Anthony Samad: Regardless of what you feel about the politics of sex-same marriage, the reality is that the gay marriage ban was always a constitutional question. We just never had a constitutional answer for gay marriage, before now.
Religion’s Ugly Head
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Carl Matthes: After speaking directly with God, the current Leading Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 86-year-old Boyd Packer revealed last year that Mormons must form an alliance with Catholic Bishops in California to stop the desecration of Christian teaching. The aim of this unholy alliance? Stop same-sex marriage.
Schwarzenegger Could Veto California Out-of-State Couples Bill Any Moment
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Anti-LGBT organizations like Ron Prentice’s ProtectMarriage.com are trying to convince Schwarzenegger to veto SB 54, the Marriage Recognition and Family Protection Act (Leno, D-San Francisco).
No Nonsense Census
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There’s been another informed and intelligent decision by the Obama administration. In August 2008, in an LA Progressive article entitled “Census Nonsense,” which decried the Bush administration’s move to exclude legally married same-sex couples from being counted as married couples during upcoming the 2010 census, I wrote, “…to capsulize the situation, as it stands now, [...]
Civil Rats Are Human Rats!
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I watched the movie Gettysburg again the other day. It is one of my favorites because the producer was a Mexican American and it is about the real reasons why democracy exists. In the movie, there is a scene where a New Hampshire officer is talking to two rebel soldiers. He asks them why they [...]
What Blacks Can Learn From Gays
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Before you open that bottle of champagne, can of beer, or bottle of Hennessy in celebration of last week’s decision by the California Supreme Court upholding Proposition 8 and the ban on gay marriage, did you ever stop to think maybe the joke’s on us? I mean, think about it. Last November, Blacks voted overwhelmingly [...]
Marriage Equality, Beyond the Lying
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My first essay for the L.A. Progressive was about Proposition 8 and the lies that self proclaimed Christian activists were telling in order to promote their bigotry. It seems almost ridiculous to catalog the number of violations of the Commandment against bearing false witness that these “Christians” embraced in order to sell their ballot measure. [...]
Proposition Hate Redux
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The California Supreme Court ruled again on same-sex marriage. This time it did to uphold Proposition 8, restricting marriage to one man and one woman. In a 6-to-1 decision, the justices decided that Proposition 8 would remain part of the state constitution. And the 18,000 same- sex couples that ran to the altar to legally [...]
Who Celebrates Our Queer Servicemembers on Memorial Day?
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There will be parades all across the country this Memorial Day commemorating our U.S. servicemembers who died while in the military. But not all of our servicemembers will be honored for their acts of bravery and patriotism. Back in the day, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer servicemembers who served our country were either closeted [...]
Special Election: Dear Los Angeles Black Mega Church Pastor
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I didn’t say anything when I drove down Crenshaw Boulevard two Sunday’s ago and that truck with that big sign in support of the upcoming measures on the May 19 California Special Election was conveniently parked in front of your church. But after this past Sunday’s “dog and pony show” I can’t takes it no [...]
The Consent of the Governed
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“… to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men [and women], deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” — Declaration of Independence “Your people, Mr. Jefferson, are a great beast.” So said Alexander Hamilton, the leader of America’s first conservative party, to the author of the Declaration of Independence and the [...]
When Queer Communities of Color Are Not Needed to Win Marriage Rights
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With Iowa being the fourth state to approve marriage equality, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Americans’ optimism is high, believing many more states will follow suit. “We’re hoping this momentum is contagious,” Daniel Richards of Rhode Island told me. And should Rhode Island soon approve of same-sex marriage, it would be the fourth New [...]
Equality Advances? Attack the Gays!
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Be warned: Those new National Organization for Marriage anti-GLBT “actor auditions” videos posted are gone. NOM noticed that its evil ruse had been exposed and demanded that YouTube take them down. Even a clip of a recent MSNBC Rachel Maddow clip that included the audition tapes is gone. NOM’s reason: copyright infringment. YouTube has to [...]
U.S. Military Needs a Radical Homosexual
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Is he the U.S. military’s worst nightmare? Imagine, a radical homosexual with his hands on the military’s purse strings. It’s hard to believe that after 15 years of repressive, misguided military policy (“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”), which stigmatized and prevented gay men and lesbians from serving honestly and openly in our country’s Armed Forces, the [...]
Court Should Strike Down Proposition 8
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The California Supreme Court finds itself center stage this Thursday when it will hear oral arguments on whether it should uphold Proposition 8′s ban on same-sex marriage. The case touches the heart of our democracy and poses a profound question: can a bare majority of voters strip away an inalienable right through the initiative process? [...]
Prop 8: 18,000 Same-Sex Marriages Hang in Balance at California Supreme Court Hearing
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Within the next week, the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments to help determine the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the November 2008 election ballot constitutional amendment that removed the right of same-sex couples to legally marry in California. The Court will convene in San Francisco on March 5, at 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. [...]
The Election of Barack Obama and the Politics of Interracial and Same-Sex Marriage
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The election (and now the inauguration) of Barack Obama has inspired a widespread sense of awe at the scope and scale of change in race relations in America—and more than a hint of self-congratulation. The news media just can’t seem to resist trumpeting the example of interracial marriage. When Barack Obama’s white mother married his [...]
Court Rules Defense of Marriage Act Unconstitutional, Irrational
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Here is some great news that should be no surprise to anyone really paying attention — after the Proposition 8 kerfluffle, this was inevitable: A federal court ruling was just issued that is based upon the notion — one held by decent and intelligent people all along — that the un-American, anti-equality, anti-LGBT Defense of [...]
California Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Prop 8 Legal Challenge on March 5
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The California Supreme Court announced today that it will hear oral arguments on Thursday, March 5, 2009 in the Proposition 8 legal challenge. On November 19, 2008, the California Supreme Court agreed to hear the legal challenges to Proposition 8 and set an expedited schedule. Briefing in the case was completed on January 21, 2009. [...]
Marriage – Gay Grassroots Style
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I had conversations with four recently married same-sex couples during the first week of January. There were two lesbian couples, one from the Sacramento area (Davis) and the other from West Hollywood. The two gay couples were from the Bay Area and Orange County. Along with my spouse, we represented five of the over 18,000 [...]
Obama Delivers Purpose-Driven Slap to Gays and Lesbians
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by Dick Price – In choosing a prominent anti-gay evangelical preacher from Orange County to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, President-Elect Barack Obama has gone out of his way to insult the gay-lesbian community, which is still licking its wounds from the passage of Prop Hate, the California constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages.
The Proposition 8 Debate: Are “Gay Riots” Really The Way To Sway The Black Community?
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I’ve been watching this same-sex marriage debate for some time and, like most of my community, I’m deeply conflicted about it. As sexual orientation is a deeply personal matter, I chose to remain silent in the pre-election debate. I believe what I believe about who I should be allowed to marry and was not prepared [...]
More Prop 8 Supporters, Political Churches, & Notes on the Equality Boycott
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The Human Rights Campaign has a list of many California businesses that gave money to support to Proposition 8 campaign. Outraged, betrayed, offended, and legally diminished GLBT citizens and their allies across the country are fighting back against the absence of equality in the US for all by refusing to spend their dollars with companies [...]
Federal Precedent Provides Logic to Nix Prop 8
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Brian E. Gray, writing for the Los Angeles Times, sees something cool: The long history of the battle for equality for all in this country includes many court fights — some that pro-justice forces have won. A particular early-1990s fight in Colorado, Gray says, may offer another avenue for challenging California’s unjust same-sex marriage ban. [...]
Prop 8: Join the Impact and Stand for Equality
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From coast to coast, from sea to shining sea, people are rising up. Outraged and heartsick over California’s recent passage of anti-gay marriage initiative Proposition 8 — the first time in US history when rights were snatched away from a particular group of citizens — men and women of all hues and orientations are taking [...]
Prop 8: Apportioning Blame & Fighting Back
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I am getting sick of hearing that African-American and Latino voters in California are responsible for the horrid result in Californian bigots’ successful bid to take rights away from citizens. That is a slap in the faces of all those dark-skinned people who voted in favor of maintaining legal equality for all. Let’s not turn [...]
Etheridge: No Taxation Without Equality
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“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [...]
We Abide By Many Different Sets of Laws – A Piece on California’s Proposition 8
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Proposition 8 – Right versus Wrong Before we begin to debate the rightness or wrongness of any law of the state (as opposed to spiritual laws, or natural laws, or laws of physics), we must keep in mind at least one fundamental notion: The state’s laws exist, on some level, to meet one basic requirement; [...]
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