Results tagged “samesexmarriage”

The Courage Campaign will lace the airwaves in California with a 60-second TV ad version of "Fidelity," which is about a "heartbreaking online video viewed by more than 1.2 million people, making it the most-watched video ever in the history of California politics."

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.)

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.

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:

Anti-gay rights advocate Miss California Carrie Prejean gets to keep her meaningless crown, said Donald Trump. After pageant officials sort of said they would let her keep her head bauble yesterday, even though it wasn't really their decision to make, Trump gave his final seal of approval, saying that the half-nude photos of Prejean, which were taken when she was a teen, were fine. Because she wasn't fat or old. And that he couldn't buy this kind of publicity. Also, regarding Prejean's famous anti-gay tirade masquerading as a sentiment of free speech, Trump said, "She gave a very, very honest answer at the pageant ... It's the same answer the President of the United States gave." Oh, snap! Anyway, case closed on the everyone's favorite lying whore.

Well, would you look at that, California? A state known primarily for lobster rolls and Stephen King just signed into action a bill allowing same-sex marriage. Maine Governor John Baldacci had this to say after signing the landmark bill, "In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions. I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage." What startling logic and clarity, Baldacci. Kudos to you.

"If you are flipping through the channels. I will be on Rachel Maddow at 615 PST," read Mayor Gavin Newsom's prefered form of communication. And so he was, doing a decent job too. (Say what you will about Gavin, but he is as camera-ready as they come.) Newsom chatted with MSNBC's sharpest media darling about LGBT rights, same-sex marriage in Iowa, his run for governor, and more.

Take note, California: the Governor of New York introducing legislation to legalize same-sex marriage. "There is clearly a problem in that those individuals who are gay or lesbian who would live in a civil union are still not entitled to somewhere between 1,250 and 1,300 civil protections" that are afforded to married couples, Paterson said yesterday.

Sure, it's preposterous. Amazing in its unbelievability. But the National Organization for Marriage (a truly vile organization) is something to take notice of, because people believe this shit -- powerful people; people you know; people you like; people you love; people who, let's face it, should be stopped. And the above ad, while riddled with inaccuracy, is the latest attack on civil rights and same-sex marriage. (In related news, you can find an updated map showing who donated to Prop 8, right here.)

Civil rights have really taken center stage today, yes? First, Vermont legalized gay marriage after Governor Jim Douglas vetoed it on Monday. (An aside: will there be some sort of Ben & Jerry's party today in the Castro?) Then, just this afternoon, Washington D.C. says it will recognize same-sex marriage from other states. According to the Washington Post:

The Vermont legislature overrode the Governor's veto of same sex marriage today, making the state that produces Chubby Hubby the fourth state to legalize gay marriage. Just days after Iowa (unlike California) surprised the country by legalizing same-sex marriage, the first state in the U.S. to adopt civil unions is now the very first to legalize marriage for queer couples via legislative action.

Openly gay Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a "homophobe" in the above interview with 365gay.com. The accurate slam came about when Frank was discussing same-sex marriages and the Supreme Court

While lawyers and civil rights advocates agree that Prop 8 will (most likely) be upheld when the State Supreme Court makes its decision, no one can say for sure if forced divorces will affect the 18,000+ couples who were legally married. In what could be the biggest debate in all of this is, well, "is." The wording of Prop 8 reads like this: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Kenneth Starr claimed during this month's hearing that the phrase “is recognized,” even in the present tense, would also nullify existing same-sex marriages that happened in the past. But as Ashby Jones of the Wall Street Journal points out, "Advocates who favor allowing the gay marriages to stand point to a California legal tradition of protecting what are called 'vested rights.' The idea is that if somebody obeyed the law in exercising a right, any new law must be extremely clear in its intent to take away that right." That is to say, if you want a law to work retroactively, said law must be clear about it; the gay marriage ban was not. (Also for comprehensive coverage about civil marriage equality in California, check out Stop8.org.)

According to a Field Poll of 761 registered voters, "48 percent of those surveyed would support a new ballot initiative repealing Proposition 8, while 47 percent would favor keeping the ban in place," according to reports." That is to say, almost of the state of California is complicit in allowing discrimination into the state constitution. Unnerving.

         

Thousands of marchers headed toward Civic Center. Buoyant crowd. Choppers, fixed wing aircraft overhead. More photos to come.

Prop 8 bit starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, Margaret Cho, Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, and more. Oh, and it's good. Real good.

Speaking about today's California Supreme Court agreeing to hear case on same-sex marriage, City Attorney Dennis Herrera had this to say:

A decision has been made. The California Supreme Court has decided to hear the legal issues over Prop. 8, the same-sex marriage ban which passed by razor-thin 52% of the vote, but said it won't issue a stay against the voter-approved same-sex marriage ban. Which is to say, county clerks will not be allowed to resume issuing licenses to queer couples until the case is decided. Prop. 8 is still in effect.

With six separate lawsuits filed to ask the state Supreme Court to overturn Prop. 8, we could find out as soon as, well, any second now if the state's highest court will review the constitutionality of a proposition that bans same-sex couples from getting married. Both sides of Prop 8, in fact, are eager to to get some sort of final word on this controversial civil-rights issue that's made worldwide headline since elections day. (Even Yes On 8 attorney Andrew Pugno says, "It’s just in everybody’s interest to get it done now.”) According to KCBS, "the court could choose not to hear those cases at all and return the matter to a lower court," which would mean more litigation in the future. Ugh. But another silver-lined possibility is a stay being issued, one that would allow same-sex marriages to resume until all the final decision is handed down.

We briefly touched on this yesterday, that someone at City Hall had a heart attack during the celebration cum protest. According to SF Weekly, local AIDS activist Michael Petrelis saw what went down. Apparently, a local troubadour -- who might or might not be named "Joni" or "Francis" or... something -- was singing a song of love to Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon just before going into cardiac arrest:

Just in time for the legalization of homosexual marriage, and for those of you who don't feel like getting married anywhere near the grimy Civic Center, Heart of the Castro Wedding Chapel opened its door yesterday. Located in, well, the heart of the Castro at 18th Street and Hartford, they promise to get Party A and Party B hitched while celebrating you "as human beings, without judgment, without discrimination, and without shame."

We like the homeless, and we loathe talking too much shit about folks without homes because (arguably) it's like kicking a dog while it's down. Homeless people not only fill out the other end of the bell curve of living the capitalist lifestyle (thanks, guys!), but they're also the eyes and ears of this city when it comes to reporting crimes and seeing brutal things go down in neighborhoods where most of you would never dream of going.

                            

Exciting stuff, folks.

Always up for a round of fair-and-balanced reporting, SFist had the wonderful opportunity this afternoon to speak with Pastor Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church and ask him a few questions regarding his thoughts on same-sex marriage in California, which is set to be legal today at 5:01 p.m. Phelps is set to hit the steps of City Hall in protest at the same time.

Ha ha. Our mayor is better than yours. Why? Because Gavin Newsom wrote a thoughtful post for the Daily Kos regarding today's state Supreme Court gay marriage percolation. Cool, right? Sure, we're confused, jealous, and sad that he didn't turn to SFist first. But while we go hit the bottle to squelch this ego blow, we urge you to read his words of inspiration and shocking clarity:

Check out the anti-gay truck motoring around town today. Isn't it adorable? Fortunately for it, it lacks any "anti-oak tree" or "pro-Marine recruitment" signage, which would've really pissed off locals Bay Area do-gooders.