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Kamala Harris will be in Los Angeles on June 29 for a Pride month Biden-Harris fundraiser that is already attracting some of Hollywood’s most powerful players and creatives.
I can exclusively report that invites are expected to go out today for what’s officially being billed as a “Pride Garden Party With Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Tony winner Idina Menzel will perform during the afternoon program.
“Join us for a Pride month Garden Party marking the anniversary of the end of Poposition 8 and the historic return of marriage equality to California!” the invite reads. “This unforgettable event will celebrate Vice President Harris’ bold leadership and trailblazing work to help win that historic fight. Now, more than ever, we must ensure President Biden and Vice President Harris can continue championing the freedom of every American to love who they love and be who they are, openly and with pride.”
Harris made history during Valentine’s Day weekend in 2004 when she defied legal restrictions to officiate same-sex-marriages while she was the district attorney of San Francisco.
Garden Party event chairs include Chad Griffin and Charlie Joughin, Michele and Rob Reiner, Dustin Lance Black, Helen and Ted Boutrous (one of the lead attorneys in the Prop 8 case) and Donna and Michael Weinholtz.
Event co-chairs are Kevin Huvane, Lyn Davis Lear, Adam Shankman, John and Mike August, Yeardley Smith, Adam Unhoefer, Max Mutchnick and Erik Hyman, Mary Fisher, James Costos, Michael Smith, Vanessa Benavides, Sheila Bryant and the Human Rights Campaign PAC.
After Proposition 8 passed on the California ballot in November 2008, amending the California constitution to ban same-sex marriages, Griffin, a longtime political strategist and now a member of the Biden-Harris Campaign national finance committee, worked with the Reiners and Black, as well as Griffin’s then-business partner Kristina Schake, to pull together the historic federal court case to strike down Prop 8.
They recruited the bipartisan legal team of Ted Olson and David Boies (who famously opposed each other in Bush v. Gore) to represent two couples: Kris Perry and Sandy Stier and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo.
After a historic trial in federal district court that resulted in Prop 8 being struck down, proponents were unsuccessful in their appeal in the federal appeals court. The case then went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately restored marriage equality to California after a ruling that the proponents of Prop 8 lacked standing to challenge the prior rulings in favor of marriage equality.
