U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips of Riverside ordered the U.S. military to "immediately halt all discharges of openly gay personnel under 'don't ask, don't tell,' a policy she declared unconstitutional last month." Phillips, according to reports, said that "expert testimony and studies from other nations with different policies found no evidence that allowing gays to serve reduced military effectiveness." Which: duh. [Chron] more ›

Judge Vaughn Walker, the federal judge who last week overturned Proposition 8, California's same sex marriage ban, issued a ruling to lift the stay on same sex marriage in California. The majority of the crowd gathered at City Hall, as expected, is elated. more ›

For those of you interested in Walker's decision in its entirety, you read the full Proposition 8 decision. Judge Vaughn Walker found California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional under both the equal protection clauses and due process. more ›

Today, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled Proposition 8 -- California's discriminatory same-sex marriage ban -- unconstitutional. Here are some scenes from outside the San Francisco Federal Courthouse shortly after Walker's decision was announced. more ›

Proposition 8 has been ruled unconstitutional, according to New York Magazine who had early word on today's ruling... more ›

Care of the Contra Costa Times, reporter Matt O'Brien tells us about 10 Prop. 8 Rallies happening after today's Prop 8 ruling announcement. more ›

After ruling today that disgraced BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle will, in fact, stand trial for the New Year's Day killing of Oscar Grant, Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay said the following. more ›

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

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

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." more ›

After much speculation this week, the California State Supreme Court will announce its official decision on Prop 8, the gay marriage ban, on Tuesday, May 26 Here's what will go down the day before the ruling is announced: more ›

Next Wednesday, March 4, vigils all over the country will take place the day before the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the validity of Prop 8, the same-sex marriage ban that passed in November. The love of couples and families across California, for lack of a better cliche, hang in the balance. And while many of you are too indie-rock to care about something as jejune marriage or faggotry, this ban, if allowed into the state constitution, splits open Pandora's Box to even more constitutional discrimination in the future. more ›

Going against the wishes of state workers' unions that said the governor's plan to save $1.3 billion with unpaid time off was both illegal and unconstitutional, Judge Patrick Marlette ruled this morning that Schwarzenegger can order two furlough days a month. That is to say, Arnold can now force state workers to take days off a month without pay. "The current circumstances constitute an emergency," said Marlette, citing California's budget crisis and lack of funds. The furloughs will start next week. Enjoy your days off. Or not. more ›

That's it. Former KGO radio host Bernie Ward gets seven years and three months in the clink for sending child pornography over the Internets. A former Roman Catholic, Ward sent images where "children depicted were as young as 2 or 3 and were subjected to the most horrific torment of their lives," according to CBS 5. Ward initially claimed that his child pornography culling was all part of research for some book, but "the influence of alcohol" has gotten in the way. (What?) The disgraced radio personality will also "participate in an alcohol abuse recovery program." more ›

This morning the California state Supreme Court ruled that doctors "must treat gays and lesbians the same as any other patient." What a novel idea, right? It all started back in 2000 when Guadalupe Benitez, a Southern Californian queer with baby fever, sued North Coast Women's Care Medical Group and two of its doctors in Vista for refusing to inseminated her because of their (alleged) Christian beliefs. Today's ruling, S142892, now means that California quacks can no longer use whatever mystical religious spell they're under as an excuse not to treat queer patients or as a defense in court. (SFGate) more ›

More time is being wasted over in Berkeley over those damn oak trees. This time the Berkeley City Council voted last night that they it "will not seek a stay of a judge's order allowing UC Berkeley's athletic center project to proceed," according to CBS 5. Good. Also, many of the protesters, who awesomely are starting to view themselves as Christ-like figures as of late, held a small rally outside Berkeley City Hall last night. And this is our favorite quote from one of the pro-oak grovists: more ›

While police have tried to starve and cutoff supplies to the few remaining protesters up in the UCB oak grove, another tree-sitter was arrested yesterday afternoon at around 5 p.m. Performing yoga exercises on the median strip on Piedmont Avenue in front of the grove of trees, it seems, police arrested someone going by the moniker "Redwood." According to university spokesperson Dan Mogulof, the protester came along "very quietly." more ›

UCB's plans to mow down an oak grove and put up a sports training facility were put on hold. It seems a judge halted the plans until "the university can prove the project would not violate state earthquake-safety laws, a judge ruled Wednesday," says the Gate. The university, though, thinks it's a rule in their favor, keeping "their plan alive, arguing that the center would not violate state law because it would not touch any fault lines." more ›

When did San Diego become so...? more ›

California Supreme Court Judge Chief Justice Ronald George tells the fine folks over at KTVU that last week's overturning to the state same-sex marriage ban, which will then make gay marriage legal in California, was one of his "toughest" rulings yet. Toughest? Hmm, considering all the many cases he's come across, we find it difficult to that a ruling making it legal for Bruce and Geoffrey to register at Crate & Barrel would be there at the top, stress-wise. more ›

Today a major setback struck the final solution, if you will, against the light brown apple moth. Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick ruled that "aerial pesticide sprays must halt over Santa Cruz County until agricultural officials do a full environmental review of their anti-pest program." Even California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, after chitchating with lawmakers and environmentalists, put his foot down, saying that "the state would suspend all aerial sprays across the state until Aug. 17." more ›