VABANC - Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California

VABANC joins other Asian Pacific American organizations to oppose Proposition 8 on the November 2008 California ballot. We believe that Proposition 8 would strip fundamental rights from many Californians and interfere in the basic dignity of committed human relationships, as two of our own members can attest. The proponents of Proposition 8 claim to be "defending" marriage, but they are the ones seeking to prevent people from marrying, and indeed, to destroy existing marriages.

For decades, Asian Pacific Americans did not enjoy the right to marry the man or woman of our choosing because of explicit prohibitions in the law. Some members of Asian Pacific American communities are still fighting the same battle to this day. Proposition 8 threatens to take away the fundamental right of lesbian and gay individuals to marry the person that they love, a right recognized this year by the California Supreme Court.

VABANC had joined a coalition of over 60 local, state, and national Asian American organizations to file an amicus brief in support of equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples in the consolidated Marriage Cases, which the California Supreme Court heard in March. The amicus brief supported basic fairness for same-sex couples and their families, drawing from the Asian American community’s own past struggle with marriage discrimination and anti-miscegenation laws in California. On May 15, 2008, the Court overturned the state's ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

Consistent with our position in the Marriage Cases, VABANC opposes Proposition 8, which seeks to reverse this progress towards greater civil rights for all by writing discrimination into our California Constitution. We cannot let our civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy rights be eroded. We need to defend everyone’s fundamental right to marry the person that they love.

The organizations filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in the matter currently pending before the California Supreme Court. The California Marriage Cases are historic lawsuits urging the California courts to end the exclusion of loving and committed same-sex couples from marriage. The same-sex couples and their supporters ask the Court to hold that the state’s current law denying lesbian and gay persons the freedom to marry violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equality. The amicus brief filed today by the coalition of Asian American organizations seeks to support basic fairness for same-sex couples and their families, drawing from the Asian American community’s own past struggle with marriage discrimination in the state of California.




	VABANC Urges "No!" on Proposition 8
	October 2008

	VABANC joins other Asian Pacific American organizations to oppose Proposition 8 on the November 2008 California ballot. We believe that Proposition 8 would strip fundamental rights from many Californians and interfere in the basic dignity of committed human relationships, as two of our own members can attest. The proponents of Proposition 8 claim to be "defending" marriage, but they are the ones seeking to prevent people from marrying, and indeed, to destroy existing marriages. For decades, Asian Pacific Americans did not enjoy the right to marry the man or woman of our choosing because of explicit prohibitions in the law. Some members of Asian Pacific American communities are still fighting the same battle to this day. Proposition 8 threatens to take away the fundamental right of lesbian and gay individuals to marry the person that they love, a right recognized this year by the California Supreme Court. VABANC had joined a coalition of over 60 local, state, and national Asian American organizations to file an amicus brief in support of equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples in the consolidated Marriage Cases, which the California Supreme Court heard in March. The amicus brief supported basic fairness for same-sex couples and their families, drawing from the Asian American community’s own past struggle with marriage discrimination and anti-miscegenation laws in California. On May 15, 2008, the Court overturned the state's ban on marriage for same-sex couples. Consistent with our position in the Marriage Cases, VABANC opposes Proposition 8, which seeks to reverse this progress towards greater civil rights for all by writing discrimination into our California Constitution. We cannot let our civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy rights be eroded. We need to defend everyone’s fundamental right to marry the person that they love. The organizations filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in the matter currently pending before the California Supreme Court. The California Marriage Cases are historic lawsuits urging the California courts to end the exclusion of loving and committed same-sex couples from marriage. The same-sex couples and their supporters ask the Court to hold that the state’s current law denying lesbian and gay persons the freedom to marry violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equality. The amicus brief filed today by the coalition of Asian American organizations seeks to support basic fairness for same-sex couples and their families, drawing from the Asian American community’s own past struggle with marriage discrimination in the state of California.