Ballot Measures

In order to address issues of inequality that systematically impact the LGBTQ community and more-so LGBTQ people of color, San Diego Pride is supporting three measures this election cycle. Please join us in supporting these ballot measures as we address police accountability, affordable housing, as well as systemic racism and gender discrimination in access to employment, housing, and education.

Vote YES for LGBTQ+ equality, safety, and justice.
Vote YES on Measure A, Measure B, and Prop 16.

You may review all of the local ballot measures that will be on your November 2020 ballot at the San Diego Registrar of Voters’ Local Measures guide here. Statewide ballot propositions can be reviewed here: https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/

Your full sample ballot will be mailed to you on September 24, 2020, and can be accessed through the San Diego Registrar of Voters website soon: sdvote.com.

San Diego Pride has taken a position on the following 3 measures:

City of San Diego Ballot Measures:
Measure A – A Solution for Homelessness (Housing Bond): YES
Measure B – Establishing a Commission on Police Practices: YES

Statewide Ballot Measures:
Proposition 16 – Restoring Affirmative Action in California: YES

San Diego Pride encourages a “YES” vote on Measure A:
The LGBTQ+ community is at an increased risk of homelessness, housing insecurity, and faces income inequality at a rate far surpassing our heterosexual and cisgender neighbors. 40% of all homeless youth are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. About ⅓ of transgender adults have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives, and 50% of all transgender people experiencing homelessness live in the state of California. These disparities are further exacerbated for LGBTQ+ folks that are Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.

Measure A’s creation of 2,800 new supportive homes for low-income families, youth, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities is aligned with Pride’s mission to foster pride, equality, and respect for LGBTQ+ people. Creating safe, affordable housing is a vital part of ending the homelessness crisis in San Diego, and San Diego Pride is proud to support this responsible approach to ending homelessness for our LGBTQ+ siblings.

What is Measure A?
Measure A is a general obligation bond that will provide funding for permanent and supportive housing for extremely low- to low-income individuals and families, including supportive mental health and substance abuse services, for populations including veterans, seniors, the disabled, youth and the homeless. This measure will allow the City of San Diego to issue up to $900 million in general obligation bonds, financed by property tax assessments estimated between approximately $3 and $21 per each $100,000 of assessed valuation for fiscal years 2022 through 2068.

Learn more here: https://yesonasandiego.org/
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San Diego Pride encourages a “YES” vote on Measure B:
According to the Campaign Zero report commissioned by the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties and the raw data reported directly by the San Diego Police Department, LGBTQ+ San Diegans are at an increased risk of mistreatment from law enforcement officers. Despite the fact that Black folks make up a small percentage of San Diego’s population, Black people were stopped by San Diego police at a rate 219% higher than white people, and during a traffic stop, Black San Diegans were 133% more likely to be subjected to a police search than white San Diegans. This report also found that people perceived to be LGBTQ+ and people perceived to have disabilities were more likely to be both stopped and searched by police.

San Diego Pride’s mission – to foster equality, pride, and respect for LGBTQ+ people locally, nationally, and globally – means in part that LGBTQ+ folks, including and especially our LGBTQ+ people of color, must be able to live in safe communities. This new commission offers one avenue of fair and balanced reform that will increase police accountability and transparency in the San Diego Police Department. The commission will conduct investigations that San Diegans can trust, making our LGBTQ+ communities safer.

This is also one of the 8 reform measures mentioned in the 8 Can’t Wait initiative, which Pride cited in our Healing & Safer Communities plan released in June 2020.

What is Measure B?
Measure B is a charter amendment that establishes an independent community-led commission on police practices. If 51% of San Diegans vote to pass the measure this November, it would change the City Charter so that the current Community Review Board on Police Practices would dissolve and be replaced with a Commission on Police Practices. The independent commission would have members appointed by the City Council. The new commission will have its own staff, subpoena power, independent legal counsel, and the authority to investigate police officer misconduct, review complaints against officers, and make recommendations on police officer discipline, police policies, and Police Department legal compliance.

Learn more here: https://www.sandiegansforjustice.com/
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San Diego Pride encourages a “YES” vote on Proposition 16:
The fight for racial and gender equity is on the ballot in 2020 with Prop 16. By ending the statewide ban on affirmative action, Proposition 16 levels the playing field so we can all succeed. While Proposition 16 will not eliminate structural racism and sexism, it is a tool to begin dismantling these systems to ensure that all LGBTQ+ Californians can succeed in work and education fields.

Women and people of color still face disparities in income, education, and workplace success in 2020. For LGBTQ+ women and people of color, these disparities are particularly stark – especially for transgender women, bisexual women, and LGBTQ+ people of color of all genders and sexual orientations. Proposition 16 allows educational, government, and employment entities throughout the state of California to level the playing field, moving us a bit further toward pride, equality, and respect for LGBTQ+ people locally and statewide.

What is Prop 16?
Proposition 16 is a statewide ballot measure that amends the California Constitution by repealing Section 31 of Article I allowing lawmakers to reinstate affirmative action policies that positively support members of disadvantaged or underrepresented groups that have previously suffered discrimination in areas such as education, employment, and housing.

Proposition 16 would repeal Proposition 209, passed in 1996, from the California Constitution. Proposition 209 stated that discrimination and preferential treatment were prohibited in public employment, public education, and public contracting on account of a person’s or group’s race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin. Therefore, Proposition 209 banned the use of affirmative action involving race-based or sex-based preferences in California.

Without Proposition 209, the state government, local governments, public universities, and other political subdivisions and public entities would—within the limits of federal law—be allowed to develop and use affirmative action programs that grant preferences based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, and national origin in public employment, public education, and public contracting.

Learn more here: https://voteyesonprop16.org/
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