›› UPFRONT
Prop. 8 ‘standing’ at the altar Gay ‘I do’ foes can defend their ‘no you can’t’ stance, says state court by Ronnie Co he n
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hen Alexis Wright and Liz Fuller set their wedding date, they hoped the courts would allow them to marry with all the benefits that flow from legal matrimony. Last week, the California Supreme Court dimmed their dreams when it ruled that sponsors of the state’s same-sex marriage ban have the right to defend it in a federal appeals court. As a result, the 2008 voter initiative known as Proposition 8 likely will be on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court but will remain in effect beyond Wright and Fuller’s planned nuptials on March 24. “My church recognizes my marriage, my family recognizes my marriage, my friends and my school community recognize it, and I wish my state would,” said Wright, a 30year-old seminary student who works and worships at the Community Congregation Church in Tiburon. “In our heart, this is our wedding. The state can continue their fight as long as they want, but that doesn’t change the type of commitment we’re making.” In a unanimous, 61-page decision, California’s highest court said a coalition of religious groups that sponsored the gaymarriage ban has legal standing to defend the measure after a federal court judge found it violated the federal Constitution’s due-process and equal-protection clauses.
8 PACIFIC SUN NOVEMBER 25 – DECEMBER 1, 2011
Ordinarily, the governor and attorney general defend legal challenges to ballot propositions. But the elected officials have refused to make a case for Proposition 8 because they believe it is unconstitutional. Opponents of gay marriage lauded last week’s decision. “We are delighted that the Supreme Court has clearly reaffirmed our right, as the official proponents of Prop. 8, to defend over 7 million Californians who amended their own state constitution to restore traditional marriage,” said Andrew Pugno, attorney for ProtectMarriage.com. “This ruling is a huge disaster for the homosexual marriage extremists.” In no way do Wright and Fuller see themselves as extremists. They describe themselves as a boring pair who enjoying nesting, going out for coffee and shopping at the farmers’ market. “We’re just a loving, committed couple who want to spent their lives together and, God willing, have children some day too,” Wright said. Attorneys for an Oakland lesbian couple and a Los Angeles gay couple who sued in federal court for the right to marry said they were happy the case had returned to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from its detour in the state Supreme Court. David Boies and Ted Olson, the liberal and conservative lawyers who squared off 10 >
›› NEWSGRAMS
by Jason Walsh
Marin Arts Council dropping Marin Open Studios? A group saying it represents the Marin Open Studios, long the flagship event of the Marin Arts Council, said this week that the countywide art show will no longer be run by its financially strapped parent organization. In a press release issued Nov.22, the newly formed Marin Open Studios Reorganization Committee said,“Marin Open Studios is no longer a program of Marin Arts Council,” and announced a Dec. 7 meeting at the Arts Council offices in San Rafael to brainstorm ideas to save the 19th incarnation of the Open Studios, currently slated for May 2012. “First we want to let [supporters] know that all MOS 2012 registration deposits paid to date are being refunded,” continued the press statement.“At this time, uncertainty exists as to whether the event will occur, so it is prudent to return all deposits.” Committee officials are predicting standing room only for the save-the-open-studios meeting, which is a good thing since,“due to lack of funds,” officials say,“there will be no chairs to sit on.” Marin Open Studios is one of the county’s premier art events—featuring as many as 275 artists from across Marin who each pay between $220 and $375 to take part. Last May’s open studios drew 50,000 visitors. Calls to Marin Arts Council board president Peter Friend were not returned as of press time, but the Arts Council did release a press statement that describes Marin Open Studios’ fate, though not its association with the Arts Council, as “in question.” Kay Carlson, co-founder of MOS in 1994 and current Arts Council board member, says the county art community must “step up” to save the open studios. “For Open Studios 2012 to happen,” says Carlson,“we will need the support of every Marin artist, art lover and business. The arts are a significant economic engine in Marin. For every dollar spent on the arts, four more dollars are spent in Marin. We will be reaching out for help in the form of financial support, in-kind donations and volunteerism.” Recessionary strains on the Arts Council—as well as a membership drop over the past two years from nearly 1,000 to just over 500—have crippled the group; in October, its new board of directors cut the executive director position in a budgetary move. (Former director Argo Thompson was subsequently hired earlier this month as development director at 142 Throckmorton Theatre.) Also on Tuesday, the Arts Council announced it was no longer accepting memberships to the organization. The council has estimated about 500 members pay between $25 and $150 to belong. MAC officials say some current programs are being referred to other nonprofit organizations in the hope that they can continue, including the TeamWorks art classes for at-risk youth and the Marin Poet Laureate program. Marin Open Studios was not mentioned among the programs up for grabs. In a statement to supporters meant to offer a “frank assessment of ‘what’s actually happening’” at the council, Arts Council officials likened its board members to C.B. Sullenberger, the pilot who became a national hero in 2009 when he safely landed a U.S. Airways flight and its 155 passengers on the Hudson River after the plane became disabled upon striking a flock of geese after takeoff. “A bit like Sully Sullenberger at the controls of a failing craft, MAC’s new board is faced 10 > with a tough choice of trying to get the engines firing again or guiding MAC to the