AFER’s Chad Griffin, Dustin Lance Black, Cleve Jones and Adam Umhoefer will join couples and S.F. City Attorney in combined Prop 8 Plaintiff parade contingentSAN FRANCISCO (June 28, 2013)-City Attorney Dennis Herrera today announced that he will be joined by both plaintiff couples from the victorious federal challenge to California’s Proposition 8 together with leaders from the American Foundation for Equal Rights, or AFER, which sponsored the constitutional challenge, in Sunday’s San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and Celebration. Herrera has served as co-counsel in the case alongside lead counsel Ted Olson and David Boies since 2009, when the City and County of San Francisco intervened as a co-plaintiff alongside the two couples who will be featured on Sunday: Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo.
Joining the couples and Herrera for a combined Prop 8 plaintiff parade contingent will be:
- Chad Griffin, co-founder and current board member of AFER. A political strategist best known for his work advocating for LGBT equality, Griffin currently serves as president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest advocacy organization for the rights of LGBT Americans.
- Dustin Lance Black, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of “Milk,” about the late San Francisco Supervisor and LGBT civil rights pioneer Harvey Milk. Black, an AFER board member and leading opponent of Prop. 8 since 2008, and is widely recognized to be among the nation’s most articulate and influential LGBT community leaders.
- Cleve Jones, the legendary San Francisco LGBT community and labor leader, who serves as an AFER advisory board member. Jones founded the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which today honors more than 85,000 Americans, and co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. He was an aide to the late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk.
- Adam Umhoefer, AFER’s executive director. A veteran of political campaigns (including President Obama’s first presidential campaign) and non-profit management, Umhoefer was AFER’s first staff member and was recognized by The Advocate magazine in 2011 as one of the top “Forty Under 40” among the nation’s LGBT community leaders.
“When San Francisco intervened as a co-plaintiff alongside Kris and Sandy, and Paul and Jeff in AFER’s federal challenge to Prop 8 back in 2009, every San Franciscan became a partner with them in this groundbreaking legal struggle,” said Herrera. “On Sunday, I know San Franciscans will give them an incredibly enthusiastic welcome to celebrate a victory that will forever hold a special place in our hearts and in our City’s history.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Prop 8 proponents lacked standing to appeal a lower court ruling striking down the controversial ballot measure as unconstitutional. The 5-to-4 ruling left intact an Aug. 4, 2010 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker that Prop 8 violated the U.S. Constitution’s due process and equal protection guarantees, thereby restoring equal marriage rights for same-sex couples in California.
Related Documents:
PDF of the Prop 8 plaintiff Pride Parade contingent release (June 28, 2013)