California

SFGate.com: Californians, in particular, are watching Maine’s same sex marriage vote closely. And some, like Demi Espinoza, Daniel Shad and Gabe Gonzalez, care so passionately about the issue that they’re giving up their vacation time to volunteer in Maine to preserve gay marriage there. Each is an organizer with Equality California and they’re helping get […]

Oscar-winning writer-director Paul Haggis has severed ties with the Church of Scientology, citing in part the church’s support for Proposition 8, the ballot measure last year that banned same-sex marriage in California. Long known for his humanitarian and civil liberties work, the Canadian-born director (“Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby”) resigned from the organization in a […]

Four gay advocacy groups that include Mormons and former church members released a joint statement Friday disagreeing with points made earlier this week in a speech on freedom of religion by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The statement called the church’s […]

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Francisco refused Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit challenging California’s Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, and ordered a trial on whether the measure denies fundamental rights to gays and lesbians, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker (pictured) has said repeatedly […]

LOS ANGELES — L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Chief Executive Officer Lorri L. Jean issued a statement yesterday, calling Assemblymember Michael Duvall’s extra-marital affairs “despicable.” “Even as he resigns in shame, former California Assemblymember Michael Duvall is wallowing in hypocrisy. While engaging in extra-marital affairs, he used ‘family values’ as a justification to vote against […]

SACRAMENTO — A Republican state assemblyman in California resigned Wednesday amid growing outrage over a videotape that caught him bragging in graphic detail about having sex with a female lobbyist and another woman. Mike Duvall, 54, whose votes on family-oriented bills received high marks from conservatives, said he is quitting because his “inappropriate comments have […]

California’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, are facing increased pressure from LGBT leaders to take charge on pro-gay legislation as Congress returns from its summer recess, according to The Bay Area Reporter. The calls for the two female lawmakers to take the lead in pushing for LGBT bills have increased since […]

SACRAMENTO — A bill to designate a day of honor for slain gay-rights activist Harvey Milk could be headed for another veto by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once the California legislature sends it his way. The bill to designate Milk’s birthday, May 22, as a day of “special significance,” was passed by both houses of the […]

Slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, will be among the newest inductees to the California Hall of Fame. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver unveiled the list of 2009 inductees earlier this week, saying the 13 men and women “embody California’s innovative […]

A federal judge in Southern California has dismissed the lawsuit that created a public rift between President Barack Obama and gay supporters. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter (pictured) ruled the case — the first of several pending challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act — must be refiled in federal court. Carter said […]