Assembly Bill 684 seeks to legalize the growing of hemp for industrial uses -- rope, cloth, oil, all that good stuff. It's not for smoking, okay? Okay?! In fact, the bill. which passed the assembly and heads for the state senate shortly, defines "industrial hemp" as "an agricultural field crop limited to the non-psychoactive varieties of the of the plant Cannabis sativa L."...

San Franciscans awoke last Saturday morning to discover a strange robot had taken control of the horizontal and the vertical on their answering machines: a recorded voice begging victims to support Assembly Bill 266. "Press one to be connected to Assembly Member Ma's office, and ask her to support AB266," the telemarketer offered. Who's responsible for bugging us with politics on our day off? No idea. The author of the recording (at least, the......

Well just look at that big goofy smile on Mark Leno! He's had a good day today, and so have all of California's queers. (And who, in this state, isn't just a little queer in one sense or another?) Assembly Bill 849, which would grant marriage equality to same-sex couples, passed its last hurdle to being considered by the state senate. Although a similar bill lost by five votes a few months ago, this......

Funny, we didn't see this in the Examiner, Chron or Sacramento Bee. Yesterday, the state's Senate Judiciary Committee passed Assembly Bill 849, the "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act," by a vote of five to two. While it's still to early to shout, "Yay for the Gays," it's a big tactical victory for assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), who gutted a languishing agriculture bill to get this reviewed before the Assembly takes recess......

This January, registered California domestic partners will be entitled to most of the same rights and responsibilities as married couples. Our Family Coalition is putting on a free seminar this Saturday in Oakland to explain the new rules....