Newsom promotes "Freedom to Marry" ballot initiative at San Francisco event
California Governor Gavin Newsom joined other political leaders and LGBTQ+ advocates in San Francisco Friday to promote the "Freedom to Marry" ballot initiative.
While same-sex marriages have been happening in California for the last two decades, the state constitution still says that gay couples are not allowed to marry.
The ballot initiative would enshrine in the state constitution that all couples have the right to marry, regardless of gender or ethnicity in addition to repealing 2008's Proposition 8, which defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
At the event that was also attended by San Francisco Mayor London Breed and State Senator Scott Wiener, Newsom said this is critically important given the current attempts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights around the country.
"It's a recognition of the urgency of the moment, and states are the front lines of those rights battles," said Newsom. "And that's why it's imperative that states like us step up and assert themselves at this critical time"
The initiative was announced this past February on a date that coincided with the 20th anniversary of when then San Francisco Mayor Newsom performed California's first same-sex weddings, kicking off a legal battle to legalize same-sex marriage. More than 4,000 couples were married in just the first month.