Behind The Scenes Of Proposition 8 By Sonja Eddings Brown Sonja Eddings Brown wrote this piece the day the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Prop 8. After a long day of responding to the media, making up for TV, dragging my laptop life to a press conference, praying that protesters wouldn’t find our location, delivering the message, crawling back into my car, driving an hour and a half in heavy traffic, arriving at home victorious and having survived another historic day in the battle over marriage in California, I walked through the front door eager to be welcomed and suffocated with questions about all of my important work. Instead my daughter greeted me with, “The fish died today.” Perspective settled in. It’s not every day that your career takes you to the front lines of political history. Acting as Deputy Communications Director for Proposition 8 Protect Marriage in California has certainly given me that opportunity. Being on the “front lines” is a term that I think originates in wartime jargon and places like “The Russian Front.” The term is a perfect reference for the hand – to – hand combat that has defined the Protect Marriage effort. For example: In the past week, I was tasked to find a location in Los Angeles where Protect Marriage might be able to offer comment when the California Supreme Court handed down its decision on Proposition 8. This may surprise you, but the Protect Marriage campaign was not welcome anywhere in Los Angeles following last November 4th’s election. Perhaps this does no t surprise you. Either out of fear, or fear of appearing supportive of our odd tradition of marriage, facilities like the Museum of Tolerance, The Bonaventure Hotel, City Hall, Marriott Hotels, Hilton Hotels, or any hotel would not welcome Protect Marriage for fear of retaliation or protests. We feared using these locations as well because of the great potential for sabatoge. Calling City Hall, for instance, was a dead end for a democratic cause like Protect Marriage. Not only did Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa support legalization of gay marriage, but also the entire Board of County of Supervisors and virtually everyone in City and County government. How helpful do you believe City Hall would be in facilitating a Protect Marriage press conference? When the Office of City Permits was contacted to schedule an event, our calls were not returned, our requests ignored. Fortunately, a principled owner of the elegant Santa Ann Doubletree Hotel felt differently, and that is why Los Angeles Protect Marriage press conferences, for safety reasons, and out of necessity, were held in Orange County. Security was necessary, police protection was required, but our work was completed. Seven months later, the environment in Los Angeles this week remained the same. The Los Angeles Press Club, whose express mission is to host public press conferences, didn’t return our calls. Dialing hotels in the San Fernando Valley was equally fruitless. Two prominent hotels, which shall remain nameless, agreed to host us, and then later in the day delivered polite phone calls, declining. A hotel north of the San Fernando Valley actually had one member of its catering staff call and offer us any room of our choice, and another member of their catering staff call and state that unfortunately, nothing large enough was available to accommodate Protect Marriage. Can you imagine the outrage, the rattling of legal sabres, and the headlines, that would result if any public building or hotel attempted to decline a press conference requested for the gay community? We went back to Orange County. At the close of our quiet local press conference, the General Manager of the Santa Ana Doubletree Hotel came to greet me personally and introduce himself. He is originally from India, and couldn’t understand all the fuss. He was happy to play host to the Protect Marriage press conference. “This is America !” he said. “This is why we come here. Because everyone is allowed to express their views and everyone is entitled to a forum.” When next in Santa Ana, and you need a place to stay, contact Mr. Ronnie Delagado at the Airport Doubletree. No Comments | Post or read comments FEATURES |
May 7, 2026
May 7, 2026
