Equality California Issues 2003 Legislator LGBT Rights Voting Records

SACRAMENTO – Equality California (EQCA) today issued its 2003 Legislators’ Report Card, providing insight into a legislative year that witnessed an essentially perfect record for California’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Of particular interest is the fact that the gains of the past year were achieved with only half of all state legislators voting to support all of EQCA’s sponsored legislation. Equality California achieved these victories by strategically lobbying members to ensure that each bill had the necessary number of votes and by focusing on those members that appeared open to voting on one or two of the bills, but not all three.

“While 2003 was tremendously successful for California’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, we cannot ignore the fact that nearly all of the legislation we supported passed without a single vote to spare,” noted Geoffrey Kors, EQCA Executive Director. “If we want to hold on to the gains we made in 2003 and continue to enact legislation to provide LGBT Californians with equality under the law, we must elect more LGBT-friendly legislators in 2004.”

In the California Assembly, 41 votes are required to approve most bills. Yet only 40 Assemblymembers voted “yes” on all three of EQCA’s sponsored bills: AB 196, the Gender Nondiscrimination Act; AB 205, the Domestic Partner Rights & Responsibilities Act; and AB 17, the Equal Benefits Bill. Thirty-six assemblymembers voted “No” on all three bills. Click here <http://www.eqca.org/legislative/2003AssemblyVotes.pdf > to see the breakdown of Assembly votes.

In the California Senate, a majority requires 21 votes. Twenty Senators voted “Yes” on all three EQCA-sponsored bills, while 16 Senators voted “No” on all three bills. Click here <http://www.eqca.org/legislative/2003SenateVotes.pdf > to see the breakdown of Senate votes.


“A majority of Californians support equality for LGBT people and we have made significant progress in securing rights through the legislative process despite the fact that the majority of California legislators do not yet reflect the fair-minded attitudes of their constituents,” said Kors. “Fortunately, 50% of the legislators supported all three of Equality California’s bills this year and several additional members joined in on one or two of those bills to ensure their passage. This is tremendous progress, and Equality California is committed to continuing our efforts to ensure that a solid majority of legislators and constitutional officers support equality for LGBT Californians.”

For a complete breakdown of votes on all EQCA-sponsored and EQCA-supported legislation, visit the Legislative Center <http://www.eqca.org/leg_index.shtml > on EQCA’s website.

Founded in 1998, Equality California (formerly CAPE) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-based, statewide advocacy organization whose mission is to ensure the dignity, safety, equality and civil rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians. Equality California is one of the largest and fastest growing statewide LGBT organizations in the country. We can be contacted through our website at http://www.eqca.org.