On Thursday the California Supreme Court ruled that ProtectMarriage.com, the official proponent of Proposition 8, has legal standing to challenge the 2010 decision by District Judge Vaughn Walker which overturned the ban on same-sex marriage. Now that the issue of standing has been settled, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will be able to decide the case on its merits and determine whether or not Prop 8 is unconstitutional. Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage, a key Prop 8 contributor, stated that while he fully expects the Ninth Circuit to invalidate Prop 8 and find "some phony right to same-sex marriage in the U.S. Constitution", he nevertheless expects victory "once this case gets out of San Francisco" and reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.
On July 14th, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed theFAIR Education Act, which would "amend the [California] Education Code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people" as well as "prohibit discriminatory instruction and discriminatory materials from being adopted by the State Board of Education." Now children who attend public schools in California will learn about great LGBT Americans such as Harvey Milk, who was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. However, religious right groups in California seek to repeal the law by way of a voter referendum. The Capitol Resource Institute, the major backer of the referendum, needs to get roughly 500,000 signatures for it to qualify for the ballot. In order to get these signatures, opponets of the law (SB48) are engaging in a dishonest smear campaign against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, as can be seen in the videos below:
In light of this, the Courage Campaign filed a complaint that the StopSB48 group is violating California Elections Code, Section 18600, which states that every person is guilty of a misdemeanor who:
(a) Circulating, as principal or agent, or having charge or control of the circulation of, or obtaining signatures to, any state or local initiative, referendum or recall petition, intentionally misrepresents or intentionally makes any false statement concerning the contents, purport or effect of the petition to any person who signs, or who desires to sign, or who is requested to sign, or who makes inquiries with reference to it, or to whom it is presented for his or her signature.
(b) Willfully and knowingly circulates, publishes, or exhibits any false statement or misrepresentation concerning the contents, purport or effect of any state or local initiative, referendum, or recall petition for the purpose of obtaining any signature to, or persuading or influencing any person to sign, that petition.
The Courage Campaign is currently asking for people to co-sign the complaint.
Seth's Law, named for a 13-year-old California student who hung himself in his backyard after bullies targeted him for being gay, has passed the CA state senate and is expected to be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. Seth's Law will "make schools provide bullying complaint forms on their websites, give schools a timeline to investigate and resolve complaints and have them post policies throughout campuses."
"RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A federal judge Tuesday ordered the government to stop banning openly gay men and women from serving in the military under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips found the policy unconstitutional in September. On Tuesday, she rejected an Obama administration request to delay an injunction and ordered enforcement of the 17-year-old policy permanently stopped.
The Justice Department has 60 days to appeal. Legal experts say the government is under no legal obligation to do so and they could let Phillips' ruling stand.
The federal government is reviewing the ruling and has no immediate comment, said Tracy Schmaler, spokesman for the Justice Department.
"Don't ask, don't tell" prohibits the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members but bans those who are gay from serving openly. Under the 1993 policy, service men and women who acknowledge being gay or are discovered engaging in homosexual activity, even in the privacy of their own homes off base, are subject to discharge.
Phillips declared the law unconstitutional on Sept. 9 after a two-week nonjury trial and said she would issue a nationwide injunction. But she asked first for input from Department of Justice attorneys and the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay rights group that filed the lawsuit in 2004 to stop the ban's enforcement.
The Log Cabin Republicans asked her for an immediate injunction so the policy can no longer be used against any U.S. military personnel anywhere in the world.
"The order represents a complete and total victory for the Log Cabin Republicans and reaffirms the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians in the miltiary for fighting and dying for our country," said Dan Woods, an attorney for the Log Cabin group.
Government attorneys objected, saying such an abrupt change might harm military operations in a time of war. They had asked Phillips to limit her ruling to the members of the Log Cabin Republicans, a 19,000-member group that includes current and former military service members.
The Department of Justice attorneys also said Congress should decide the issue — not her court.
Phillips disagreed, saying the law doesn't help military readiness and instead has a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed services by hurting recruiting during wartime and requiring the discharge of service members with critical skills and training.
She said the law violates the free-speech and due process rights of service members after listening to the testimonies of military officers who have been discharged under the policy. Legal experts say the Obama administration could choose to not appeal her ruling to end the ban — but Department of Justice attorneys are not likely to stay mum since Obama has made it clear he wants Congress to repeal the policy.
"The president has taken a very consistent position here, and that is: 'Look, I will not use my discretion in any way that will step on Congress' ability to be the sole decider about this policy here,' " said Diane H. Mazur, legal co-director of the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara that supports a repeal.
Gay rights advocates say they worry they lost a crucial opportunity to change the law when Senate Republicans opposed the defense bill earlier this month because of a "don't ask, don't tell" repeal provision.
If Democrats lose seats in the upcoming elections, repealing the ban could prove even more difficult — if not impossible — next year.
Woods said the administration should be seizing the opportunity to let a judge do what politics has been unable to do.
The Associated Press and NBC News contributed to this story. "
Howard Mintz of San Jose Mercury news reported throughout the Prop 8 trial. Now he brings us the news that Judge Vaughn Walker has overturned California's ban on same-sex marriage, finding it unconstitutional.
Read the full article here.
Howard Mintz maintained a live blog throughout the Prop. 8 trial and is now doing the same for closing arguments. Check this link throughout the day for updates.
The Associated Press reported that on Friday, counsel for Proposition 8 sponsors filed new arguments for Chief U.S Judge Vaughn Walker to consider. The new arguments claim that same-sex marriages would undermine heterosexual marriages by opening the door for polygamist marriages, among other things. Plaintiffs' counsel states that there is no evidence to support that claim.
Check back for updates on the scheduling of closing arguments in this case.
Neil Broverman of The Advocate reports on the NOM investigation taking place in Maine. NOM would like to delay the investigation until a pending lawsuit is decided. You can read Neil's article HERE.
NOM is the National Organization for Marriage. It was active in both the Yes on 8 campaign in California as well as the Yes on 1 campaign in Maine. It has produced ads such as "The Gathering Storm" intended to intimidate voters by suggesting that same-sex marriage would be dangerous to children, heterosexual marriages, and to families in general. You can view the outrageous video on YouTube. There are responses to the video that can also be seen on YouTube... here is one of them called Weathering the Storm.
Below is the article from the AP as seen on Yahoo News:
Wed Jan 27, 8:56 am ET
LOS ANGELES – The online dating service eHarmony has agreed to settle a California lawsuit that claimed it discriminated against homosexuals.
Under a proposed settlement filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, eHarmony will link its straight and gay Web sites and allow people to use both without paying double fees.
Plaintiff's attorney Todd Schneider says the company also agreed to pay about $500,000 to an estimated 150 Californians to settle the class-action suit, plus around $1.5 million in court and attorney's fees.
The company didn't admit any wrongdoing.
A judge must approve the settlement. A court date is scheduled for Feb. 3.
Howard Mintz of MercuryNews.com has been in the courtroom everyday blogging about the Prop 8 trial. Below is a link to his day-by-day coverage. Prop 8 trial: Day-by-day
