“On the declaration it is written, ‘All men are created equal.’ No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words. That is what America is!,” Sean Penn says in this newly released and very quick, “Milk” clip. Focus Features’ immediate response to Prop 8? Hmm, either way, timely and more relevant than ever.
1978: Proposition 6, more commonly known as The Briggs Initiative, was an initiative on the California State ballot in 1978. Sponsored by John Briggs, a conservative state legislator from Orange County, the failed initiative would have banned gays and lesbians from working in California’s public schools and came on the heels of a highly explosive conservative campaign in Dade County, Florida to repeal one of the first gay rights ordinances in the U.S. With Anita Bryant as their spokesperson, the initiative temporarily passed.”
2008: Proposition 8 is a California State ballot proposition that would amended the state Constitution to limit marriage to unions between a man and a woman, overturning a recent California Supreme Court decision that had recognized same-sex marriages as a fundamental right.
If you’re interested in this subject and this film, we highly recommend the 1984 Academy-Award winning documentary, “The Times Of Harvey Milk.”