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WINNER OF 2023 ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS PACEMAKER AWARD, NEWSPAPER/NEWSMAGAZINE NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION AND CALIFORNIA NEWS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Volume 162 No. 23 SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
MELISSA ALEJANDRES | SPARTAN DAILY
District 26 Assemblymember Evan Low (left) and Gabrielle Antolovich, the board president of the Bill DeFrank Center encourage the community to vote on Thursday.
LGBTQ+ center promotes bill By Melissa Alejandres STAFF WRITER
District 26 Assemblymember Evan Low encouraged community members to support the LGBTQ+ community and to vote for ACA 5 at the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center on Thursday night. Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 5 (ACA 5) currently only allows same-sex marriage and is the only legal marriage that is recognized by California according to the tracking bill California ACA 5 equality. Low, who is an openly gay Democrat and who wrote ACA 5, encouraged the community to vote yes to support providing equality for any couple and changing the current constitution, which defines marriage as between only a man and a woman. The Supreme Court had just stated that after reproductive freedom they’re coming after samesex marriage and interracial marriage said low.
Low said, “If they show you who you are, we have to believe them,”. In 2008 due to a proposition voted on by the people, Californians voted to eliminate the rights of the same couples to marry and that is in our current California constitution. Low’s proposal to put the amendment on the ballot for this November would be to have constitutional protections for same-sex couples and interracial couples to marry. Low said the number one proponents who eliminated the rights of same-sex marriage were the organizations of Mormon and Catholic churches. According to the Pew Study Research Center from 2004, 31% percent of Americans were against same-sex marriage. “I sat down with them and asked them to get their support for marriage equality protections and same-sex couples,” Low said. Low said that church organizations’ response was if the LGBTQ+
community asks for gay marriage equality then they are going to ask for something else adoption rights, donating blood, or visitation rights.
to be protected by law," said Low. Gabrielle Antolovich, who uses they/them pronouns, is the board president of the Bill
People forget that although the legislative path is very powerful and you can participate as a regular person. Gabrielle Antolovich Board president of the Bill DeFrank Center
“Last time they spent close to $20 million in support of Proposition 8 to eliminate our rights even though they said they were neutral,” Low said. “Although I may have strong beliefs I hope this can be a reflection of empathy that we can try to provide so that when we tackle other issues we can find a commonality about protecting everyday people and recognizing longstanding traditions not be forced but also allowing us
DeFrank Center and said they have hoped that when organizing the center is a place where people can make a change. Antolovich said they originally got involved with the gay community in Sydney, Australia back in 1970. They were an active board member and an executive director of a nonprofit for 15 years before becoming the president of the Billy DeFrank Center. “People forget that although the legislative path is very powerful and
you can participate as a regular person,” Antolovich said. The Billy DeFrank Center was originally founded by William Price, who went by his drag name ‘Billy DeFrank,’ and who died in 1980, Antolovich said. Antolovich said Billy DeFrank alongside others raised money so all the LGBTQ+ community members could meet under the same roof. They said that the people who are hesitant to vote for ACA 5 won’t have to declare themselves as LGBTQ+ when they register to vote. Antolovich said it’s important to participate in the democratic process. “Evan Low outlined some of the difficulties in legislation and trying to get other people to support and vote,” Antolovich said. “What is important is being flexible and I think Evan Lowe showed that he was flexible in the how-toword legislation so that it is solid but also palatable to the opposition for they’ll vote for it”, said Antolovich. “You can have the best legislation on the planet
and no one will vote for it,” they said. “That’s what’s so difficult.” Brian Singer, who is transgender and a retired school teacher of 35 years, said seeing Low speak helps build stronger connections and fires up the community. He said he transitioned 19 years ago, and said he believes the LGBTQ+ community is rejected a lot by society because of fear. “There are over 500 bills that are being debated in 41 states (and) these issues keep the base riled,” Singer said. Maurie Singer, who is non-binary and Brian Singer’s partner, said she thinks the rejection is feardriven as well. Maurie Singer also said she thinks being conservative means wanting things to stay the same and that anything different is a threat. “We can help make change and we can do it together,” Maurie Singer said. Follow Spartan Daily on Instagram @SpartanDaily
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