Members of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus solicited over a million dollars for Equality California, a leftist activist organization that promotes their legislation and donates to their campaigns.
The organization’s mission, according to its website, is to bring “the voices of LGBTQ+ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ+ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating, and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve.”
According to public campaign filings reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation, “Current members of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus collectively solicited more than $1,100,000 for Equality California between 2019 and 2023, while Equality California and its employees donated over $80,000 to caucus members’ campaigns.”
“Under California’s behested payments system, public officials and lawmakers can solicit payments from individuals or organizations to another individual or organization ‘for a legislative, governmental or charitable purpose,’ according to California’s Fair Political Practices Commission,” the report explains. “These payments, often from large corporations, tech companies and non-profits, included sponsorships of Equality California’s Equity Awards, sponsorships of the Los Angeles Equality Awards and sponsorships of the Equality California San Francisco Gala.”
Tax filings reviewed by the DCNF show that Equality California spent $300,000 on lobbying efforts to influence legislation in 2020 and over $250,000 in 2019.
“Democratic California Assemblymember Christopher Ward solicited roughly $680,000 in payments made out to Equality California between 2021 to 2023, according to California’s behested payments system tracker,” the report explains. “Democratic California state Sen. Scott Wiener solicited nearly $150,000 in payments made out to Equality California between 2019 to 2023.”
Equality California donated approximately $14,000 to Wiener’s Senate campaigns and about $8,000 to Ward’s Assembly campaigns. They also promoted the two politician’s legislation, including Wiener’s bill that blocks courts from enforcing out-of-state court orders revoking custody for parents who allowed their children to get sex changes in the state and Wiener’s bill that lowers the penalty for knowingly giving another person HIV.
Both of those bills have since been signed into law.
Read the full report here.
