The year 2008 was an extraordinary time for California’s gay and lesbian community: the state Supreme Court granted gays and lesbians the freedom to marry, and couples rushed to the altar in droves—only to have their rights revoked at the ballot box on November 4. During this tumultuous time Let California Ring launched its “Strong Commitments, Strong Families” campaign.
CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES
Let California Ring is a coalition of 30 nonprofit organizations supporting marriage equality for California’s gay and lesbian couples. Diverse coalition partners range from the NAACP to the Unitarian Church. The coalition found cause for celebration when the California Supreme Court ruled in May 2008 to allow gay and lesbian couples the same right to marry as heterosexual couples. From that date until November 4, some 18,000 gay and lesbian couples were married across California.
As wedding bells echoed statewide, Let California Ring launched an unprecedented $2 million public education effort about marriage equality and its importance for families in California’s diverse communities. Let California Ring wanted to ensure that the newlyweds’ marriages were recognized and respected in their neighborhoods and communities, just as they were under the law.
Longstanding efforts toward equality took on increased urgency during the summer of 2008 when Proposition 8 qualified for the ballot, seeking to revise the state constitution to recognize marriage as only between a man and woman.
Let California Ring set out to encourage thoughtful dialogue about marriage for same-sex couples. The goal was to spark one million conversations about marriage equality through a combination of grassroots organizing as well as earned and paid media.
STRATEGIC APPROACH AND EXECUTION
Research commissioned by Let California Ring indicated that communities of color often felt that marriage equality was a “white issue” with little bearing or relevance toward their day-to-day concerns. Further, research indicated that fears over the erosion of the family were a key factor for many in determining their position on the issue of marriage for same-sex couples.
To meet those fears head on, Let California Ring teamed with New America Media, an innovative association of ethnic media organizations. We worked with these partners to create a series of print, radio, and online ads sharing the true stories of Latinos, African Americans, and Asian Americans welcoming newly married gay or lesbian couples into their families.
Told from the perspective of parents, siblings, or grandparents of a new bride or groom, each ad focused on how a family—and by extension the community—is strengthened through the marriage of a gay or lesbian couple. Each ad shared the heartfelt celebration of seeing someone you love finally gain recognition, approval, and equality under the law.
Because research indicated that several of the key audiences looked to community leadership to inform their position on the issue, we also chose to feature highly visible, highly credible validators in some of the ads. Family voices were echoed by Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church, Alice Huffman of the California NAACP, and Helen Chavez, widow of the labor leader Cesar Chavez.
Throughout California, full-page ads appeared in Latino, African American, and Asian/Pacific Islander newspapers; radio spots aired in several languages; and banner ads appeared on ethnic media websites. New America Media arranged for translations into 7 languages and brokered the ad buy with their network of California ethnic news outlets. All told, there were 12 different ad concepts, and when each was translated, campaign partners and vendors had to juggle over 80 different pieces of creative. The scope of the “Strong Commitments, Strong Families” campaign is even more impressive considering that it went from concept to execution in a matter of only 12 weeks.
Paid ads were complemented by deep earned media efforts. New America Media offered several feature stories for syndication among their member organizations and also hosted briefings for their media partners in Los Angeles, Fresno, and San Francisco. The briefings provided a space for journalists representing small ethnic 
media outlets—many of which had never before reported on gay issues—to hear from experts to shape their news stories. The resulting earned media coverage included multilingual radio talk shows and PSAs, as well as op-eds and feature stories in many print outlets.
RESULTS
The “Strong Commitments, Strong Families” campaign won praise from the ethnic media, many of whom expressed gratitude for an opportunity to engage their communities on a controversial, often taboo subject in a thoughtful, meaningful way. One Spanish-language newspaper editor remarked:
“It’s the wisest, smartest campaign we’ve ever seen on behalf of the gay community.”
The campaign generated more than 17 million impressions—vastly exceeding our goal of sparking a million conversations—and generated incredible visibility for the issue among targeted audiences. Polling data also demonstrated success: Field Polls from July to September 2008, the period in which the ads shared families’ stories across the state, showed a 10% decline in support among people of color for the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
While California voters ultimately approved Prop 8 by a slim margin, the fight for marriage equality is not over as we continue our efforts to Let California Ring.
> Learn more about Let California Ring at LetCaliforniaRing.org