RENWL

This just in from California Chronicle:

SAN DIEGO – “The time to intervene in this case is over,” said Molly McKay, Marriage Equality USA’s Media Director. “We are disappointed in the supervisors´ judgment and the way this secret vote was taken without a public hearing process. The counties stand to lose revenue if Proposition 8 stands and there is no county-based interest in supporting Proposition 8 other than prejudice and bias.”

On Tuesday, December 15, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors without public notice voted 3-2 to intervene in a Federal Court challenge to California’s Proposition 8. According to the ACLU, “the Supervisors treated the item as an ‘emergency exception,’ but their petition to the court…shows the Board members have been discussing the issue for weeks.” The ACLU is investigating any possible Brown Act violations.’

But the Imperial County Board of Supervisors are asking to intervene in opposition to the interests of supporting County revenues. Instead as reported by the ivpressonline.com, Board of Supervisors Chairman Wally Leimgruber suggests that the Board is acting in the interest of the more than 69% of country voters who supported Proposition 8, to “uphold what they voted on.”

Fernando Lopez, Jr, MEUSA National Board Member and Imperial County native doubts that 69% of voters still support Proposition 8, “Having grown up in Imperial County and visiting my friends and neighbors there post-Proposition 8. I have witnessed an ongoing change of hearts towards supporting marriage equality. If the Board of Supervisors truly wanted to support the will of the people of Imperial County, this decision would have been made in the light of day, with a fair and open process – not in a secret agenda item. It is clear that the public was not informed that this decision was pending, or given an opportunity to voice concerns about the issue.”

MEUSA members in Imperial County plan to bring their concerns to the next open Board of Supervisors´ meeting, currently scheduled for January 5th at 10:30am. Until that date, MEUSA is encouraging community members, particularly those living in Imperial County, to contact the Board of Supervisors and express their discontent with this vote and with the Board’s effort to circumvent the democratic process by providing no public notice and allowing no public debate. You can call and thank Supervisors Michael Kelley at (760) 482-4308 and Gary Wyatt at (760) 482-4613 for voting against intervening in this case. You can also call to respectfully register your disappointment and ask for reconsideration and public input on this decision from Supervisors Louis Fuentes at (760) 482-4309, Jack Terrazas at (760) 482-4306, and Wally Leimgruber at (760) 482-4305 for voting to intervene in this case.

“I am outraged that the local elected officials paid with my tax dollars have secretly voted to attack our families with this mean-spirited intervention in co-hoots with anti-gay organizations,” said Fernando Lopez, Sr. Imperial County resident and father to MEUSA´ s Fernando Lopez. “I plan to make them accountable for the misuse of our resources; there is no reason our county should be involved in this case.”

Founded in 1998, Marriage Equality USA is a national grassroots organization whose mission is to secure legally recognized civil marriage equality for all, at the federal and state level, without regard to gender identity or sexual orientation. For more information, go to www.marriageequality.org

~California Chronicle