Results tagged “prop8”

Unless you're a godless whore who uses contempt for a group of people to make a cheap buck, most young people are in support of gay marriage. Which means, after most of the bigots finally -- finally! -- die off, marriage equality stands a chance.

       

Last year at this time, the gay community (and then some) lost their collective shit over the passing of Prop 8, a pro-discrimination measure that effectively pruned the rights of gay married couples. The passing of the anti-marriage confused and disturbing "Fuck Mormons" banner from his home, while blaming "middle class people" for Prop 8's passing(!); and this handy map of those who donated to Prop 8.

After today's profoundly disappointing news that gay marriage was repealed in the state of Maine -- alas, unadulterated hate wins again -- rallies will be held across the country starting tonight.

The people who sponsored last year's gay marriage ban must hand over certain internal campaign records to lawyers looking to overturn Prop 8. Turning down a request to block their super-special information from being made public, U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, KTVU reports, "said the Protect Marriage campaign had failed to show that providing private e-mails, memos and reports would inhibit the political activities of gay marriage opponents or subject them to unbridled harassment."

This story comes out of Florida, not San Francisco, but it's pretty compelling. See, a few years ago, a hospital refused to let a lesbian, Janice Langbehn, see her dying partner, Lisa Pond, simply because they don't like gays. The couple had three kids together too, which made no difference to the Miami hospital. "[Jackson Memorial Hospital] did everything it could to prevent Langbehn from having any contact with Pond, and succeeded in keeping them apart until Pond died," reported Independent Gay Forum. Very recently, Langbehn sued the hospital and lost, with the court ruling that the hospital is under no obligation to accommodate homos. This is insane; this is inhumane. And as horrible and cruel as it is, this is what the people pushing Prop 8 (and Question 1 in Maine) actually WANT to happen to queer folk.

Turns out that an attorney representing some married gays in a federal court case for marriage equality has his own nefarious yet completely insane reasons for taking on this case - splitting California into two floundering pieces!

Later this evening, President Obama, who has been soft on gay issues thus far during his administration, awarded Harvey Milk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sapphic tennis player Billie Jean King, Sen. Edward Kennedy, thespian Sidney Poitier, Judge Sandra Day O'Connor, and smart guy Stephen Hawking are also among tonight's honorees.

The July 2 issue of Sacramento News & Review, it seems, wasn't the most popular issue of SN&R. Why? Well, the cover story -- featuring a safe couple, Ben and Lonny Phillips-Lesenana, and the headline, "5 easy steps to marriage freedom" -- proved very unpopular with Sacto ilk. So much so that the paper's return rate that week was staggeringly high.

       

A relatively new site called STFU, Marrieds -- created by a presumably very bitter homosexual, one we would love to have a long liquid lunch with one day -- slams married couples and the loveydovey bile they spew on the internet. Pretty mean, right? But also amusing. As the anonymous creator simply puts it:

As some of you know, Marc Leno's pushing a bill that wouldn't change any same-sex marriage laws, just clarify existing ones. See, Leno wants the state of California to recognize gay marriages taking place in other states. It didn't sound too controversial when we first heard about it, but sure enough, some people, like whimsical hate-group the California Catholic Daily, found a reason to object.

The state of Massachusetts has sued the Federal government over the Domestic Marriage Act, claiming that it discriminates against the people, namely gay folks, who want to wed. According to the , "the lawsuit, filed this morning in federal court in Boston, challenges the application of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which [Attorney General Martha] Coakley says prevents gay and lesbian couples here from receiving tax, retirement, insurance, Social Security and other benefits."

American Apparel is offering "Legalize Gay" shirts for those of you who feel the need to (gaudily) show your support for same-sex marriage on your chest. You can even get one for free with a purchase of $50 or more. Cool, huh? But, at the risk of nitpicking, we're not entirely comfortable with a company making money off of discrimination. While American Apparel's heart is in the right place, if Prop. 8 went away, their market for this item would dry up. Maybe they should donate even a scant bit of the proceeds to an equality organization? Like, for example, Act Blue, who need money to help defeat the same people who ran the yes on 8 campaign in California who moved to Maine to crush gay marriage. Or, better yet, something like this. At least then we'd know that some of our money is going towards a good cause rather than being crammed into the sweaty pockets of a tiny little pair of track shorts.

Don't let the Obama's defense of DOMA get you down this Pride season. City Attorney Dennis Herrera just filed a brief in federal court yesterday stating the obvious: Proposition 8 has no constitutionally legitimate purpose. Which is to say, SF has demanded a federal judge to overturn California's unfortunate ban on gay marriage. This latest war tactic against bigotry and slack-jawed mentality "uses a different tactic and argues that Proposition 8 violated the federal constitutional guarantees of due process and equal treatment," according to SFGate. In other Prop 8 news, a census study of gay married couples found striking similarities to husband-and-wife couples. (Pluming fixtures aside, of course.) Also, the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people killed in because of their sexuality are at their highest since 1999. For comprehensive coverage on civil marriage equality in California and elsewhere, please visit Stop8.org.

According to TMZ -- who has been on a relentless pursuit of all things anti-Prejean, ever since she slammed gay marriage on live TV -- the disgraced Miss California title winner lost her crown today because she's not doing her job."Sources connected with the pageant tell us even Donald Trump has now had it with Carrie, because she's violating her contract by not getting clearance to do her extracurricular stuff.," reports TMZ, who go on to say that Carrie "has been a no-show for appearances she was supposed to make for the pageant organization."

"New Hampshire legislators," according to AP, "have approved a measure that would make the state the sixth to allow gay marriage." And Gov. John Lynch will, most likely, sign the legislation sometime this afternoon. The Senate passed the civil rights triumph on Wednesday, with the House approving it later in the day. (The House vote, by the way, was 198-176.) New Hampshire joins Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, and Iowa as the only U.S. state that legally recognize and allow gay marriage. Kudos to you, NH. (An aside: Maine? Vermont? Connectichusetts? Technically, these aren't even real states, California State Supreme Court. So, you know, something to think about.)

              

On Saturday, droves of pro-civil rights citizens and "hundreds" of anti-gay, bigoted types rallied in Fresno for an event called Meet in the Middle for Equality. Newsom wast there so was Charlize Theron. The Bible and God were exploited by religious zealots in favor of the voter-approved ban on gay marriage; and emotional speeches were given by real-life loving homosexuals, having to explain, yet again, that they are, in fact, regular people, not peripheral characters or wacky sidekicks.

At least somebody's using newsstands for something.

A black flag flies over the rainbow flag in the Castro, which was set at half-mast this morning. after the California State Supreme Court ruled to uphold prop 8, the same-sex marriage ban.

For those of you who don't care for loud protests, cannot afford to donate, or don't like signing petitions, here's the best way you can show your support for gay marriage. This cute sticker at right -- tastefully adorned with two twee red hearts, measuring a scant 4.5" x 6" (about the size of a postcard) -- which you can get for free. According to this bizarre political activism and/or mobile communications company called CREDO, who are giving the stickers away, "we want everyone to know that we support marriage rights for all couples -- you can let everyone know that you do, too with one of our awesome stickers! You can get one sticker for free. Buy 5 or 50 stickers; we'll donate the profits to fight for marriage equality. For $5 we'll send you 5 stickers; for $25 we'll send 50 stickers."

Our very favorite "painted whore," Carrie Prejean, the current anti-gay Miss California, has a fun, new comic penned in her honor. With story and lettering by Brian Andersen and art and colors by Michael Troy, the newest superhero comic is called "Saint Carrie of the Divine Pageant: A Tit, a Tat and an Opposite-Marriage Rat."

What are notables saying about the California State Supreme Court upholding prop. 8? Let's find out.

San Francisco police officer Len Broberg, right, hugs Doug Mezzacapo, left, a married gay man, in front of San Francisco City Hall today.

Here it is in all of its confusing glory. In a nutshell, Rota Hao explains, it's because our constitution sucks -- even Mississippi has a provision in their constitution that says "you can't amend this constitution to take away people's fundamental rights" and we don't have that.

The intersection at "Grove and Van Ness [is] corked by 200 protesters, more coming from civic center," says Jim Herd who is live on the scene. Traffic is blocked as far as he can see. Cops are on the scene now. As we already mentioned, there is "lots of screaming at Civic Center plaza...[t]he goal, it seems, is to block all lanes of traffic." The protesters, according to a hurried KRON 4 reporter, plan top stay until they are arrested. (For more updates on what's going on at Civic Center, go here.)

As anticipated, the California State Supreme Court ruled to uphold prop 8, the same-sex marriage ban. That means that gay marriage in the state of California is still considered illegal, effectively stripping away civil rights of many GLBT Californians. The State Supreme court ruled that prop 8 is legal in a 6-1 ruling with justice Marino being the sole holdout.

                     

Some images from the scene in San Francisco before and after the prop 8 ruling. We'll add more images as the day moves on. (Feel free to send your images to editor@sfist.com if you want them to be featured.)

KRON4 has this coverage from earlier this morning of protesters at the ready outside the court where the Prop 8 announcement is set to be announced in just over an hour. They also have a separate video from last night's telecast featuring a quick talk with former SF Assistant D.A., Jim Hammer. Over at the Chron, they're pulling at heartstrings with the story of John Callaway, who was married to his husband of 25 years last summer and whose marriage is one of 18,000 that may face invalidation by the court today -- though likely will not.

At 10 a.m. this morning, the state supreme court will announce its ruling whether to overturn or uphold prop 8, the gay marriage banned that passed last November. The constitutional amendment barely approved by voters, if you recall, "overruled the court's 4-3 ruling from a year ago that briefly legalized same-sex unions."

Meghan McCain, daughter of the Senator and P.O.W. presidential candidate John McCain, wrote an opinion piece in the Daily News today. What it is is this: an open letter to New York Republicans, asking them to support the state's gay marriage legislation, "[n]o matter how politically charged the discussions about marriage equality may get, the question is really a simple one: Do the rights and privileges we offer citizens include everyone in our country, or only some of us? I believe that allowing gays and lesbians the freedom to marry is an idea whose time has come... Equality under the law and personal freedoms are what make America the greatest country in the world, and they are core values that I hold as a Republican." In addition to being all kinds of awesome, McCain is one of the few Republican women who know exactly how to do the whole bottle blond thing. Kudos to you, Meghan. Let's hope the GOP is listening.