Most of you will not be surprised that I am strongly opposed to the efforts by the right wing in California to repeal the California Supreme Court ruling legalizing marriage in that state. Proposition 8 was placed on the ballot by the opponents of marriage. Without a doubt, defeating this initiative is one of the most important battles in the recent history of the LGBT community. We must defeat Proposition 8.

As a veteran of two statewide successful campaigns to defeat discriminatory initiatives, I know we can   learn some lessons from the past. I worked closely with Mike Levitt, Don Bradley, Peter Scott, Harvey Milk, Ivy Bottini and thousands of others to defeat the Briggs Initiative ( No on Six) exactly 30 years ago. If passed, that law would have make it illegal for school teachers who are gay or lesbian to teach in California schools. When we started working against it, the anti-gay forces were leading two to one. In the end, we defeated it with 54% of the vote, carrying most every county in California. As a bonus, its failure put an end to the "Sherman-like March to the Sea Campaign" of Anita Bryant. The other initiative was the Lyndon LaRouche (No on 64) effort to quarantine people with HIV/AIDS in 1986. Again, initially the measure was leading in the polls but under the leadership of Torie Osborn and her great team, that initiative also was turned around and defeated.

These successful battles both had a lot in common. They were unified, practiced great discipline and stayed on message. The various communities were incredible in responding to the unified campaign and with some minor exceptions followed the lead of the campaign team. They avoided needless 'feel good' demonstrations which only alienated citizens, they avoided giving massive amounts of money to fringe efforts and they found the message that resonated with the voters instead of making us feel good! There was a unified discipline that was impressive and eventually victorious.

Passions run high in a campaign when we all have so much at stake. Often we wish this would be done or that be done. We become impatient or angry at our foes. A campaign is about discipline and stamina; not about expressing our anger or superficially validating ourselves. The other side understands this and is pouring money into the state.

What we need to do is raise money of our own -- and lots of it. So far we have passed the two million dollar mark but that is nowhere near enough. Each and every one of us must immediately send checks or give on the Internet. We must demand that our straight friends, people in the entertainment industry and those companies who make money off us step up to the plate and give huge contributions. We should educate with emails, in-home parties and in -person pleas to our family and friends clearly deliniating what is at stake in this election.

Amazingly, this time, we are the ones leading in the polls. What a wonderful place to start and we can't afford to be complacent. If we lose in California, it will be a huge setback to marriage equality around the country. If we win in California, it will create doubt forever in politicians' minds that opposing marriage is a winning strategy and we will be well on our way to marriage equality.

The battle is now. We can win but only if we use every contact, send in every dollar we can afford, contact family and friends and fight like hell.

NO ON 8!