By Eric Wat
From InformAsian, GAPSN Monthly Newsletter, March, 2000

On March 7, California voters will decide on Proposition 22, a ballot initiative that would make gay and lesbian marriages illegal in California, even if they were recognized in another state. This is not the first time California voters confront a proposition against gays and lesbians. In 1978, there was Proposition 6, which would make it legal to dismiss gay and lesbian public school teachers solely based on their sexual orientation.

Although there was no gay Asian organization in Los Angeles in 1978, many gay Asian men participated in the campaign against Proposition 6. One of them was led by Morris Kight, who was just honored for his activism at the GAPSN Installation Dinner this year. Paul C., who was a Chinese American student at CSU Fullerton at the time, worked with Morris. Paul was the vice president of Orange County Against Briggs Initiative. (Briggs was the sponsor of Prop 6.) He remembered once hosting a fundraiser for the campaign at his apartment: Every time I looked outside of our house, there was a cop driving by. I had a big mouth then. So I walked out to the cop and waved him down. I said, "Excuse me! Excuse me! Why are you driving past our house all the time?" And he said that they had gotten words that National Socialist White People's Party, which had their headquarters in Placentia, had threatened to bomb us. The police were actually coming to protect us. And I confronted them. [Laughs]

Although he wasn't eligible to vote in 1978, Stanley R., a Filipino immigrant, also worked with Morris Kight on the Proposition 6 campaign. When he first came to Los Angeles, he had ambitions to become a teacher. He said: When I found out about this initiative, I said, "What? What is the big deal about being a gay person? The best educators in the world have been gay. Are we going to deny children nowadays to learn from gay people?" I was going to get involved in the campaign. That's when I started knowing Morris Kight because his house was like the center for the campaign against Proposition 6. That's where I picked up materials to distribute. You know where I used to go? I used to leaflet all the different Catholic churches here. I was chased by cops. I was chased by parish priests. I was chased by parishioners. One time I even got into an encounter at a restaurant. I used to wear a T-shirt that says, "Vote No on 6. The Briggs Initiative." And my estimation was about seventy-five, eighty percent of all voters, because of the heated campaign, knew what the proposition was. One day I went to a Norm's Restaurant. And there was this real, ignorant, stupid guy, who came and sat beside me. I was reading the papers. And the T-shirt got his attention. He asked, "Excuse me. What does that mean?"

"Oh, this is a campaign against Proposition 6," I explained.

"What the hell is that?" He said. The counter was loaded with people, mostly guys. At that time I was really versed in my political philosophy. I explained what it was about.

"Oh, that thing about those queers being kicked out of the schools," he said.

And I said, "Excuse me? Please watch your mouth because you would not like me to call you a honky either." I said that to him.

He said, "Oh, I'm sitting with a queer."

"I beg your pardon," I said. "I might be a queer, my dear." I said MY DEAR. "But have a look at yourself in the mirror. If you were standing on Santa Monica Boulevard, peddling your ass, you're not even worth ten cents." I picked up my plate and moved to a table. And these guys, they were like, Good for you. You told that creep off. I mean, he's an idiot. So I've gotten into encounters like that.

Thanks to the involvement of many people like Chris and Stanley, Proposition 6 was defeated. Furthermore, Chris and Stanley were able to apply the skills they gained from this campaign to organizing a gay Asian community for the first time in Los Angeles. They were our community pioneers. It's sad to see that, twenty-odd years later, the gay community finds itself confronting a homophobic initiative once again. Recent polls have shown that many California voters would vote in favor of Proposition 22. It's a reminder that we can't be complacent with our gains in the last two decades. We could lose grounds if more of us don't vote or get involved.