LGBTQ news and entertainment
At California Poly State University in San Luis Obispo this week, an anti-gay ‘preacher’ was exercised her freedom of speech on campus to pontificate on the evils of homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
Two students decided to exercise their freedom of expression, too, in their own way.
The crowd was clear on what position they support.
(source)
From Equality California come the results of a recent poll showing more and more support in the Golden State for marriage equality.
Prop 8 is expected to be struck down by the US Supreme Court later this month, but even if it is not, equality supports have the wind at their back if they need to head back to the voters to overturn the noxious law.
According to the recent findings, 55% of Californians favor marriage equality versus an ever dwindling 37%.
Click the pic about for more numbers or head over to EQCA.org
Good news coming out of California about the support for marriage equality there.
Fifty-six percent of adults favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed, with 38 percent against, the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California said late today.
“The more that there’s been acceptable and legal change in other states, the more Californians have been accepting, especially among some of those groups that were strongly opposed,”Mark Baldassare, the group’s president, said by telephone.
Fifty-six percent is a great number – and that number only continues to grow.
I personally believe Prop. 8will be struck down by the Supreme Court in the next 30 days.
However, should I be wrong – and I don’t think I am – it’s good to know we can take this back to the ballot box in 2014 and have the people of California do the right thing, if need be.
Forward.
(source)
A new Field poll shows Californians overwhelmingly support same-sex marriage in their state today by margin of almost 2-1.
According to the poll, conducted February 5-17, 2013, shows that 61% support legalizing same-sex marriage while 32% oppose (7% had no opinion).
A new poll of California voters has been released and shows more support for marriage equality than ever, the AP reports:
The Field Poll found 78 percent support among people 39 and younger and a solid majority of middle-aged residents now back gay marriage — 56 percent.
Even among senior citizens there is 48 percent support, compared with 42 percent against.
Via Towleroad
A law barring so-called conversion therapy for people younger than 18 will still go into effect Jan. 1, 2013, across California after a federal judge denied a request to postpone the law’s official start date.
Judge Kimberly Mueller’s ruling follows Monday’s decision by Judge William B. Schubb, both of whom are from the U.S. district court for the Eastern District of California. Schubb’s decision exempted three therapists from adhering to the law, while Mueller’s decision ensures that the law goes into effect starting January 1, 2013 for all other practitioners.
The attempted injunction was raised by the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, represented by the antigay legal group, the Liberty Counsel.
More at Advocate
I wasn’t blogging at the time, but the 2007 video of San Diego Mayor jerry Sanders’ tearful declaration that he had reversed on same-sex marriage went viral at the time. It is still very moving.
As regular readers of The Randy Report know, I feel marriage equality is one of the most important issues in today’s political arena. I understand how difficult it is for some to reconcile the issue within themselves. Watching this video of Jerry Sanders, it’s striking what emotions the topic brings to bear. I never make light of that, nor do I dismiss it.
Evolution is a slow but undaunted force.
Recently, outgoing Mayor Sanders explained to the Union-Tribune editorial board that supporting marriage equality was the “most important” thing he did as mayor:
Q: What about marriage equality for same-sex couples? [Sanders got national attention when he opposed many fellow Republicans who were backing a 2008 state ballot measure banning same-sex marriage. Sanders said his daughter Lisa, a lesbian, and gay members of his staff in committed relationships should have the same marriage rights as he and his wife. He later testified in the Perry vs. Schwarzenegger lawsuit that led to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturning Prop. 8.]
A: I still get emotional on this one. I think it’s the most important thing I did.
Q: Really, the most important thing you did?
A: Yeah. Equality isn’t something you can quantify. But it’s something that has to be there. I think it’s coming right away. The Supreme Court’s going to take up [the appeal of Prop. 8 supporters] and I think they’re going to let [gay marriage] stand in California because they don’t want to deal with it. The voters are going for it. Young people, that is not even in their concern list. We’re all taught from the day you start school, equality’s very important. And you look at the civil rights movements – this is exactly what this is. And so playing a little part in it, it’s been good.
(source)
The US Supreme Court today received an appeal on the overturn of Prop 8. Chris Geidner reports:
Supporters of California’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying, Proposition 8, have asked the Supreme Court to hear the ongoing challenge to the law in order to reverse an appeals court decision from earlier this year that struck down the amendment as unconstitutional.
Specifically, they ask the court in a filing today to decide “Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.”
Arguing that “[u]nique recognition of a unique relationship in no way disapproves or dishonors other relationships that the State has chosen to recognize differently,” the Proposition 8 proponents ask the court to take the case to correct the “manifest errors” of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and “to return to the People themselves this important and sensitive issue.”
AFER has 30 days to respond to the filing.
The Supreme Court is currently on summer recess and will not announce which cases it will review until this falls.
(h/t JoeMyGod)
As a result of complaints by GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger, the California Fair Political Practices Commission will investigate NOM for campaign finance violations.
Press release from Fred Karger:
In his sworn complaint of May 17th, Karger alleged that NOM did not report over $340,000 that it raised to pass Proposition 8 four years ago.
California joins the state of Maine which is in its third year of its investigation of NOM, the leading anti-gay marriage organization in the country.
One of the 11 missing contributions was $10,000 from presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s Alabama PAC. In addition to the Romney money there were 10 more contributions NOM did not report, including: $150,000 from Michael Casey of Jamestown, RI, $100,000 from Sean Fiedler of New York, NY and $25,000 from NOM Board member Craig Cardon of Mesa, AZ, a General Authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church).
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that it won’t rehear a case in which Proposition 8 had been ruled unconstitutional, setting up a possible fight before the U.S. Supreme Court.
After a three-judge panel in February agreed with Judge Vaughn Walker’s 2010 decision in Perry v. Brown that Proposition 8 violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause and the due process clause, proponents of the law sought an “en banc review.” Such a review would have required judicial evaluation by the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and could have included 11 appellate judges, but a majority of justices voted to deny the rehearing.
Now Prop. 8 backers have 90 days to decide whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting the stage for a national case on marriage equality. If they don’t decide to appeal, then same-sex couples would again begin marrying.
The nation’s most populous state narrowly passed Prop. 8 in 2008 and banned same-sex marriage, which had already been legal but then became outlawed. A federal challenge to the ban, led by American Foundation for Equal Rights and attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies, has been very successful, with wins in federal district court and in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.