California

SAN FRANCISCO -- California education officials took the first step this week toward complying with a law that requires public schools to include prominent gay people and gay rights' milestones in the curriculum, adopting a set of classroom material guidelines that prohibit "pejorative descriptions" based on sexual orientation and gender identity. [ Read more → ]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Transgender students would have the right to use public school restrooms and participate on sports teams that correspond with their expressed genders under a bill approved Thursday in the California Assembly. [ Read more → ]

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco lawmaker said Tuesday that he has abandoned a proposal to rename San Francisco International Airport after slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk and instead plans to pursue getting an airport terminal named in Milk's honor. [ Read more → ]

SAN FRANCISCO — Racing to stanch a flow of criticism, the president of San Francisco's annual gay pride celebration said Friday night that the U.S. Army private charged in a massive leak of U.S. secrets to the WikiLeaks website will not be an honorary grand marshal after all. [ Read more → ]

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Army private charged in a massive leak of U.S. secrets to the WikiLeaks website has been named as a grand marshal of San Francisco's annual gay rights parade, a choice that was immediately condemned by several groups representing gay and lesbian service members. [ Read more → ]

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles scout leaders say the Boy Scouts of America's proposal to lift the ban for gay youth members, but continue to exclude gays as adult leaders, does not go far enough. [ Read more → ]

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court is to hear arguments Wednesday on whether a first-of-its-kind law that prohibits licensed mental health professionals in California from offering therapies aimed at making gay and lesbian teenagers straight violates the civil rights of practitioners and parents. [ Read more → ]

LOS ANGELES -- The brother of Brett Shaad, the 33-year-old West Hollywood man who died Saturday after contracting a deadly strain of bacterial meningitis, is lashing out over media coverage of his brother's death. [ Read more → ]

LOS ANGELES — A 33-year-old West Hollywood man who felt sickened by bacterial meningitis earlier this week has been declared brain dead amid warnings to sexually active gay men about the deadly strain of illness, officials said. [ Read more → ]

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Officials warned sexually active gay men on Friday to beware of a potentially deadly health threat after a case of bacterial meningitis was detected in Los Angeles County. [ Read more → ]

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A former Marine accused in the beating of a man outside a Long Beach gay bar will be extradited from Illinois to face felony hate crime charges. [ Read more → ]

SAN FRANCISCO — A bill aimed at pressuring the Boy Scouts of America to lift its ban on gay members by making the organization ineligible for nonprofit tax breaks cleared its first vote on Wednesday in the California Legislature. [ Read more → ]

SAN FRANCISCO -- California lawmakers are considering making the Boy Scouts of America and other youth groups that do not accept gay, transgender or atheist members and leaders ineligible for some state tax exemptions. [ Read more → ]

DAVIS, Calif. — Bail has been raised nearly sevenfold to $520,000 for a teenager facing hate crime allegations in the brutal beating of a Northern California man. [ Read more → ]

Embattled folk singer Michelle Shocked, who last weekend stunned a San Francisco audience with an anti-gay rant, tweeted Friday that she still plans to appear at a California club on Saturday, even though the venue cancelled her appearance due to her homophobic remarks. [ Read more → ]

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council approved a $1.25 million settlement Wednesday to a current and former officer who accused the Police Department of discriminating against them and harassing them because they are lesbians. [ Read more → ]

HESPERIA, Calif. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California on Monday demanded that officials at a a San Bernardino County high school step in to end discrimination against gay students by teachers and administrators. [ Read more → ]

DAVIS, Calif. -- Police in Davis, Calif., have identified a suspect in a brutal attack on a gay man last weekend, and said they were investigating the violent beating as a possible hate crime. [ Read more → ]

ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- Hundreds of gay rights advocates staged a "kiss in" and peaceful protest at a Califonria mall on Saturday where just one week earlier, a gay couple said they were ejected for holding hands and kissing each other. [ Read more → ]

ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- A gay couple in California said they were kicked out of a local shopping mall because they kissed each other and held hands in public. [ Read more → ]