Cleary Comments, Williams Institute Estimates Passage of Proposition 8 Will Cost California More Than $800 Million in the Next 3 Years

June 24, 2009

Due to Losses of Revenue For Weddings and Various Auxiliary Services

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- California resident and gay rights advocate, Jerome Cleary believes that the 52.3 percent of California voters who voted 'yes' on Prop. 8 should take notice of the full impact of their votes. "The residents of California need to be reminded that these 52.3 percent of voters destroyed not only Gay Marriages, they have nearly bankrupted our state," remarks, Cleary.

The Los Angeles Times reported: "The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday, June 23, 2009-they approved nearly $1.6 billion in cuts over the next three years that will result in layoffs and increased class sizes and could one day mean the elimination of such key programs as all-day kindergarten and summer school. The action also makes it increasingly likely that many of those targeted for layoffs, including about 2,200 teachers and up to 2,000 school staff, such as custodians and cafeteria workers, will be dismissed..."

Here's a look at who voted for Prof. 8:

BallotPedia.org reported: The Public Policy Institute of California released a poll in December 2008 to shed some light on who voted for Prop. 8, especially in light of widespread claims that relatively heavy support among black voters is what pushed Prop. 8 to victory. 2,003 voters were polled from November 5-16.

    YES votes: 6,838,107            NO votes: 6,246,463

    Percentiles: YES 52.3 percent   NO 47.7 percent

    Total Votes: 13,084,570         Voter Turnout: 79.42 percent

Campaigns for and against Proposition 8 raised $39.9 million and $43.3 million, respectively, becoming the highest-funded campaign on any state ballot that day and surpassing every campaign in the country in spending except the presidential contest.

    --  On a stand-alone question, 47% were in favor of same-sex marriage, 48%
        were opposed and 5% were unsure.
    --  85% of voters identifying themselves as evangelical or born-again
        Christians voted yes.
    --  Of non-evangelical Christians polled, 42% voted yes.
    --  77% of Republicans in the poll voted yes.
    --  65% of Democrats voted no.
    --  85% of John McCain supporters voted yes.
    --  30% of Barack Obama voters voted yes.
    --  61% of Latinos voted yes.
    --  57% of Latinos, Asians, and blacks combined voted yes.
    --  62% of those without a college degree voted yes.

    --  74% of those who voted yes on Prop. 8 considered the outcome of the vote
        to be "very important," while 59% of those who voted no
        attached the same level of importance to the outcome.

Some of the donors supporting Prop. 8 were:

    --  Knights of Columbus, $1,400,000
    --  Howard Ahmanson, $1,150,000
    --  John Templeton, $900,000
    --  National Organization for Marriage, $785,750

    --  Elsa Prince, $650,000

    --  Fieldstead & Company, $600,000.
    --  American Family Association, $500,000
    --  Focus on the Family, $411,000.

    --  Doug Manchester, $125,000

"While Californians are outraged at the current local, county and state budget deficits, they need to acknowledge it was their neighbors who directly caused all of this and not some unknown entity, says, Cleary.

SOURCE Jerome Cleary