Washington Blade - September 19, 2003
Joe Crea

The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force is intensifying its efforts to help defeat the Racial Privacy Initiative, also known as Proposition 54, which would forbid the state and local governments of California from classifying "any individual by race, ethnicity, color or national origin in the operation of public education, public contracting or public employment."

The measure would narrowly allow for some racial classifications by law enforcement and health officials.

NGLTF's involvement in the California battle marks another effort by the group to extend its activism beyond gay-specific causes. Earlier this year, under the leadership of former Executive Director Lorri Jean, the Task Force joined with a number of other gay rights groups in opposing war in Iraq. But that effort primarily involved making public statements; the California fight involves the investment of resources, according to the group.

Sheri Lunn, communications director for NGLTF, defended the group's involvement and said that funds and resources are not being diverted from other NGLTF programs.

"We are still in Cleveland Heights and Cincinnati," Lunn said. "We decided to come out to California to help build coalitions and also raise awareness to gays and lesbians of color."

Lunn said that NGLTF recently led five voter identification canvasses in Southern California and has trained volunteers for door-to-door voter education efforts. She said this was important in helping to bridge coalitions and create future gay allies.

Effect on HIV fight?

Seth Kilbourn, the national field director for the Human Rights Campaign, said that HRC does not have an official statement on Prop. 54 but said that he is "gravely concerned" about the measure's impact on the ability of the state of California to track and monitor diseases, particularly HIV and AIDS in various communities.

Elena Stern, a spokesperson for the Coalition for an Informed California, a group seeking to defeat the initiative, said that the exemptions in the measure for law and health officials are extremely limited and narrow. She added that the medical exemption specifically exempts medical research and patients but not birth and death certificates, cancer registries or university studies.

Stern said that should Prop. 54 pass, the state would no longer be able to identify and understand the occurrence of HIV and AIDS in people of color and that other prevention programs and outreach efforts for a wide range of diseases would cease to exist.

"It's like throwing out the baby with the bath water," Stern said. "You can pretend race doesn't exist and that diseases don't target individuals and races differently, but the sad truth is that disease does discriminate. We know that certain people get diabetes more than others. Black women die of breast cancer at much higher rates. We know this today because we have had access to the information. We are making progress. Without that information, progress comes to a screeching halt."

Equality California, a gay rights group, has come out strongly against Prop. 54 and is participating in the statewide coalition leading the effort to defeat Prop. 54, said Toni Broaddus, the group's program director.

Proponents argue that the measure would save the state $10 million, end government's preferential treatment based on race and "signal America's first step towards a color-blind society."

University of California Regent Ward Connerly, who in 1995 chaired the California Civil Rights Initiative (Proposition 209) campaign, which effectively ended an affirmative action program in California, is the main architect behind Prop. 54.

California gubernatorial candidates Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante both voiced their opposition to the measure.

Dave Fleischer, director of organizing and training for the NGLTF, said in a news release that Prop. 54 is authored "by the same folks who are anti-immigrant, anti-youth, anti-gay and anti-choice, and by organizing against Prop. 54, the Task Force will build a base of progressive, anti-racist voters who will not only stand up against Prop. 54 but against other attacks against other marginalized people in the future, including LGBT people.

MORE INFO

National Gay & Lesbian Task Force

1325 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 600

Washington, D.C. 20005

202-393-5177

www.ngltf.org

030919
WB030910

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