My spouse and I have been attending meetings of [1] Love Honor Cherish, a grass-roots group in the Los Angeles area that sprang up before Proposition 8, in order to promote gay marriage. Men and women (although not enough women), straight, lesbian and gay (although not enough straight) are working from two basic premises: we are openly gay and we are openly pro-marriage.

Part of [2] LHC’s work is crafted in response to the sanitized ad campaign which our side used to fight Proposition 8 on television. Did you see all the happy gay and lesbian couples portrayed in wedding outfits, or in their homes and with their families? Me neither.

It will be a struggle, and [1] Love Honor Cherish is ahead of some other grass roots groups in preparing for D-Day — the day the Supreme Court of California will come down with its decision.

All the commentators are thinking the court is leaning toward upholding the proposition as passed on November 4 by a 52 to 48% margin. After all, the people have a right to draft policy and stuff it into the state constitution, even if it is horribly bad and cynically slanted toward taking away the rights of any minority.

Or not. We shall see when the Court speaks. Commentators are also pretty certain that the estimated 18,000+ marriages which were legally entered into between June and November will be left intact. Those of us who married our partners in that four month window will become artifacts, museum pieces of a struggle for rights that won, and then lost.

At issue is whether or not the people can justly narrow, shrink rights once granted. We sat through the hours of oral “arguments” in early March, and watched each attorney pretty much fail to make his or her case because the Justices interrupted them almost from the first sentence. Those of us watching almost forgot that the Justices, and the Other Side had already had ample opportunity to reach all the written arguments. Our side had submitted piles of amici briefs to support the view that no one can take away basic rights without in fact making a constitutional revision, not a simple amendment, so Proposition 8, they argued, should be consider invalid procedurally.

D-Day will come, and people will demonstrate and shout on both sides, no matter which way the court comes down. A lot of grass roots organizations will re-mobilize overnight (see my longer list of them at [4] www.NoOn8Church.org/links.html. But the basic mission of Love Honor Cherish is simple: We will have to fight for our rights, not sit and wait for them to be given to us. There will be struggle ahead, and most bets are that it means another expensive ballot box measure to repeal Proposition 8, as early as November 2010. The same ballot on which we will elect a governor to replace that actor we’ve had playing the part. (Why do California voters always want to get in bed with B actors?)

Mike Roth, of [5] Love Honor Cherish stated the mission pretty strongly but transparently a couple of weeks ago:

Equal Rights: Don’t wait for them. Fight for them.

The California Constitution had always existed to protect the rights of everyone until it was undermined by Prop 8. Now it explicitly discriminates against just one group of Californians.We have been waiting for the California Supreme Court to right that wrong by overturning Prop 8. If they fail to do so, then we will not wait any longer. It will be time for We The People to repeal Prop 8 at the ballot box in November 2010.

From this day forth: we fight for our rights. We don’t wait for them.

— Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

Also see:

• [6] Our [Next] Day in Court: March 5, 2009
• [7] A courageous Voice, a Costly Sacrifice : March 4, 2009
• [8] The validity of love and the authority of the state : October 2, 2008