For Immediate Release                                                                                               
November 6, 2008                                                                 

Contact:  Steve Ralls
(202) 467-8180, ext. 214 / sralls@pflag.org

PFLAG Statement on California’s Proposition 8 Vote
“Families Are Defined by a Love, and Commitment,
That Is Beyond the Barriers of a Ballot”

Washington, DC – Jody M. Huckaby, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), released the following statement today, following news that California voters have approved Proposition 8, a measure to roll back marriage equality in the nation’s most populous state:

“While our families have encountered a heartbreaking obstacle on the road to full equality in California, the broad coalition of Americans who support fundamental rights for everyone will continue to work towards a day when the dignity of every American is respected.  Families are defined by a love, and a commitment, that is beyond the barriers of a ballot.  No struggle for equality is won easily, and great strides do not come without great strife.  They also, however, require the great strength necessary to push forward in the wake of disappointment and persevere in the face of pain.

“On Tuesday, millions of Californians stood with our families and valiantly tried to beat back a mean-spirited, un-American attack on LGBT people.  While we fell short of the majority we needed to prevail, each time the public has addressed this issue, those who stand with us grow in number.  A decade ago, it would have been unthinkable that so many people would have endorsed marriage equality at the ballot box.  If we continue the critical work we began this year, it will be unthinkable, a decade from now, that anyone would not.

“All of us at PFLAG remain committed to securing the rights our families and loved ones deserve.  With a new Administration and new Congress in Washington, there are many reasons to believe that we will soon prevail.  As Dr. King to eloquently reminded us, ‘[T]he arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’  On Tuesday, millions of Californians tilted that arc a little bit closer to liberty, and we must now commit ourselves to finding the strength we need to finish the work they have begun.”

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PFLAG promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity.