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Following last week’s victory in the 9th Circuit, we are now hopeful that weddings of gay and lesbian couples will resume by the end of this year, or even, at the end of this month. And what an incredible day that will be when gays and lesbians are able to marry again in California!Please... They have tried this before and failed in 2010. They also stepped on several toes during that process, however it seemed they didn't learn from their mistakes. So they decided to go at it again, on their own. Many organizations said "no" to their idea. We had research proving that this was not the best time, besides the people wasn't excited about putting marriage on the ballot.
In the meantime, our “backup plan” to put the repeal of Prop 8 on the ballot this November is no longer feasible. Although we have had success so far – our wonderful volunteers, significant donor commitments, our campaign office, and support from numerous leaders and organizations around the state – collecting the 807,615 valid signatures required will likely not happen by mid-April as required to qualify for the November 2012 ballot.
We would need more than $1.5 million in donor commitments to hire a paid signature gathering firm to assist us in this massive effort. In view of the 9th Circuit victory and the narrowness of the ruling, making Supreme Court review less likely, raising the additional funds needed is now not realistic. And, as we have stated, we had no illusions that the initiative could qualify based solely on our statewide volunteer signature gathering effort.
as LGBT Weekly is reporting, Brooke Fantelli, who is apparently a well-known figure in the off-road racing community, was allegedly stopped by a ranger while in the midst of a photo shoot in the Imperial County desert.This is a mess. Was that necessary, officers?
Though the 43-year-old Fantelli had been living as a woman for some time, she had been told by her physician that she needed to live two full years as a female before she could change her California identification. Only when the ranger saw Brooke’s identification card did the hostile interaction begin, according to the report.
Fantelli said the ranger went from referring to her as "ma'am," "her," and "she" to “sir,” "him," and eventually "dude." She said she was eventually told by the ranger that she was being arrested for being drunk in public after consuming beer (Fantelli claims she had two and a half beers, the officer said she had four) before finally being subjected to the excessive force.
"He actually looked me straight in the eye and says, 'You used to be a guy,' and I said, 'Yes, I did.' There was no way around it. I could see it in his eyes. He wanted to do that," Fantelli, who is heard audibly screaming in the video, told San Diego's 10News last month. She went on to note, "It was obvious. He hated me."
He has twice been honored by the university for exceptional police work, including a 2006 incident in which he tackled a scissor-wielding hospital patient who was threatening fellow officers. Afterward, he said he decided against using pepper spray because it might harm his colleagues or other hospital patients.
But an alleged anti-gay slur by Pike also figured in a racial and sexual discrimination lawsuit a former police officer filed against the department, which ended in a $240,000 settlement in 2008. Officer Calvin Chang's 2003 discrimination complaint against the university's police chief and the UC Board of Regents alleged he was systematically marginalized as the result of anti-gay and racist attitudes on the force, and he specifically claimed Pike described him using a profane anti-gay epithet.The activist group Anonymous have posted John's personal info on their site and his pic above is being used for blogs and T-shirts.
“You can’t keep litigating a lawsuit just because you don’t like something – you actually have to be harmed in some way. The simple fact of the matter is that the freedom to marry brings enormous benefit to same-sex couples while harming no one else’s marriage. Accordingly, those who oppose equality have no standing to continue the suit,” said John Lewis, Marriage Equality USA’s Legal Director.The hearing starts at 10am.
“Same-sex couples and their families will once again stand up for their love and dignity by attending the hearing and staging a ‘No Standing for Prop 8’ sit-in beforehand. Lesbian and gay people have been more than patient in their struggle simply to be treated fairly and equally. The time for full equality is now,” said Billy Bradford of Marriage Equality USA.
The proponent of the proposed referendum, Paulo Sibaja, filed a request for a title and summary with the attorney general's office. Sibaja said he acted on behalf of the Capitol Resource Institute, which had officially opposed the bill throughout the legislative process before Gov. Jerry Brown signed it Thursday. Sibaja is the legislative director of that organization.
The Capitol Resource Institute is a hard-line, socially conservative organization that has long opposed efforts in California to expand rights for the LGBT population. Backers eventually would have to collect 433,971 signatures to allow voters to decide whether to keep the law in place or reject it.
Sibaja said that a coalition has formed behind the proposed measure, though he would not name the other members. He said a news conference Wednesday would give more details. When asked how the group planned to fund the referendum, he said, "That's what the press conference will be about."This fools need to get over it!
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| State Sen. Mark Leno sponsored the bill |
Today, the California State Assembly in a 49-25 vote passed a bill that would require schools to fairly and accurately portray the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights movement and the historic contributions of the diverse LGBT community in social science instruction. The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act (SB 48), authored by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would also add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s existing anti-discrimination protections that prohibit bias in school activities, instruction and instructional materials.This is good news for our community.
Studies have shown that inclusion of LGBT people in instructional materials is linked to greater student safety and lower rates of bullying. The bill is co-sponsored by Equality California and Gay-Straight Alliance Network.
“The struggle of the multicultural and multiethnic LGBT community in California is one of the greatest stories yet to be told,” said Equality California Executive Director Roland Palencia. “The FAIR Education Act will ensure that public schools acknowledge the heroism of individuals and communities who in spite of countless barriers continuously overcome adversity.”
Palencia added, “For decades, LGBT leaders have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for all Californians. LGBT leaders were heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the farm workers’ movement, the women’s movement, and have built health and human services institutions that now serve millions of Californians. It is time for history to accurately depict our community’s contributions.”
The FAIR Education Act would bring classroom instruction into alignment with existing non-discrimination laws in California and would add the LGBT community to the existing list of underrepresented cultural and ethnic groups, which are covered by current law related to inclusion in textbooks and other instructional materials in schools. By including fair and accurate information about the rich and diverse history of LGBT people in instructional materials, SB 48 will enrich the learning experiences of all students and promote an atmosphere of safety and respect in California schools.
“This is a victory not only for the LGBT youth in California who have been fighting to be heard in Sacramento and represented in their history classes, but also for all California youth who deserve to learn a fair and accurate account of California and US history,” said Carolyn Laub, Executive Director of Gay-Straight Alliance Network. “By passing the FAIR Education Act, the Assembly has taken an unprecedented step to reduce bullying, increase safety for all students, and teach students to respect each other's differences.”
“We are selectively censoring history when we exclude LGBT Americans, or any other group of people, from our textbooks and instructional materials,” said Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). “We can’t tell our youth that it’s OK to be yourself and expect them to treat their peers with dignity and respect when we deliberately deny them accurate information about the historical contributions of Americans who happened to be LGBT.”
The bill now heads to the Governor’s desk.
Nevertheless, even the relatively cautious Linear Model predicts that 54 percent of Californians would vote against a measure like Proposition 8 if one were on the ballot next year, while 55 percent of Oregonians would vote against a ban on same-sex marriage like the one the state’s voters approved in 2004. Neither prediction seems too far out of line: Oregon’s marriage ban was rejected by 43 percent of voters seven years ago, and California’s by 48 percent two years ago, and public opinion has shifted meaningfully in favor of same-sex marriage since then.Interesting, there has been a lot talk about this. I wonder if this will steer the LGBT community back to the ballot in 2012. I'm so not sure, but this will make great conversation here in Cali-Cal.
In it, she argued that only public officials exercising the executive power of government have authority to represent the state when laws passed by voters or the Legislature are challenged.I greatly appreciate Kamala's firm stance on this issue. I'm glad she is fighting for us.
“California law affords an initiative’s proponents no right to defend the validity of a successful initiative measure based only on their role in launching an initiative process,” Harris wrote.
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Harris contended in her brief that rather than empowering citizens, granting the sponsors of initiatives the ability to overrule the governor and attorney general’s judgment “would rob the electors of power by taking the executive power from elected officials and placing it instead in the hands of a few highly motivated but politically unaccountable individuals.”
Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware said Wednesday he was fast-tracking the motion involving his retired predecessor, former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker.Basically, the haters think Walker was being unfair. Interesting, considering that they are being bigots about all of this. That's unfair.
Lawyers for the sponsors of the voter-approved ban asked Ware to vacate Walker's August 2010 decision overturning the ban as a violation of gay Californians' civil rights.
Backers of Proposition 8 said Walker should have recused himself or disclosed his relationship status before trial to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The judge, who left the bench at the end of February, recently revealed that he has been in a relationship with the same man for 10 years, but said he never considered removing himself from the case.
If implemented, the measure, which would revise social science textbooks, could have effects beyond California. The state is a major purchaser of educational texts, and publishers often produce books tailored to California that other states use as well.
The proposal would require that social science texts and other instruction include "a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans … to the economic, political and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society."
"In light of the ongoing and ever-threatening phenomenon of bullying and the tragic result of suicides, it seems to me that better informed students might be more welcoming in their approach to differences among their classmates," Leno said in an interview. "Students would better understand that we are talking about a civil rights movement."
Some gay high school students said they welcomed Leno's effort, which they said would make them feel less isolated. It would show that non-heterosexuals "have contributed to the U.S. in significant ways," said a 17-year-old at Bell High School.
