Collection Guide
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Finding Aid to the California Proposition 6 Briggs Initiative Collection, 1977-1980
Coll2011.018
Coll2011.018
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Title: California Proposition 6 Briggs Initiative collection
creator:
Bay Area Committee Against the Briggs Initiative (Organization)
creator:
Kight, Morris
creator:
No on the Briggs Initiative Committee (Organization)
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2011.018
Physical Description:
5.5 Linear Feet
3 boxes, 2 cartons, and 1 flat box.
Date (inclusive): 1977-1980
Abstract: Correspondence, clippings, legislative and legal documents, pamphlets, flyers, photographs, financial records, meeting minutes,
event posters, petition forms, memoranda, speakers' manuals, volunteer forms, and other material documenting the campaign
to defeat California Proposition 6, introduced by State Senator John Briggs in 1978. The initiative's intent was to require
the dismissal of public school teachers and schoolworkers who "engaged in advocating, soliciting, imposing, encouraging or
promoting of private or public homosexual acts."
Beginning in 1977, California State Senator John Briggs from Fullerton authored and introduced State Ballot Initiative 6,
also known as the Briggs Initiative, for the November 1978 election. The initiative's intent was to prohibit hiring or requiring
the dismissal of public school teachers and schoolworkers who "engaged in advocating, soliciting, imposing, encouraging or
promoting of private or public homosexual acts." Proposition 6 was defeated in the November 1978 election with 58.4 (No)
to 41.6 (Yes) percent.
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was separated from the ONE Subject Files Collection, Coll2012-001. A portion of the collection was donated
by Morris Kight. The donor and date of the remaining materials are unknown.
[Box/folder #, or item name] California Proposition 6 Briggs Initiative Collection, Coll2011-018, ONE National Gay & Lesbian
Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
Collection processed by Marc LaRocque and Loni Shibuyama, with assistance from Cooper Moll, October 2014.
California Human Rights Advocates Records, Coll2013-035, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of
Southern California.
Coalition for Human Rights (Los Angeles) Records, Coll2011-025, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California
James Goltz and Jean Wood Ethnographic Fieldwork Research on the Committee Against the Briggs Initiative, Los Angeles Chapter,
Coll2014-003, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
Morris Kight Papers and Photographs, Coll2010-008, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club Records, Coll2013-006, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of
Southern California
New Alliance for Gay Equality (New AGE) Records, Coll2011-058, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University
of Southern California.
The collection consists of correspondence, clippings, legislative and legal documents, pamphlets, publicity flyers, photographs,
financial records, meeting minutes, event posters, petition forms, memoranda, speakers' manuals, volunteer forms, and other
material documenting the campaign to defeat California Proposition 6, also known as the Briggs Initiative, in 1978. The bulk
of the collection documents the activities of the three groups organized to oppose the initiative: the No on the Briggs Initiative
Committee (NOBIC) and the Committe Against the Briggs Initiative/Los Angeles (CABI/LA), both based in Los Angeles, and the
Bay Area Committee Against the Briggs Initiative (BACABI) based in San Francisco. The collection also includes legal papers
and other material documenting the activists' lawsuits filed against the Briggs Initiative in an attempt to remove it from
the November 1978 ballot.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Discrimination in employment
Gay teachers
Homosexuality -- Law and legislation -- California
Lesbian teachers
Briggs, John V.
Bay Area Committee Against the Briggs Initiative (Organization)
Kight, Morris
No on the Briggs Initiative Committee (Organization)