Джон Верн Бриггс: Калифорниялық саяхатшының өмірі мен мансабы

American politician (1930–2020)

John Vern Briggs (March 8, 1930 – April 15, 2020) was an American politician in the state of California. A Republican, he served in the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. He is perhaps best known for sponsoring Proposition 6 in 1978, also known as the Briggs Initiative, a failed measure which attempted to remove all gay or lesbian school employees or their supporters from their jobs.

Briggs was born in Alpena, South Dakota in 1930 and moved to southern California in 1935, where his single mother struggled to provide a stable home causing Briggs to be sent to foster care for a two year period. He attended Fullerton Union High School and later served in the United States Air Force (1947–51) rising to the rank of Technical Sergeant, seeing action in the Korean Theater. After his stint in the Air Force, Briggs served in the United States Naval Reserve.

Following his retirement from politics, Briggs operated a successful political and business consulting firm for fifteen years. He was a registered California lobbyist from 1983 to 1996. Briggs and his wife moved to Sun City Anthem in 2003, an age restricted community in Nevada where he has run for the community's board of directors. In a campaign statement in 2008 published on the resident created blog, The Anthem Voice, Briggs denied statements made about him in various blogs, and said that he was not an "intolerant person." He stated that he continued to regard singer Anita Bryant (a vocal opponent of gay rights measures in the late 1970s) as "a hero," but he also said that, "with the passage of over thirty years, America has changed — including me." He said that, when he worked with Bryant, he and his wife "not only stood for our principles, but fought for principles as we then saw them." But he also said that the 1970s and 1980s were "a much different America," in which "President Reagan and the country shamefully neglected the AIDS epidemic causing the deaths of thousands." He said that, "like President Reagan, and most of the country, I think differently now, and have put aside the '70s and '80s, and respectfully request others do as well and move on to the civil side of life." He also stated that he was, despite his differences with them, friendly with Harvey Milk and gay activist Randy Shilts.