California NOW

Do the Right Thing, CA Supreme Court!

Get ready! The California Supreme Court rulings on the marriage equality cases is due any day. We'll let you know as soon as we hear, but get ready to rally--in protest or support--as soon as it comes out. (Note the clever choice of phrase.)

In Sacramento, a community response rally, a Celebration of Love and Equality, will be hosted by Equality California at the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center, 1927 "L" ST, Sacramento, 95811, at 7:00 PM on the day the ruling is issued.

Organizers ask you to bring your California flags to illustrate that this ruling affects ALL California families. (You can purchase California flags for $1.00 at The Wishing Well Party Store, 1880 9th ST at the corner of 9th & S, Sacramento 95814.)

Attack on California Lesbian and Gay Couples

Thursday, April 24th was indeed a sad day for lesbian and gay couples and all advocates of equality.  The Equality for All coalition explains,

"Today the right wing extremists that want to unfairly use the laws of California to prevent gay and lesbian couples from getting married are turning in signatures to qualify their proposed marriage ban for the ballot.  They are claiming that they will submit 1.1 million signatures to various county elections officials.  We won't know for several weeks if they have qualified for the ballot but it is highly likely that they will.  That means our work needs to ramp up immediately.  California voters need to understand that the state should not be telling us who can and who cannot get married."

California NOW, as partners in the Equality for All campaign, encourages you to take action now.  We are going to need your involvement to defeat this initiative, should it make it on the ballot.  To find out how you can get involved, visit Equality for All.

The Equality for All campaign is a large and diverse coalition of civil rights, faith, choice, labor and community of color organizations working to stop and defeat any ballot measure that would deny gay and lesbian couples the right to marry in California.

Help Protect LGBT Rights!

  Once again LGBT rights are under attack by members of the religious right.  Efforts are under way to gather signatures for a ballot initiative that would repeal California domestic partnership benefits and amend the California constitution to prohibit same sex marriage.

California NOW is part of the Equality for All coalition, working to defeat this coalition.  That's where you come in!  As Action VP, I am encouraging members across the state to get involved in this effort to ensure the rights of LGBT Californians.  Get more information and sign up to get involved by visiting Equality for All.

Send Your Best Justice Vibes to SF Today

The California Supreme Court today will hear the case of eleven couples suing the state over its law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The court will consider the constitutionality of the law, about which it will declare a ruling within 90 days. My bet is on the plaintiffs because they are on the side of justice, and because the National Center for Lesbian Rights is co-counsel in the case and they kick serious ass.

So, send your strongest pro-justice energy towards San Francisco today, or, heck, head on down to the courthouse to watch it! The hearing is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon today at the courthouse at 350 McAllister St. in San Francisco. It will also be telecast live in the Milton Marks Conference Center in the basement of the court building, also at Hastings College of the Law, 198 McAllister St., first floor auditorium, and in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin St. You can watch it on the California Channel, (channel varies from city to city) or online at www.calchannel.com. In San Francisco, the hearing will also be shown on SFGTV, Channel 26.

Freedom to Marry Week, Feb. 10-16, 2008

Did you hear that conservative organizations are currently utilizing paid signature gatherers in another attempt to put a discriminatory marriage measure on the November 2008 ballot?  Let's  make California ring and start organizing for  Freedom to Marry Week!

Host a local event, have a house party, start a conversation at your house of worship, ask your library, bookseller or book group to read and discuss Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality and Gay People's Right to Marry, have a party where diverse couples — gay and non-gay — and their children can come together, talk about how they can get involved and celebrate each other.

  

Let California Ring!

Thanks to all who worked so hard to Let California Ring in 2007.

The Governator

If you live in California you are in a constant state of breath-holding waiting to see what our Governor will do next. But, some things are becoming all too predictable. Schwarzenegger has sworn he will veto any marriage equality bill that crosses his desk, and that's what he has done again, vetoing Assemblymember Mark Leno’s bill that would have lifted the state's ban on same-sex marriages by defining marriage as a union between two persons, not just a man and a woman. Now we'll have to wait for the state Supreme Court to recognize the obvious unconstitutionality of denying same-sex partners the right to marry. Blogger Greta Christina points out the many ways hetero marriage needs to be changed anyway, and how we should not deny that broadening access to marriage could indeed change the institution (for the better).

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger signed six bills protecting and supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians, including one that extends protections of LGBT youth in juvenile justice centers. He also signed the Student Civil Rights Act, which protects students from harassment and bullying in public schools by making sure teachers and school administrators fully understand their responsibilities to protect youth, and The Safe Place to Learn Act, which further protects LGBT youth making sure that the state's nondiscrimination policies are rigorously enforced.

You never know what to expect from this self-declared "champion for women"...

Mayor Sanders gets it right!

Mayor Jerry Sanders abruptly reversed his public opposition to marriage for same-sex partners and revealed that his adult daughter is a lesbian.  Sanders on Wednesday signed a City Council resolution supporting a challenge to California's gay marriage ban. He previously promised to veto it.

The Republican mayor said he could no longer back the position he took during his election campaign two years ago, when he said he favored civil unions but not full marriage rights for homosexual couples.

He fought back tears as he said he wanted his adult daughter, Lisa, and other gay people he knows to have their relationships protected equally under state laws.

"In the end, I could not look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships — their very lives — were any less meaningful than the marriage that I share with my wife Rana," Sanders said.

Lisa Sanders was unavailable for comment, according to the mayor's spokesman, Fred Sainz. He said she had told her parents four years ago that she is a lesbian and is currently in a committed relationship, but her orientation wasn't public until her father's speech.

The mayor, a former police chief who is up for re-election next year, acknowledged that many voters who supported his earlier stance might disagree with his shift, but said he had to do what he believed was right.  In 2000, 62 percent of San Diego voters endorsed a statewide measure to restrict marriage to a union between a man and woman.  The City Council voted Tuesday 5-3 in favor of joining other California cities to back a lawsuit pending before the California Supreme Court attempting to overturn the gay marriage ban.

Governor - the choice is yours

Support Bill 43, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act.

Call Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It is an automated answering service.    

Call: 916-445-2841 

To vote yes on Bill 43- select 1,2,4,1