The plaintiffs have a chance of overturning Proposition 8 if they can show that animus or impermissible moral
disapproval motivated California's same-sex marriage ban, so the defendants have denied assertions that faith animus was their guiding principle.
That got some GLBT activists wondering how the petitions were circulated to get Prop. 8 on the ballot in the first place. Wouldn't you know it? Nearly every signing station in California was in a church or faith-based locale–including 19 of the 20 listed spots in Orange County and Long Beach.
]
Though the election was in 2008, a list of the more than 200 petition locations remains proudly displayed on the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) website.
According to the GLBT activist site Good As You, “We count six locations [KGDP Radio, a Salvation Army location, Assemblyman Joel Anderson's Office (and related Taxfighters for Anderson group), NOM's own office, America's Finest Flooring and Design Center, and the Law Office of Ron Townsend] that were/are not exclusive houses of worship.”
“But even then: KGPD is a Christian radio station, and the Salvation Army is a Christian organization. Plus, we all know NOM leads with personal faith, first and foremost. So it's really just the assemblyman, the lawyer, and the design center that varied from the decided-upon format (even though they, too, were likely faith-motivated).”
Townsend's office is in Tustin, and it is the only non-church/-faith-based company in Orange County or Long Beach on the NOM list.
Let us pray:
Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa
Regional Center
3800 S. Fairview Rd.
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 979-4422
Calvary Chapel East Anaheim
5605 E. La Palma Ave.
Anaheim, CA 92807
(714) 695-9656
Calvary Chapel Orange
826 W. Katella Ave.
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 633-4413
Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Margarita
30615 Avenida De Los Flores
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688
(949) 858-6170
Calvary Chapel West Grove
12832 Knott St.
Garden Grove, CA 92841
(714) 897-8972
Christian Educators Association International
227 N. Magnolia Ave., Ste. 2
Anaheim, CA 92801
(714) 761-1477
Creekside Christian Fellowship
4849 Alton Pkwy.
Irvine, CA 92602
(714) 368-1850
Eastside Christian Church
2505 Yorba Linda Blvd.
Fullerton, CA 92831
(714) 871-6844
First Baptist Church of Yorba Linda
18372 E. Lemon Dr.
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
(714) 777-2646
First Southern Baptist Church
840 N. Shattuck Place
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 639-2070
La Semilla
940 W. Wilshire Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92707
(714) 957-3131
Orange County Southern Baptist Association
250 N. Golden Circle, Ste. 104
Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 547-5409
Refuge
7800 Edinger Ave.
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
(714) 891-9495
South Coast Christian Assembly
31501 Avenida Los Cerritos
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
(949) 240-4777
Law Office of Ron Townsend
800 S. Beach Blvd., Ste. A
La Habra, CA 90631
Calvary Chapel North Long Beach
Regional Center
5722 Lime Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90805
(562) 423-0447
Calvary Chapel of Long Beach
3960 N. Studebaker Rd., Ste. 11
Long Beach, CA 90808
(562) 497-1154
Calvary Chapel Pacific Coast
6400 Westminster Blvd.
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 893-4141
Fil-Am Christian Fellowship
3190 Magnolia Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90806
(562) 492-9616
Long Beach Harbor Southern Baptist Association
5704 Orange Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90805
(562) 984-8110
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.