Radicals Fail To Oust Mayor (Press, 28 April 1983)
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Summary: Radicals Fail To Oust Mayor (Press, 28 April 1983)
On 28 April 1983, San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein was on track for a decisive victory in a referendum aimed at removing her from office, which had been initiated by radical groups and discontented homosexuals. Preliminary counts showed that with two-thirds of the votes tallied, Feinstein had garnered 93,383 votes in her favour, while only 19,287 supported her dismissal, giving the Mayor an impressive majority of more than six-to-one. The push to oust Feinstein originated from the White Panthers, a radical political group established during the anti-Vietnam War era of the 1960s. The group successfully gathered over 35,000 signatures to provoke the referendum in response to Feinstein’s advocacy for a bill banning handguns within the city. They accused her of conducting a tyrannical campaign against the constitutional right to bear arms. However, the California Court of Appeals later ruled the handgun ban invalid. Significantly, the referendum also received substantial backing from segments of the homosexual community, largely dissatisfied with Feinstein's decision to veto a proposed "live-in lovers" law. This legislation aimed to provide health insurance benefits to same-sex partners and other unmarried couples, similar to those offered to married couples of city employees. The combination of opposition from the White Panthers and the gay community underscored the challenging political environment faced by Feinstein at the time. Ultimately, as the vote totals indicated a strong preference to retain her as Mayor, Feinstein’s controversial policies and the reactions they provoked highlighted the tensions in San Francisco's sociopolitical landscape during the early 1980s.
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