California

Equality California on Tuesday, announced that opponents of the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act -- also known as SB48 -- have failed to collect the required number of signatures to place a referendum on the November 2012 ballot to overturn the law. [ Read more → ]

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has signed “Seth’s Law,” an anti-bullying measure aimed at giving public schools tools to prevent and address bullying through mandatory policies and systems to help discourage harassment, and track incidents when they do occur. The governor also signed two significant transgender rights bills. [ Read more → ]

A high school water polo coach in Covina, Calif. -- who was fired at the beginning of the school year in August -- is protesting his termination, and claims he was fired because he is gay. [ Read more → ]

San Diego could become the nation's largest to elect an openly gay Republican mayor, as two of the leading GOP contenders in the race for are openly gay, and voters have barely noticed. [ Read more → ]

California’s largest gay rights advocacy group on Wednesday announced it would not lead a ballot campaign to undo Proposition 8, the state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

Brandon McInerney -- accused of murdering gay classmate Lawrence King in February of 2008 at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard -- will be retried on a murder charge, Ventura County California prosecutors announced Wednesday. [ Read more → ]

The following is a simple commercial from openly gay San Francisco mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty. You've probably seen it before but it bears repeating in its proper context. It shows that the loving and raising of children is not something strictly owned by the heterosexual community or a stereotypical nuclear family. [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday granted a stay to a federal judge's ruling that the video recordings of the Prop 8 trial would be released this Friday unless a higher court intervened. [ Read more → ]

Reverend Louis Sheldon, founder of the Traditional Values Coalition -- one of three California “pro-family” organizations leading the effort to overturn California's FAIR Education Act -- invited the Southern Californian press corps to attend a news conference on TVC efforts seeking a ballot initiate to overturn the law. [ Read more → ]

U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Ware on Monday ordered the release of the video and audio tapes of the Proposition 8 trial. In his 16-page ruling, Ware cited the need to preserve the integrity of the federal judiciary and stated that he saw no compelling reason keeping the tapes under seal. [ Read more → ]

On Tuesday, the California Supreme Court heard arguments on an important issue of California law that may affect whether the sponsors of Proposition 8 can continue to pursue their federal court appeal in Perry v. Brown, the case challenging Prop 8 (read background on the... [ Read more → ]

Calling it an "unthinkable blow to California’s democratic system of government if the handful of individuals who sponsored Prop 8 could make decisions for the entire state," Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the NCLR, on Tuesday said that proponents of Proposition 8 should not be allowed to "usurp duly elected officials." [ Read more → ]

The seven-member California Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed troubled, in much the same way a federal appeals panel was troubled last January, to find which power should prevail on whether the "Yes on 8" group should be granted standing to defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

On Tuesday, Sept. 6, the California Supreme Court will hear arguments as to whether there is any authority under California law that gives Yes on 8 the right to appeal a ruling that struck down the state ban on same-sex marriage when state officials decided not to. [ Read more → ]

The California state Senate late Thursday approved “Seth’s Law,” an anti-bullying measure aimed at giving public schools tools to prevent and address bullying through mandatory policies and systems to help discourage harassment and track incidents when they do occur. [ Read more → ]

Prosecutors in the murder trial of an Oxnard, Calif., teen — accused of the execution-style murder of openly gay classmate Lawrence King — vowed on Friday to retry Brandon McInerney, 17, maintaining that the shooting was a premeditated hate crime. [ Read more → ]

A judge in California on Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of an Oxnard teenager accused of the execution-style murder of an openly gay classmate, Lawrence King. [ Read more → ]

A broad coalition of advocacy groups have launched a coordinated effort to protect and educate the public on California’s Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, the landmark legislation that requires that the historical contributions of LGBT Americans to be included in history lessons and classroom textbooks. [ Read more → ]

A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday heard arguments on whether to release videotapes of last year’s historic trial on Proposition 8, in which then-U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. [ Read more → ]

Just what are the Prop 8 proponents trying to hide, and why are they afraid to let the public see their witnesses being cross-examined? We may find out after a hearing on Monday. Also, John Boehner's defense of DOMA is found to be full of junk science, a semi-reprieve for LGBTs fearing deportation, and there's lots of work still to do in Maine. [ Read more → ]