G oodnight , K night
Lesbian lawmaker predicts the demise of a California anti-gay
initiative sponsored by GOP state Sen. Pete Knight by Rex Wockner
he state ballot initiative to ban
same-sex marriage will fail on
March 7, says openly lesbian state
Assemblywoman Sheila James
Kuehl, D-Santa Monica.
Kuehl was in San Diego Jan. 22 to raise
money tor her state Senate campaign. (Term
limits prevent her from running for the Assem­
bly again.)
“I think we’re going to defeat the Knight ini­
tiative,” Kuehl said at the fund-raiser. “There’s
been great organizing in northern and southern
California. The most promising thing is that the
more that people know about it, in polling or in
long sort of question interviews, the less likely
they are to support it. So that tells us that if we
PHOTO BY REX
lars in and there’s only six weeks left till the
election, and it’s very important. And that’s
what it takes. It takes money to buy advertising,
do mailers and send out tapes for house parties.”
Several measures long sought by lesbian and
gay activists passed the California Legislature in
1999— including a domestic partnership regis­
tration plan, a beefed-up statewide ban on sexu­
al orientation discrimination, and a ban on anti­
gay discrimination in schools—but Kuehl says
there’s still plenty to do.
“There will be some interest in increasing
the number of benefits that you gain by register­
ing as a domestic partner,” she says. “There will
be some attention still paid to AIDS research
and treatment funding. I think we’ll need to
look at whether we need to
do something to imple­
ment both AB 1001 (the
housing and employment
rights law] and AB 537 [the
school discrimination ban].
They have to issue regula­
tions in those agencies, and
we haven’t seen them yet.
So we’re going to have to
push on that.”
Kuehl was a television
star in the late 1950s and
early 1960s. She played
Jackie Erwin on Trouble
with Father and Zelda
Gilroy on The Many Loves
of Dobie Gillis. Her acting
career came to an abrupt
halt when network officials
learned of her sexual orien­
tation.
Openly lesbian California Assemblywoman Sheila James Kuehl
Kuehl went on to
spoke Jan. 22 in San Diego
become an associate dean
get the word out, people will be less likely to at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Later she graduated from Harvard Law School,
support it.”
The initiative, formally known as Proposi­ taught law at UCLA and founded the California
tion 22, gets its nickname from its sponsor, state Women’s Law Center.
Sen. Pete Knight, R-Palmdale.
“The No on Knight organization needs half ■ For more information about the No ON KNIGHT
a million dollars from San Diego,” Kuehl campaign, visit wwtu.noonknight.org, e-mail cam-
explains. “If there’s anyone who reads this [arti­ paign@noonknight.org or phone (415) 227-1020.
cle], anyone who knows anyone who reads this,
R ex WOCKNER has reported for the gay press
anyone who has not given money to No on
since
1985. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism
Knight, they should give at least $50 right away,
and more and more and more if they can, from Drake University and started his career as a
because the other side is pouring millions of dol­ radio reporter.
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