California NOW

Paid Family Leave Can Help Ease Impacts of Budget Cuts for Workers with Seriously Ill Family Members!

Workers whose disabled family members' care is threatened by state budget cuts need to know that Paid Family Leave may help!

While the Budget Conference Committee "[d]oes not adopt the Governor's proposals to eliminate Adult Day Health Care," budget cuts are likely and it is critical for low-income workers to know about their rights under California's Paid Family Leave law.

The vote will be soon, and may result in reduction of "Adult Day Health coverage to three days per week for a savings of $26.8 million." For more information on the Budget Conference Committee, click here.

Please let others know that:

- Paid Family Leave may be taken intermittently. For example, a worker can take PFL two days per week to provide care for a family member with a serious health condition! The PFL law does not have a minimum number of days or even hours - just a maximum of 6 weeks per year, which can be spread out over one year.

- Paid Family Leave may be used while a worker directly provides care or makes arrangements for a third party to provide care for a family member with a serious health condition.

- Paid Family Leave is employee-funded from deductions that have already been taken from workers paychecks, making it that much more important that workers know their Paid Family Leave rights!

Also, please let us know if you shared this information to help a working family caregiver through these tough economic times! Email info@paidfamilyleave.org or call 800-880-8047.

Disney, Girl Power, and Emily Yeung

I had no idea Disney Playhouse was doing these spots with Emily Yeung. Thanks to Renee of Womanist Musings for introducing me to these. It gives me some hope that Disney may be breaking out of the girl=princess mold.  These spots would actually encourage me to let my daughter watch the Disney Channel!

Family Court Work Update

Here is some information from the California Protective Parents' Association on upcoming events for Family Court reform. California NOW co-sponsored a Family Court Domestic Violence forum with CPPA this past weekend, and we plan to continue working with the over the coming months.

June 11, 2009. There will be a full day community dialogue on California family court from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm at the Hayward/Union City Room, Alameda County Conference Center, 125 12th Street, Oakland, CA. This event is sponsored by Supervisor Gail Steele of the Alameda Board of Supervisors and the Center for Judicial Excellence. The documentary Family Court Crisis: Our Children At Risk will be shown. Please go to www.centerforjudicialexcellence.org for more information.

June 25 - 26, 2009. Alison Urdan from CA Protective Parents Association is meeting with protective parents and their supporters in San Diego on Thursday, June 25 and in Los Angeles on Friday, June 26. We are hoping to unite California into an even stronger coalition with the goal of making family courts safe for battered women and abused children. If you would like to join in these monthly organizing meetings, please contact Alison.

Ongoing. Researcher Geraldine Stahly, Ph.D. would like to continue gathering confidential surveys even after the current data is published (we don’t have a publishing date yet). A huge thank you to all the participants in this crucial project. It will document the problems in family courts nationally. We have over 360 surveys from our email list of about 1200 protective parents. We recently added a confidential DV chart and a system to grade professionals to the survey packet. Grade results can be found at www.distinctioninfamilycourts.com. Please let CPPA know if you are interested in completing an email survey. Cppa00@aol.com.

If You Can't Meet With Us, Meet in the Middle!

If you can't make it to the CA NOW Annual Membership Meeting/State Conference in Berkeley this Saturday, go to Fresno for the Meet in the Middle for Equality event to protest the Prop. 8 decision and work towards marriage equality for all Californians!

Quotes on the Prop. 8 Decision

Some quotes on the Prop. 8 decision:

California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, in his dissent: 
“The rule the majority crafts today not only allows same-sex couples to be stripped of the right to marry that this court recognized in the Marriage Cases, it places at risk the state constitutional rights of all disfavored minorities. It weakens the status of our state Constitution as a bulwark of fundamental rights for minorities protected from the will of the majority.”

NOW President Kim Gandy:
"Today's decision by the California Supreme Court to uphold Prop 8 is a devastating setback, but I believe it will be another galvanizing moment in the struggle for equal marriage. We commend the court for allowing to stand the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place under the court's earlier decision. NOW members will be out in force at protests in California and across the country Tuesday and in coming days. And we will continue working to right this wrong."

Patricia Bellasalma, President CA NOW:
“Today the California Supreme Court denied basic equal protection of the laws by a simple majority, because Prop. 8 only ‘carves out a narrow exception’ to applying equal protection of the laws. Yes, we will join our sisters and brothers to overturn what a simple majority has done, and fight to successfully amend the constitution to provide equal marriage rights to same-sex couples. We will also fight, calling on all of our coalition partners, to ensure that a simple majority never again has the power to ‘carve out a narrow exception’ to equality and justice for all.”

Janice Rocco, NOW’s Southwest Regional Director:
“The court has permitted a bare majority of voters to eliminate the fundamental rights of a minority. The act of writing discrimination into our state’s constitution is a shameful chapter in our state’s history. The attitudes and long-held beliefs that allowed a slim majority to pass this discriminatory initiative are changing rapidly and soon the majority will support equal marriage rights. Those of us who fight for equality know that it won’t be long before we are successful in amended the constitution to provide equal marriage rights to same-sex couples. This is one of the most significant civil rights issues of our time and today’s decision is devastating for same-sex couples and all those who support equality and justice for all.”

Take Action Against Prop. 8 Decision

In a 6-1 decision, the California Supreme Court allowed a majority vote to deny equal rights under the law to a protected minority group.

Now that equal rights can be denied, who will be next?

Here are some quick things you can do to take action against the Prop. 8 decision:

Order a free marriage equality sticker from Credo

Watch the new "Fidelity" video from the Courage Campaign, and the "Won't Back Down" video from HRC, and pass them on to your friends, family, and coworkers.

Then sign the Courage Campaign pledge to repeal Prop. 8!

Sign the Love & Equality pledge!

Attend one of the "Day of Decision" events planned across the state and country to protest the Prop. 8 ruling! Find a California event here.

Donate to help our efforts to overturn Prop. 8 at the ballot box in 2010!

Wear our Marriage Equality shirt with pride.

Prop. 8 Upheld, Same-sex Marriage Equality on Hold

We are profoundly disappointed that the Court has permitted a bare majority of voters to enshrine inequality in our state Constitution and to deprive an entire class of Californians of the fundamental freedom to marry. Today’s decision is out of step with where the country is heading, as the recent victories in Iowa and Vermont make clear.

By upholding Prop 8, the Court has diminished its legacy as a champion of equality. No minority group should have to defend its right to equality at the ballot. The Court’s decision jeopardizes every minority group in California.

Because the Court upheld Prop 8, it is now crystal clear that we must go back to the ballot, and we are going to win.

We are relieved the Court protected couples who married before November 5. The presence of thousands of married same-sex couples across California will show those who don’t yet know us that marriage strengthens families and communities and threatens no one.

Since the vote on Prop 8, there has been a tidal wave of momentum in favor of full equality. Five states (Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont) now embrace marriage equality for same-sex couples, and several more are on the brink. We believe that California voters will reverse this injustice at the ballot. California has been a leader in standing up for equality, and it will be again.

Banning same-sex couples from marriage is unfair. Same-sex couples have the same hopes, dreams and concerns for their families as everyone else. They should be allowed the dignity, recognition, and responsibility that come with marriage, just like everyone else.

Now begins the work of restoring equality as soon as possible, doing what is needed to lay the foundations for another vote. What was taken away at the ballot box can be restored at the ballot box. Together, we need to determine the best time and methods to run a winning campaign. Together, we need to make our case and move at least five percent of the voters through direct engagement with diverse communities. And together, and individually, we must talk to our neighbors in every community and corner of the California. This will take time and a united community – but together, we can and will do it.

Read the full decision here.

Prop. 8 Decision Will Be Announced on Tuesday

The California Supreme Court has stated that they will announce their decision in the Prop. 8 case on Tuesday, May 26th, as we suggested last Wednesday. We will make an announcement on Twitter as soon as we hear the ruling, and will send an email announcement to all our alert subscribers. Send us an email to sign up for our alerts. 

Whichever way the decision falls, please bring your NOW rounds and join one of the "Day of Decision" events planned across the country. Find a California event here.  You can also buy our Marriage Equality shirt to support our efforts to undo Prop. 8!

Prop. 8 Decision Announcement Delayed

The California Supreme Court was expected to announce their decision in the Prop. 8 case tomorrow, but it has not appeared on the court's forthcoming opinions calendar.  Police barricades being placed in San Francisco's Castro district today indicate that the decision is expected shortly.

Rumor has it that San Francisco Mayor (and Gubernatorial candidate) Gavin Newsom requested that the court delay the announcement so that it would not coincide with the 30th anniversary of the White Night riots following the lenient sentencing of Dan White in the murder of LGBT activist and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. 

It is most likely that the announcement will come next Tuesday, May 26.  The Court releases decisions on Mondays and Thursdays, with 24 hours advance notice, but Monday's Memorial Day holiday would delay the announcement an extra day.  There are only two other possible days for the decision to be announced: May 28 or June 1.

Whichever way the decision falls, please bring your NOW rounds and join one of the "Day of Decision" events planned across the country.  Find a California event here.

Marriage Equality Update

While we wait for the California Supreme Court's decision on Prop. 8, California Assemblymember Julia Brownley has introduced a resolution calling for the immediate repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  DOMA, passed in 1996, forbids federal recognition of same-sex marriages, and allows states without marriage equality to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages that were legally performed in other states. The President still won't take a position on overturning DOMA, or on how to cope with the increasing number of Americans whose marriages won't be recognized if they move to another state. Currently, five states have legal same-sex marriage, and the problem of recognition will only continue to grow as more states join them.

The California Supreme Court will release their decision in the Prop. 8 case no later than June 5th. The California Courage Campaign is currently holding a survey asking whether we should work to overturn Prop. 8 on the 2010 ballot, or the 2012 ballot.  You can vote until 5 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday).