Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, Fifth Council District
Contact: 562 570-6932
Statement on 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling Regarding Unconstitutionality of Prop 8
2/7/12 – Long Beach, CA -- Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, Long Beach’s first open lesbian elected to serve on the Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustees and the Long Beach City Council, today issued the following statement in response to the announcement that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional:
“The federal court of appeals clearly explained in its ruling that the people may not use the initiative process to strip any group of a right as important as the right to marry and that Proposition 8 served no purpose other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians by reclassifying our relationships and our families as being inferior to those of opposite sex couples.
As someone who has been in a committed, loving relationship with a same sex partner for over 31 years, this ruling iterates something those of us in the gay and lesbian community already knew – that taking the constitutional rights of one group takes from all of us as Americans.
This decision is a triumph for all Americans by affirming the importance of freedom and human dignity as our constitutional rights. “