage Rights

ACLU-NC is fortunate to have thousands of members and supporters on the Peninsula, so much so that two active chapters – North Peninsula (North Pen) and Mid Peninsula (Mid Pen) – span the region, bordered by the Santa Clara Valley Chapter to the south. Increasingly, North Pen and Mid Pen chapter activists have stepped it up to work together in coordinated efforts, especially with regard to the NO on 8/Equality for All Campaign.

For Carol Cook and Susan Grieger, together for more than 15 years, their fierce commitment to NO on 8 is personal.

“Before I thought about marriage for myself, I recognized that marriage is a fundamental civil right and, shamefully, that denying that right to minorities to ‘keep them in their place’ is a time honored tradition in this country. The May 15 California Supreme Court decision went beyond giving marriage rights to gays and lesbians: it determined that any differential treatment of LGBT citizens under the law should be subject to the same strict scrutiny applied to gender, race, and religion. Taking away our right to marry will undermine this vital protection,” said Cook.

On June 19, 2008, Cook and Grieger were legally married, exactly four years after their June 2004 church wedding, which followed their February 2004 civil ceremony.

The women want their marriage to remain legal this time.

“It was hurtful,” Cook recalled, “to have our 2004 marriage nullified by the state.”

From August through the election, Cook and Grieger are participating in weekly No On 8 phone banks in San Francisco and San Mateo County. As the North Pen Chapter rep to the Peninsula NO On 8 Coalition, Cook helped host a large fundraising house party in Palo Alto, and she secured No On 8 endorsements from San Mateo County elected officials and community organizations.

Longtime ACLU supporter and Mid Pen Chapter leader Paul Gilbert also joined forces with the Peninsula NO On 8 Coalition.

“Now that the court has recognized that this right is fundamental and must include all of us, to run the risk of having it taken away is unthinkable,” said Gilbert.

Prior to joining together in coalition to defeat Proposition 8, Gilbert and Cook did not know each other. Now, Gilbert explained, it “will be easier to collaborate in the future on any issue that comes up.”

Emily Lehr-Anning, also a North Pen chapter leader, is actively involved in ballot measure campaigns, too. In addition to speaking to community groups about the propositions, she organized an inter-chapter tabling event at Foothill Community College’s Annual Political Awareness Day.

“I believe in building coalitions because I think it is an effective way to reach more people in the community,” said Lehr-Anning. “Expanding the web of people involved in a campaign and increasing the diversity within a coalition are both very important.”

A young leader, she added that “intergenerational collaboration is one of the key factors in successfully advocating for civil liberties and social change.”

No matter the results of Proposition 8 and the other measures that threaten civil liberties, the relationships among ACLU-NC activists that have developed during this campaign season will endure for many seasons to come.

Shayna Gelender is an ACLU-NC Field Organizer.