Equality California Celebrates Defeat of Proposition 39

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Equality California, the nation's largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, celebrates the defeat of Proposition 39, an anti-democracy ballot initiative championed by Donald Trump and MAGA extremists which would have the potential to disenfranchise tens of millions of California voters while introducing unnecessary and dangerous requirements into the state's voting processes.

"Despite the best efforts of Donald Trump and his cronies - including Asm. Carl DeMaio, a continued embarrassment to the California Assembly - along with millions in outside funding, California voters have decisively rejected Prop 39, handing a loss to those seeking to engage in voter suppression," said Executive Director Tony Hoang.

California already has safeguards to verify voter eligibility and protect the integrity of our elections. Proposition 39 would have piled on unnecessary paperwork, made it harder to vote and put eligible voters at risk of having their ballots rejected. Those burdens would have fallen hardest on people who already face barriers to voting, including seniors, students, low-income voters, people of color and people with limited access to transportation. They would also have affected voters whose documents don't match after a name change, including transgender people and people who changed their names after marriage.

We are glad to see Californians rise up in opposition to these attempts to silence the voice of the people. This defeat is yet another indicator that voters do not respond to intimidation and fear; indeed, the more transparent, open, and adaptable the process of voting, the higher turnout will inevitably be."

The campaign for Proposition 39 was largely funded by conservative out-of-state billionaires, including Illinois businessman Richard Uihlein, who contributed $17 million and has also funded anti-LGBTQ+ ballot measures across the country. Reform California, the right-wing political group led by Carl DeMaio, spent more than $3 million backing the failed measure. Equality California served on the No on 39 campaign's steering committee and worked alongside coalition partners to defeat the measure.

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