Gay Inc. Outraged About Being Dismissed

The legal and political LGBT coalition that lost the Prop 8 battle doesn't take a tucker to the new same-sex marriage upstarts who see no use for them.

Straights Acting: Ali Shams and Kaelan Housewright hope to remove "marriage" from the definition of marriage altogether.

(EdgeSF)

"The groups also argue that their extensive experience and expertise in litigating the very factual issues before the court would make them of great assistance to the parties and the court"

— Lisa Keen, ebar.com

More about the kerfuffle at ebar.com.

Gay Inc. doesn't realize that THEY lost their case in the first place. We saw these people argue Prop 8 in front of the California Supreme Court, and they sounded like junior varsity debate team alternates, always on the defense rather than acting like actual plaintiffs in the case.

Barging in on new cases working their way to the US Supreme Court, these groups feel slighted by the cool, legalese reception the receive.

"Lawyers, no matter how experienced or well-meaning, should not be permitted to use intervention to involve themselves in litigation where the parties have chosen to retain other counsel."

But it's all smiles from Shannon Minter, who lost the Prop 8 case he argued for the National Center for Lesbian Rights last March.

"It's time to put aside any past disagreements and work together to present the very best legal arguments and the strongest possible factual record," says Minter. "We have much respect for the plaintiffs' attorneys and look forward to working with them."

Meanwhile, it's argued in the LGBTQC community, or at least by me, that the previous battles were EQCA and Lambda Legal Defense's to lose, and that they lost by being insular, turf-warring not-so-non-profits acting like corporations that are more interested in protecting their market share.

Some hope to sidline professional politics:

"Realistically, 1 million signatures is an awful lot," Lowe said. It would be more realistic if between 250,000 and 500,000 signatures were collected by volunteers, with the rest coming from paid gatherers, he said."

— Chaz Lowe,
Yes on Equality

This is the inner-gay scene battle we're seeing now. If Gay Inc. is made any more irrelevant by this court case and by the cute young Turks jumpstarting the marriage movement from the grassroots, these failed establishment groups stand to lose control of millions of dollars and people, fundraising turf that they've monopolized for years.

More about the internecine battle at ebar.com.