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Iowa at Disney encouraging gays to move to Hawkeye State October 2nd, 2009 by Eric Carpenter Figuring that plenty of gay couples in California are frustrated by the inability to get legally married here, representatives from Iowa have set up a booth at Gay Days at the Disneyland Resort encouraging them to consider moving to the Hawkeye State. Iowa is one of four states nationwide that allow gay marriages. That state’s Supreme Court made the decision earlier this year. Two representatives for three regional visitors bureaus flew out for the three-day Gay Days, when 30,000 partipants roll into town to...

Yesterday - less than three months after Kenneth W. Starr and I appeared in the California Supreme Court on behalf of our ProtectMarriage.com Campaign to defend Prop 8 - the Court finally issued its decision... all 185 pages of it! By a 6 to 1 vote, a nearly-unanimous majority of the Supreme Court upheld the vote of the people by which Prop 8 was passed into law to protect traditional marriage in our State Constitution. You can read the decision here as it appears on the Court's website. While there were no real surprises in the decision, and it looks...

Another marriage measure cleared for Calif. Associated Press March 20, 2009. SACRAMENTO -- The sponsors of a second ballot measure seeking to repeal California's ban on same-sex marriage have been cleared to start collecting signatures. The secretary of state on Friday gave the group Yes on Equality until August 17 to collect the nearly 700,000 signatures needed to qualify its initiative for the 2010 ballot. If approved by voters, the group's proposed constitutional amendment would rescind Proposition 8, which passed last November. The California Supreme Court is

Proposition 8 opponents received permission Tuesday from the California Secretary of State's office to begin collecting petition signatures toward a repeal of the state's same-sex marriage ban. Wed, Mar. 11, 2009 Posted: 08:19 AM EDT Proposition 8 opponents received permission Tuesday from the California Secretary of State's office to begin collecting petition signatures toward a repeal of the state's same-sex marriage ban. The initiative would side step the issue of same-sex marriage by making all couples eligible for marriage benefits regardless of their sexual orientation. If approved, the initiative would strike the word "marriage" from all state laws and replace...

SACRAMENTO, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - California same-sex "marriage" supporters are collecting signatures to support a ballot initiative that would remove civil marriage from California law entirely, as well as the provision codifying marriage as between a man and a woman. The "Domestic Partnership Initiative" proposes to categorize all unions simply as "domestic partnerships," while retaining all the rights of marriage for heterosexual couples, and extending them to homosexual couples. According to the initiative's summary, "Legally speaking, 'Marriage' itself would become a social ceremony, recognized by only non-governmental institutions." State Attorney General Jerry Brown submitted the official title and summary...

Strange times we live in when it takes a ballot initiative to confirm the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Stranger still when endorsing that definition through the democratic process brings threats and reprisals. In November, the San Francisco Chronicle published the names and home addresses of everyone who donated money in support of California's Proposition 8 marriage initiative. All available information, plus the amount donated, was broadcast. My name is on that list. Emails started coming. Heavy with epithets and ad hominems, most in the you-disgust-me vein. Several accused me, personally, of denying...

Calif. high court to hear challenge. There is little common ground between those on either side of the charged debate over marriage in California. But on the eve of the state Supreme Court hearing in San Francisco on Proposition 8, which prohibits same-sex marriage, advocates on both sides describe the issue in similar high-stakes rhetoric. “History swings on very small hinges sometimes,” said Jim Garlow, pastor at Skyline Church in La Mesa and one of the state's highest-profile supporters of Proposition 8. “On a broader scale, beyond the scope of the definition of marriage, this is about whether the social...

December 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m. Gross Dereliction of DutyBy the Editors As attorney general of California, Jerry Brown has a duty to defend the state and its laws in court. That duty requires him to offer the best grounds in defense of any law that may reasonably be defended. In a brief he filed last Friday in the case challenging Proposition 8 — the ballot measure that amended California’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage — Brown grossly violated that duty. On Election Day, California voters approved Proposition 8. Opponents of Proposition 8 then rushed to court to invalidate it...

The cause of gay rights has made enormous progress in the last couple of decades, but the more specific cause of gay marriage continues to be battered. In the same election that voters helped bridge the United States' racial divide by electing the country's first African-American president, voters in California overrode a ruling of that state's Supreme Court and effectively rebanned gay marriage. Reliably Democratic-voting California — home to those much-mocked "San Francisco values" that tolerate gay lifestyles — has now joined 29 other states, including Ohio, banning gay marriage. Protests in reaction to the vote popped up across the...

Attorney General Jerry Brown's legal challenge to California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage marks the first time that the state's top lawyer has refused to defend a newly enacted ballot measure since 1964 - another epic discrimination case that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In November 1964, an overwhelming 65 percent majority of the state's voters approved Proposition 14, a constitutional amendment that overturned a fair-housing law and allowed racial discrimination in property sales and rentals.Attorney General Thomas Lynch - newly appointed to succeed Stanley Mosk, a Prop. 14 opponent who had just been named to the state Supreme...

The backlash continues to roar in California as gay activists continue to silence opposition while waiting for the Calif. Supreme Court to weigh in on Prop 8. The Mormon Church and Chuck Norris are feeling the heat while Linda Harvey receives threats. A Houston lawyer "who brazenly identified himself," wrote, "You are very much being watched! All you jeebus-lovin-christers rights will slowly be taken away one by one the more you try to press your beliefs down our throats." An elderly woman is swarmed, her cross ripped out of her hand and stomped on while the news anchor, Kris Long,...

Calif. AG Urges Court to Void Gay Marriage Ban SAN FRANCISCO – The California attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. In a dramatic reversal, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters. But Brown...

California’s Rush To Judgment on Same Sex Marriage December 20th, 2008 By JERRY REMMERS Only in California can the bizarre become the norm. In a spate of a few hours Friday afternoon, briefs were filed with the state Supreme Court challenging, supporting and extending a ban on same sex marriages. Backers of Proposition 8, the initiative that bans same sex marriage, petitioned to nullify the 18,000 marriages conducted after the high court voted 4-3 approving such nuptials. State Attorney General Jerry Brown countered with a brief indicating he could not support the proposition because “the amendment process cannot be used...

In my opinion, having Pastor Rick Warren give the invocation at Barack Obama's inaugural is a mistake, but it is a complicated, meaningful mistake that calls for a certain amount of analysis. Rick Warren is a little different from most other well established Evangelical pastors. He is big, and famous, and powerful, and all of the evangelical fundamentalists in the United states have a copy of one or more of his book their on the shelf right next to the Bible and the Idiot's Guide to Homeschooling your Children. So he is influential. But what is different about him is...

SAN FRANCISCO - California's attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now joining forces with homosexual activists to overturn the results of Proposition 8. In a dramatic reversal, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters. But Brown said he reached a different conclusion "upon...

SAN FRANCISCO — In a sharp rebuke to supporters of a contested state ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, the California attorney general said Friday that the measure was constitutionally indefensible and should be overturned. The attorney general, Jerry Brown, had previously hinted of his opposition to the measure, Proposition 8, but made his legal opinion concrete on Friday in a brief to the California Supreme Court, which is reviewing the measure. “Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification,” Mr. Brown said in a statement. The attorney...

Kenneth W. Starr, the former U.S. Solicitor General who led the inquiry into President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica L. Lewinsky, will argue the case in favor of upholding a ban on gay marriage before the California Supreme Court. Starr was today named lead counsel for the official proponents of Proposition 8. This afternoon, the group filed court briefs defending the legality of the proposition, which was approved by 52% of California voters last month throwing into question thousands of marriages performed during the five months the practice was legal in the state. The briefs are in response to a...

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown has changed his position with respect to the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. Brown filed a brief Friday saying the measure, which amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman, is itself unconstitutional because it deprives gay couples of a fundamental right.

The sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions. The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions.

When you write a column for a living, you get called lots of names on a regular basis. Moron, liar and sellout, to name a few. I'm in no position to complain, though, since I occasionally use the same words to describe public officials and captains of industry. But I've never been called a bigot so many times as I have since I wrote in my Sunday column about the boycott of El Coyote, the Los Angeles cantina whose Mormon manager donated $100 to Proposition 8, the successful November ballot initiative to ban gay marriage. "Your article defending" the manager...

Margie Christoffersen didn't make it very far into our conversation before she cracked. Chest heaving, tears streaming, she reached for her husband Wayne's hand and then mine, squeezing as if she'd never let go. "I've almost had a nervous breakdown. It's been the worst thing that's ever happened to me," she sobbed as curious patrons at a Farmers Market coffee shop looked on, wondering what calamity had visited this poor woman who's an honest 6 feet tall, with hair as blond as the sun. Well, Christoffersen was a manager at El Coyote, the Beverly Boulevard landmark restaurant that's always had...

Rick Warren had a surprisingly candid response to Ann Curry's question as to whether he would change his views on homosexuality if it were established that people are born gay. The pastor of the Saddleback Church, explaining why such a finding wouldn't cause him to change his position, observed that he is inclined to want to have sex with every beautiful woman he sees, but that that doesn't make it right. Curry interviewed Warren for a Dateline segment that will be aired tonight on NBC. As noteworthy as Warren's admission was the righteous liberal anger, captured in the screengrab, Curry...

Gay activists furious with Obama By: Ben Smith and Nia-Malika Henderson December 17, 2008 06:32 PM EST Barack Obama’s choice of a prominent evangelical minister to perform the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement that – in the wake of a gay marriage ban in California – is looking for a fight. Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, opposes abortion rights but has taken more liberal stances on the government role in fighting poverty,...

Marc Shaiman, the Tony Award-winning composer of the film and stage musical “Hairspray,” has done the country a major, if inadvertent, service. He has composed a brief musical piece against California Proposition 8 that takes only three minutes to reveal the ignorance and hate that pervades so much anti-Proposition 8 activism. This short musical, viewed more than 2 million times on the Internet, features major Hollywood talents playing (through song) two groups on a beach -- gay men and women in beach clothes and a stuffy formally dressed church group composed of whites and blacks. Its message begins with a...

Yes on Proposition 8 campaign today accused legislators of “grandstanding for the cameras” in an inappropriate and misguided publicity stunt designed to influence the California Supreme Court in the lead-up to the Court’s scheduled hearing on the validity of Proposition 8. “You’d think that these legislators would be focused on resolving the budget deficit or improving the economy. Instead, they seem more interested in grandstanding for the cameras and thumbing their noses at voters who enacted Proposition 8 by a nearly 600,000 vote margin,” said Ron Prentice, Chairman of ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8. “Sadly, with an approval rating hovering...

Saw this on Drudge today. Not sure what else to say. Put on your dancing shoes, it's time to sing.

VATICAN CITY, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Gay rights groups and newspaper editorials on Tuesday condemned the Vatican for its decision to oppose a proposed U.N. resolution calling on governments worldwide to de-criminalise homosexuality. The row erupted after the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations told a French Catholic news agency the Holy See would oppose the resolution, which France is due to propose later this month on behalf of the 27-member European Union. Archbishop Celestino Migliore said the Vatican opposed the resolution because it would "add new categories of those protected from discrimination" and could lead to reverse discrimination...

In the nearly four weeks since Election Day, gay activists and thousands of their supporters have rallied outside Mormon temples around the country, protesting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' support for California's Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to make same-sex marriage illegal in the Golden State.There have been calls to boycott the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah; some activists have called for a boycott of the entire state of Utah. Protesters have defaced some church buildings, and in Arapaho County, Colo., the Sheriff's Office is investigating a possible hate crime — the torching...

Ever since a slim majority outlawed gay marriage in California, opponents have waged national protests and petitions, urging the judicial system to reconsider the results of the Nov. 4 referendum. (Proposition 8 overturned an earlier decision by the California Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage.) While the court weighs whether or not to get back into the fray, the civil unrest ignited by the ban shows no sign of abating. A national protest against Prop. 8 organized by JoinTheImpact.com is scheduled for today. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which opponents say donated more than $20 million to...

The Australian government has been forced into an embarrassing u-turn after it emerged that two men it had appointed to promote men's health to the public had co-authored a book that labeled homosexuality as a "pathology". Barry Williams, president of the Lone Fathers Association, and Warwick Marsh, Fatherhood Foundation president, were among six men named earlier this week as role models for Australian males. The men were supposed to spearhead a health campaign to encourage Australian men to seek regular check ups for prostate cancer. However, both were later found to have been listed as co-authors and contributors to a...

The writer Andrew Sullivan sits across the table from you on Chris Matthews' Hardball praising gay-marriage as a symbol of the homosexual community's desire to join the mainstream. He is a Catholic, conservative in many things, and a highly articulate spokesman for his point-of-view. What do you say? The requisite conservative on pundit panels usually falls back on citing heterosexual marriage's 5,000 year history as society's basic building block. Marriage has always been between a man and a woman. 65% of the American people are against homosexual unions. Etc. That's not going to get it. It's a way of brushing...

Left to their own devices, most Americans can work these differences out in politics much as they do in their everyday lives, as untidy as these solutions may be. Unfortunately, when the courts short-circuit this process, they do three things corrosive to our politics. First, they act as dishonest referees, imposing one set of preferences over another. Second, they cheat the American people of an honest political contest, where candidates need to persuade the people of their views to put them into effect. Ed Whelan, a former Justice Department official who now runs the D.C.-based Ethics and Public Policy Center,...

I was interested to see that in the recent election exercise in the USA, although the Democratic Party won the presidency, and increased its majority in the Senate and the Congress, it lost ballots in three States which would have redefined the institution of marriage to include same-sex unions. In Arizona, Proposition 102 won by 56 per cent to 44 per cent; in Florida, Amendment 2 passed by 62.4 per cent to 37.6 per cent and in California, Proposition 8 passed by 52.2 per cent to 47.8 per cent in a hard-fought contest. In California, campaigns for and against Proposition...

California officials are planning to investigate whether the Mormon church gave an accurate accounting of its role in the campaign that succeeded in getting a same-sex marriage ban approved in the state. The action by the California Fair Political Practices Commission came in response to a complaint filed two weeks ago by a gay rights activist. Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of failing to report the value of the work it did to support Proposition 8. Roman Porter, the agency's executive director, said Monday that the decision to open...

Proposition 8 was an unsung victory for defenders of individual liberty. Wait, I know what many people will say to this. How can a measure that prevents gay couples from getting a marriage license be beneficial to the defense of individual liberty? It's because that vote represented a line drawn in the sand, even if a thin one, preventing the government from furthering its control over the institution. As it currently stands, there is nothing short of the problem of finding a pastor, priest or rabbi who is willing to perform the marriage rite that is stopping most gay couples...

Should there be boycotts, blacklists, firings or de facto shunning of those who supported Proposition 8? That's the issue consuming many in liberal Hollywood who fought to defeat the initiative banning same-sex marriage and are now reeling with recrimination and dismay. Meanwhile, activists continue to comb donor lists and employ the Internet to expose those who donated money to support the ban. Already out is Scott Eckern, director of the nonprofit California Musical Theatre in Sacramento, who resigned after a flurry of complaints from prominent theater artists, including "Hairspray" composer Marc Shaiman, when word of his contribution to the Yes...

Just so we're clear, the ongoing gay rage after California's vote isn't about benefits. California's civil unions were materially indistinguishable from marriage. That state's Supreme Court said so when it ruled that this wasn't enough. Nor is it about having a family. Gay couples have those. Billboards around our town point this out. As one woman among the 200 protesters in downtown Milwaukee last weekend put it, "We want our family recognized." Which is to say it's not about gay people at all. It's about you. Their love isn't at issue. Your love for their love is. Employer benefits were...

The emotion and strong-feelings on both sides of Proposition 8 divided leaders in the African-American community on Friday night. At the annual NAACP Banquet in San Francisco some pastors chose to boycott because of another's stance on same-sex marriage. "Seizing our moment of triumph" was the NAACP celebratory theme for this major fundraiser, but conversation often still centered on Proposition 8 and Rev. Amos Brown's much publicized stance to support same-sex marriage civil rights. "Tonight our national president, Ben Jealous, will be here to show he stands with us. And for the state president Alice Huffman to be here, to...

A supporter of Proposition 8, fed up with what he believed was the gay community's and "liberal media's" refusal to accept the voters' verdict, fired off a letter to the editor. "Please show respect for democracy," he wrote, in a letter we published. What he encountered instead was an utter lack of respect for free speech. Within hours, the intimidation game was on. Because his real name and city were listed - a condition for publication of letters to The Chronicle - opponents of Prop. 8 used Internet search engines to find the letter writer's small business, his Web site...

There's been a lot of outrage from the No on Proposition 8 camp since California voters approved a ban on gay marriage. But until now, there has been less soul searching about what went wrong. But Terry Leftgoff, founder of the Gay and Lesbian Business Assn. of Santa Barbara, has a thoughtful piece on WeHo News looking at how the opposition to Proposition 8 fell short. It did, he says, on several levels: A mixed message, failing to respond to attacks from Yes on 8 forces, little black and Latino outreach. A snippet: The No on 8 campaign began by...

Although we too will welcome the day that Proposition 8 is consigned to history and the right to same-sex marriage is restored to Californians, we are sorry to see that the court agreed to take the cases directly, rather than letting this issue percolate up through the lower courts. We see no reason for the haste, despite the intensity of emotion roused by the measure's defeat.In fact, that very heatedness is a reason for the court to move slowly, allowing it to rule under cooler circumstances. Similarly, painful though it is to see Proposition 8 take effect, we agree with...

The California Supreme Court voted 6 to 1 on Wednesday to review legal challenges to Proposition 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a final decision. The court may hold a hearing on the lawsuits as early as March, a timetable that scholars said was swift considering the complexity and importance of the legal issues. The court's action, taken during a closed conference, suggested that the court wants to resolve all of the legal issues surrounding Proposition 8, including the fate of existing gay marriages, in a...

Responding to pleas for legal clarity from those on both sides of the issue, the California Supreme Court said Wednesday that it would take up the case of whether a voter-approved ban on same-sex unions was constitutional. The court, however, stopped short of suspending the ban, which California voters passed as Proposition 8 two weeks ago after an expensive and hard-fought campaign.

he California Supreme Court agreed today to review legal challenges to Prop. 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a ruling. Meeting in closed session, the state high court asked litigants on both sides for more written arguments and scheduled a hearing for next March. The court also signaled its intention to decide the fate of existing same-sex marriages, asking litigants to argue that question. Today's decision to review the lawsuits against Proposition 8 did not reveal how the court was leaning. The court could have dismissed...

An article in The New York Times reports that Attorney General Jerry Brown has asked the state’s Supreme Court to rule on the legality of a voter-approved constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. “The central argument in the recently filed lawsuits is that Proposition 8 is a significant enough revision to the State Constitution to require approval by the legislature,” the article stated. It also noted that the passage of Proposition 8 “has prompted protests across the country.” Here’s what the paper that makes all the news fit its agenda forgot to mention:...

Wednesday could be a big day in the fight over Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage in California that voters approved Nov. 4. That's when the California Supreme Court could decide whether to review several lawsuits filed by Prop 8 opponents. The groups claim the ballot measure is unconstitutional. The court could also issue a stay on Prop 8 while it decides. That would allow same-sex marriages to resume until a final ruling is made on the lawsuits. Four Bay Area counties are the latest to join the legal fight to try to stop state Proposition 8. The Board...

Elation over Barack Obama’s victory two weeks ago was dampened by less good news for left-leaning voters, as same-sex marriage bans passed in Arizona, California, and Florida. For many gay activists, the new bans in Arizona and California were particularly disheartening, given that Arizona voted down a similar ban two years ago and that California has been allowing same-sex marriage since this summer. Over 40 states have now passed bans on gay marriage, leaving Connecticut and Massachusetts as the sole states allowing the practice. Proponents of gay marriage have been quick to respond to this setback. In recent days, an...

d) Equal Rights Advocates and California Women's Law Center - These (fellow) wimmins libbers argue that, if the process that brought us Prop 8 is legitimized, women stand a distinct chance of being harmed by whatever rights some unholy alliance of self-loathing chicks and unattractive men want take away from women as a group. They point out that the 1879 California State Constitution prohibited Chinese people from voting. e) Asian Pacific American Legal Center, et al. - This petition was filed by a group of organizations dedicated to the protection of the rights of minorities - including the NAACP. As...

Six months ago, California's highest court discarded its reputation for caution and ended the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Now the moderately conservative state Supreme Court is being asked to take an even riskier step -- to overturn the November voter initiative that reinstated the marriage ban and possibly provoke a voter revolt that could eject one or more of the justices from the bench. The court is under intense pressure from all sides. Its first response to the challenges may come today, when the justices meet privately in a weekly conference to decide which cases to accept for review....

As reaction to the vote on Proposition 8 continues, reasonable people have a right to ask whether some of the tactics of same-sex marriage supporters will provoke another backlash. People are free to protest, but at best, or worst depending on how you see this volatile issue, gay-rights supporters who are engaging in some questionable tactics risk alienating people in the middle who may have been considering changing their positions. The positions of both sides are more than clear. Gay-rights advocates not only want California courts to toss out the Yes on 8 vote from the Nov. 4 election, but...