Dear [friends],

Tomorrow, one of the most important moments in the history of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, will unfold as the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the consolidated marriage case. The religious community is weighing in on both sides.  Working with California Faith for Equality, UULM-CA led the effort to file an interfaith amicus brief signed by over 400 clergy and religious organizations. The opposing religious brief was filed on behalf of the Mormon Church, CA Catholic Conference, National Association of Evangelicals, and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations. For an excellent article contrasting these two briefs, please see  “Churches Weigh In on Same-Sex Marriage” from today's San Francisco Chronicle. 

Following tomorrow's oral arguments, I will be representing the signers of our interfaith brief on a panel at the San Francisco City Library in the Korets Auditorium, 100 Larkin, from 2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Thanks to ALL of you who have done so much to make our religious values part of the public dialogue.

In the meantime, those who are afraid that the Supreme Court will rule that it is unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples access to marriage realize that the only recourse they will have is to actually amend the state constitution to make such anti-gay discrimination legal. Significant money has been raised to pay signature gatherers to qualify their anti-gay constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman for the Nov 2008 ballot. Is it a coincidence that the big money has arrived just in time to put a highly charged “wedge issue” on the ballot during a presidential election? Of course not.

I spent Sunday afternoon as part of a team in front of a local Walmart, politely talking to those going into the store to pledge to NOT sign the opposition's petitions. UUs across the state are stepping forward in significant ways (see article below). Please try to carve out some time to help during the next 45 days – it is a critical moment when some focused work could make a big difference and save us all a lot of time, money, and heartache in the fall!

Love will guide us….

Blessings,

Rev. Lindi Ramsden
UULM-CA Executive Director

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT

Landmark Marriage Cases to Be Heard Tomorrow
By Eric Alan Isaacson, Attorney and UU from First UU Church, San Diego

(The California Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the Marriage Cases March 4, from 9 a.m. until noon. The session will be televised on cable channels and available for later viewing on the Internet. For more information, see the UULM web site and the Judicial Council of California's News Release. Isaacson, representing UULM-CA, will be speaking tonight at a reception from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. at the UU Society of San Francisco - all are welcome.)

Thanks to an interfaith effort led by the UULM-CA and California Faith for Equality, religious voices calling for marriage equality are forcefully represented in the pending Marriage Cases, in which the California Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday morning. Among the voices calling for the court to grant the same right to marry to same-sex couples as mixed-sex couples is an interfaith group whose amicus curiae or  “friend of the court” brief was filed on behalf of the UUA, the United Church of Christ, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, California Faith for Equality, the California Council of Churches and other faith groups and clergy.  

That brief began nearly three years ago, when the board of trustees and ministers of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego to support the same-sex couples in the consolidated Marriage Cases that were then pending before Superior Court Judge Richard A. Kramer. Later the case, among a dozen others like it went to the California Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
Then, under the guidance of UULM’s Rev. Lindi Ramsden, the effort grew to represent other faith groups too – first in the California Court of Appeal and then in the California Supreme Court.
 The argument comes before the California Supreme Court roughly 60 years after its 1948 decision overturning California’s statutes outlawing mixed-race marriages.  By a narrow 4-3 vote, Perez v. Sharp rejected precedents upholding laws against interracial marriage, ruling that marriage is a fundamental civil right that the state cannot deny to mixed-race couples.

Since the couple in question was Catholic, it’s ironic that the California Catholic Conference stands against the right to marry in the now-pending marriage cases, having joined a brief filed by Ken Starr on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that asserts “virtually all faith communities” oppose recognizing same-sex marriages and warns the California Supreme Court not to issue a decision that would produce “deep tensions between civil and religious understandings of that institution. The interfaith filing led by UULM makes abundantly clear to the court that many faith communities in fact support the right of all persons to marry—regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, or ethnicity.

Whatever the Supreme Court decides in the same-sex marriage cases, the nature of the public discourse has been changed as people of faith speak out together to claim marriage as a civil right. The California Supreme Court typically issues decisions within 90 days after argument. 

ALL HANDS ON DECK

Seven Weeks to Stop Anti-Freedom to Marry Petitions

It's "all hands on deck" time for supporters of freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples! If we are successful during the next seven weeks in stopping the anti-same-sex marriage initiative from qualifying for the November 2008 ballot, we will save our community $19 million-- because we won't have to fight a ballot initiative.

"It's ironic that even as we are still hopeful the State Supreme Court could affirm the right of same-sex couples to marry, we know that that right could be almost immediately revoked if the opposition is successful in passing their "limts to marriage" ballot initiative this fall," said UULM Executive Director Rev. Lindi Ramsden. "We as UUs are called by our faith to stand on the side of equity and justice for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, " she said. "We must stand on the side of love."

Two UU Congregations have stepped up to provide meeting and office space for the campaign: Neighborhood Church in Pasadena and UU Church of Riverside. Also, Jan Garbosky, a UULM Marriage Team member from First Church, San Diego, is volunteering to lead the San Diego County congregations in "adopting" strategic shopping centers and stores where our consultants say there are larger numbers of "undecided" voters. Vivien Hao, UULM Communications/Community Outreach Director, is doing the same in LA County and Rev. Lindi Ramsden is helping to coordinate efforts in Sacramento County.

There are a total of six strategic areas throughout California where volunteers are needed to sign up for weeknight phonebanking and weekend petition gathering-- to witness to our supporters how important it is to keep government out of individuals' decision about whom they marry. If you can volunteer and better yet, get a team of folks from your congregation to do so, please contact the following:

Los Angeles County
Contact: Vivien Hao, vhao@uulmca.org, (626) 818-2900

Orange County
Contact: Sarah Scanlon sarah.scanlon@hrc.org, (202) 459-3298

Riverside County
Contact: Hannah Johnson, hmsjohnson@gmail.com, (920) 222-1878

San Diego County
Jan Garbosky, jgarbosky@cox.net, (619) 987-3346

Sacramento County
Rev. Lindi Ramsden, lramsden@uulmca.org, (916) 441-0018

Fresno/Visalia
Trina Olson, trina.olson@gmail.com (612) 718-0770 
 

 BOARD MEMBER PROFILE

Samantha Wilson: Young Person with Big Dreams
 
When a Muslim extremist's bomb killed 44 people just minutes from her university dorm room in southern India last year, Samantha Wilson didn't flinch. "I never considered leaving, because this is what I had come to experience-- to see the world through different eyes," said the 20-year member of the Riverside UU Church. It was only after she contracted malaria and was hospitalized for two weeks, that Samantha finally agreed to go home. Now, having recovered and settling in her junior year at UC Riverside, she looks back at her five months in India as the highlight of her life... so far.

Samantha has big dreams. She is majoring in global studies with an emphasis on religion and politics, and wants to help poor women escape the cycle of poverty and abuse by helping them become small businesspeople. This summer, she hopes to return to India to offer a leadership training camp she's developing for women entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, she is leading a campus-wide world benefit to raise money to educate people in Africa about malaria prevention and treatment. And she has joined the UULM-CA board-- as its youngest and perhaps most energetic member. 

"As a life-long UU, I was always drawn to the social justice in our faith, and I wanted to be involved with UULM because it's all about social change," said Samantha. These days, along with keeping up with classwork, she is also volunteering as the UC Riverside campus coordinator in the Stop the Petition campaign to keep the anti-same-sex marriage initiative from qualifying for the November ballot. "I understand what a critical opportunity this is for people of faith to step up and manifest our faith in action," she said.

It's evident, this young woman is all about action. "We are so fortunate to have such a go-getter as Samantha getting active immediately in the UULM Action Network's campaign to stop the anti-marriage petitions," said Rev. Lindi Ramsden, UULM and Action Network Executive Director. "I know she will be instrumental in our getting more youth and young adults involved in our social justice ministries."

Samantha's parents are Wendy and Steve Thornton, who are both long-time members of the Riverside UU Church.

UUs URGED TO CONTACT LEGISLATORS

Denti-Cal Cuts Would Hurt Needy, Says UU Dentist

A UU dentist and minister is warning that the Governor's proposal to cut dental benefits (called Denti-Cal) for Medi-Cal patients will cost taxpayers more in the long run, as well as result in suffering and possibly death of patients with untreated dental infections. Tom Lewis, a new UULM-CA board member and practicing dentist for 35 years, works at the Northern Valley Indian Health Clinic in Red Bluff, a remote, rural area in Northern California.

"I see patients weekly who have abscesses and other major dental problems that, if left untreated, could lead to serious illness or even death," he said. "We, as people of faith and conscience, need to let our leaders know that dental health is every bit as important as health in any other part of the body. The key to saving money and relieving suffering is to offer
preventative care and early treatment, not to deny it," he added.

Share your views with the your local state legislators about the importance of dental services for Medi-Cal patients.

Tom, who left dentistry for a few years to study for the ministry, served the Sierra Foothills UU Congregation in Auburn as parish minister in 2002-2004. He found UUism at the Humboldt UU Fellowship in Arcada and has been a member there for 25 years. He returned to the practice of  dentistry in 2005, and he says dentistry is his ministry. "Dental decay is the most widespread disease in the world, but many people still don't have access to care or an aversion to seeking treatment," he explained. "I see my ministry as one where I can show compassion and understanding, while providing a much-needed service to people who might otherwise not receive dental care."

UULM particpates with other faith communities in California to advocate for affordable, equitable universal health care policies, all of which include dental services as part of an overall health care package. Please save the date and plan to join with UULM and other faith communities from across the state at the Capitol on May 13th, to lift up our voices for a budget not balanced on the backs of the poor.

California UUs surveyed identified health care as the number one social justice challenge we face, with 6.7 million Californians having no medical insurance at least part of every year.

UULM will present three interactive, and informative workshops  UU Voices for Health Care, to help us better understand the history and current context of the health care crisis, and develop congregation based strategies to work for change. Please mark you calendars for  March 15, at UU Society of San Francisco, March 29 at UU Church of Marin and April 12 at the First UU Church Oakland. Register by contacting intern@uulmca.org.  

SIGN UP TODAY

New Water Justice Course Starts Thursday

CALENDAR

March 3, 7-8:30 p.m., Reception for Eric Isaacson, co-author of Interfaith Amicus Brief in the consolidated marriage case, First UU Society of SF, all welcome

March 4, 9 a.m.-noon CA Supreme Court hears oral arguments on marriage equality cases, San Francisco, followed by panel from 2-3:30 p.m. with Rev. Lindi Ramsden at SF Public Library, 100 Larkin, Koret Auditorium

March 6, 7-9 p.m. Water Justice Course, Neighborhood Church, Pasadena. Contact slawall@uuneighborhood.org

March 15, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. UU Voices for Health Care Workshop, First UU Society of San Francisco. Contact intern@uulmca.org

March 29, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. UU Voices for Health Care Workshop, UU Congregation of Marin. Contact intern@uulmca.org

April 12, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. UU Voices for Health Care Workshop, First Unitarian Church of Oakland. Contact intern@uulmca.org

May 13, Interfaith Coalition Lobby Day at the Capitol, Sacramento - join UUs and other people of faith to advocate for a moral budget

Aug. 2-10 Young Adult Climate/Water Justice California Road Tour                                      

To contribute to the UULM Action Network CA and/or the UULM-CA, please visit our Donation pages. UULM Action Network, CA (non-tax deductible) UULM-CA (Tax deductible, for educational purposes). Monthly donors are vital to our work, and one time donations are also gratefully received.