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GAY SAN DIEGO


August 13-August 26, 2010 MOMENTS IN TIME


Lambda Archives of San Diego


—with— The Knight stuff By Pat Sherman | GSD Editor


Gay and lesbian couples in the Golden State sustained their first major defeat in the fight for marriage equality on March 7, 2000, when Proposition 22 was ap- proved by more than 61 percent of California voters. The antigay bal- lot measure—informally referred to as the “Knight initiative”— was named for its author, state Senator William “Pete” Knight (R-Palm- dale), a former combat pilot and astronaut. It slipped 14 cumber- some words into the Family Code of the California Constitution: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recog- nized in California.” Prop. 22 followed on the heels of similar legislation sprouting up across the country, which sought to prohibit recognition of same- sex marriages performed in other states, such as Hawaii and Alaska, which had begun toying with the idea. A pervasive panic at the thought of two-bride cake-toppers


spurred legislators to begin grap- pling with the issue as a way to avoid honoring same-sex marriag- es performed across state lines. In response, local Prop. 8 opponents established a “No on Knight” campaign office above Bourbon Street bar, the space for which was donated by former Bourbon Street owners Tom Felkner and Bob Lehman (who in 2008, while gay marriage was legal in California, became the first same-sex couple to legally wed in San Diego). Though opposition to the


Knight initiative’s anti-marriage successor, Proposition 8, has been immense and organized, getting LGBT Californians to fight Knight in late 1999 and early 2000 was a much harder sell, recalled Barbara Cox, a professor at California Western School of Law who served on the “No on Knight” steering committee. “People were not quite yet engaged,” Cox said. “You could tell just by the number of


HISTORY


March 7, 2000 On the radio:


Jamiroquai’s “Supersonic”; Foo Fighters’ “Learn to Fly”


In the Oval Office: William Jefferson Clinton Cruising altitude:


The national unemployment rate is below 4.1 percent; by the end of the month it will make its descent to a 30-year low of less than 4 percent.


volunteers and people who were doing things.” At a time before activists had access to high-tech tools such as Facebook, YouTube, text messaging and the blogosphere, Prop. 22 opponents spread their message the old-fashioned way—walking door-to-door and making cold calls to a largely uniformed populace. Nightly phone banks were established at local labor union headquarters and at the LGBT Community Center. The Prop. 22 proponents’


strategy was to convince the public that if the measure failed, gay marriage would become legal in California. However, gay mar- riages were already prohibited under state law—something the measure would not change. Educating the public on


the measure’s true intent was


www.gay-sd.com


Former U.S. Air Force test pilot and astronaut William J. “Pete” Knight made a crash landing in the annals of LGBT history when, as a state Senator, he authored the first legislation in California banning same-sex marriage. Knight, who died four years later, had a gay son with whom he never reconciled.


Kehoe and her colleagues for not voicing their opposition as private citizens. Dick Murphy, a former superior court judge who replaced Golding as mayor later that year, publically praised the Knight initiative as a defense of “traditional marriage.” Cox, who was part of a team that met at length with the San Diego Union-Tribune’s editorial board, cites the paper’s ultimate stand against Prop. 22 as a major victory.


it motivated me.” Though voters approved Prop.


22, the effort to defeat it turned an attack into an opportunity, build- ing an infrastructure of LGBT and allied activists throughout the state, many of whom moved on to join the fight against Proposition 8 (including a groundswell of sup- portive teens who were not yet of voting age).


“I think it was a spark,”


Livingston-Coatney said. “We weren’t motivated, and that started it. I think people finally realized that your rights aren’t God-given; they have to be fought for and you have to keep vigilant.” On May 15, 2008, the California


Supreme Court ruled that Proposition 22 violated the state Constitution, rendering it invalid. Pete Knight was diagnosed


with leukemia, and died on May 7, 2004. The sad irony of his legacy is that he had both a gay brother (who died of AIDS-relat- ed complications in 1996), as well as a gay son.


Knight’s son, David, who now (Courtesy Lambda Archives flat files)


an uphill battle, recalled Paige Livingston-Coatney, an assistant with the local “No on Knight” campaign.


“I encountered people who


didn’t even know what the proposition was, or the current laws on the books,” Livingston- Coatney said. Though San Diego’s efforts


to block the initiative were among the strongest in the state, in the end the group with the most money—religious conservatives—won out, raising about $5 million to the “No on Knight” campaign’s $3.5 million. However, the “No on Knight”


campaign was not without its victories. Four Republican mayoral candidates, including current San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts, publically opposed the initiative. The San Diego City Council, on which current state Sen. Christine Kehoe then served, voted 7-2 to oppose the measure. Though Republican Mayor Susan Golding sided with the council majority, she chastised


“This was late 1999, and they


were very much headed toward endorsing 22,” Cox said. “For them to come out against it was really a very courageous step to take, given the more conservative nature of San Diego County.” In its editorial, the Union-


Tribune referred to the initiative as “divisive and punitive.” “The attack on the sanctity


of marriage that Proposition 22 supporters envision simply doesn’t exist,” the paper stated. “We believe this is largely an antigay referendum.” As a student of history,


Livingston-Coatney said she was doubtful that LGBT Californians would prevail, based on citizens’ record of voting against civil rights. However, there were mo- ments when polls showed opposi- tion to the measure growing, with only 50 percent of voters support- ing it at one point. “We were at a threshold


where it actually looked win- able, and I think that motivated a lot of people in the campaign,” Livingston-Coatney said. “I know


resides in Maryland with his part- ner, told the Bay Area Reporter in 2008 that he never knew what motivated his father to author the legislation. “I wish I could answer that but I don’t know,” he said. “Ever since I came out to him we didn’t have a relationship.”


David Knight’s attempts to


reconcile with his father were never successful. Following his death, Pete Knight’s widow went on to lend her support to the Prop. 8 campaign.


Paige Livingston-Coatney (left) and wife ShawnaMarie Livingston-Coat- ney married in 1988 in Reno, Ne- vada and again on Aug. 8, 2008 in Pasadena California. Paige served as an assistant to the local “No on Knight” campaign in 2000.


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