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Prop 8 Trial: Julian Bond and Dan Choi Named to Advisory Board

More developments on the eve of the eagerly-anticipated federal challenge to Proposition 8 that will begin Monday in San Francisco. The American Foundation for Equal Rights, which launched Perry v. Schwarzenegger and is funding the superstar legal team of Theodore Olson and David Boies to argue the case, has named an advisory board that includes civil rights icon Julian Bond, Lt. Dan Choi and other notables.

Says NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond on the case: "The humanity of all Americans is diminished when any group is denied rights granted to others. This is not a special interest case, but one that should be of great importance to everyone who believes in the principles of equality on which this nation was founded."

Bond recently testified at the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee's marriage equality hearings. He also spoke at the National Equality March in October.

In addition to Bond and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" activist Lt. Dan Choi, the list includes: Republican strategist Margaret Hoover; labor activist Dolores Huerta; Cleve Jones; Stuart Milk; David Mixner; the Huffington Post's Hilary Rosen; and Judy Shepard. Kudos to AFER Board President Chad Griffin for assembling such an all-star team.

More from Pam Spaulding at PHB and Chris Geidner at Law Dork ...

Julian Bond, Lt. Dan Choi and Judy Shepard Among Announced Speakers at National Equality March

The National Equality March released the list of speakers for the rally on the Capitol's West Lawn on October 11. The announced speakers include veteran civil rights activist and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, who endorsed the march in August.

The entire list, AFTER THE JUMP.

The organizers write:

 

More than 30 speakers, representing the diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its straight allies, will take the stage at a rally following the march on the west lawn of the Capitol.

Longtime gay activist David Mixner will [be] on the stage [with] the national co-chairs of the march, Cleve Jones, Lt. Dan Choi, and Nicole-Murray Ramirez. Co-directors of the march, Kip Williams and Robin McGehee, also will be speaking. Civil rights leader Julian Bond, will be one of the featured speakers. Bond was a founder Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and today serves as Board Chairman of the NAACP, the country’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Bond likens the National Equality March to the Civil Rights March of 1963. 'We had a dream and marched on Washington to demand our rights; I am proud to stand with the LGBT community as they march for theirs,' he said.

St. Olaf college student Richard Aviles will be speaking on behalf of student activists from across the country, who have organized for the march and are descending on Washington. Also speaking will be Judy Shepard, who lost her son Matthew to a murder motivated by anti-gay hate and who founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation in his memory. The Foundation is dedicated to working toward the causes championed by Matthew during his life: social justice, diversity awareness and education, and equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people."

The NEM has also published route of the October 11 event.

Staceyann Chin is also speaking. The entire list, AFTER THE JUMP.