November 3, 2008

New York Times Notices: Prop 8 = Prop 6 Redux

Back to the Ramparts in California

Some audiences for the upcoming film “Milk,” about the slain San Francisco supervisor and gay politician Harvey Milk, will certainly be inspired by his fight against Proposition 6, a 1978 California ballot measure that would have expelled gay teachers from the state’s public schools. Others less entranced with Mr. Milk’s politics will, no doubt, be less impressed.

But, in California, both types of moviegoers will probably feel a sense of eerie familiarity. The state is embroiled in a fight over another numbered ballot measure aimed at gays that will be put to voters on Tuesday: Proposition 8, which would bar same-sex marriage.

In many ways, the battle sparked by this latest proposal echoes the one that inspired Mr. Milk’s most famous crusade.

“It’s surreal,” said Cleve Jones, a veteran civil rights activist who is portrayed by a curly headed Emilie Hirsch in the film. “It’s like there’s a 30-year cycle.”

Call it life imitating “Milk,” or vice versa, but the parallels between the campaign chronicled in the movie and the real-life battle over Proposition 8 are striking. Social conservatives pitted against gay activists? Check. A Republican governor (and former movie star) siding with gay Californians? Check. Close polls, a nationally watched campaign, the potential for heartbreak?

Check, check, check.

One of the most obvious similarities is the role that children have played in both campaigns as political symbols.

In 1978, supporters of Proposition 6 suggested that gay people might aim to “convert” and molest children. Recent advertisements for Proposition 8 have asserted that gay marriage will be taught in schools to young children. …

Opponents of the ballot measure deny the school claim. But it isn’t accidental. …

Proposition 6 was hatched in California just days after the singer and anti-gay activist Anita Bryant successfully led an effort to overturn an antidiscrimination law in Miami in 1977. (At the film’s premiere in San Francisco last Tuesday, the crowd hissed when Ms. Bryant appeared on screen.)

The 2008 battle has also been influenced by forces beyond California’s borders, with both sides receiving major financial support from groups based outside of the state.

Many analysts say the critical factor in defeating Proposition 6 was Ronald Reagan, then the former governor, who said it would be costly to implement and infringed “on the basic rights of privacy.”

This time around, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, another Hollywood Republican, has come out against Proposition 8. …

Perhaps the biggest difference today is the lack of charismatic front men like Mr. Milk…

Such figures are harder to find in this generation of gay leaders, said Scott Schmidt, who is 33, gay, opposed to Proposition 8 — and a Republican. “There are no Harvey Milks,” he said, “in this campaign.”