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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed two gay rights bills, one honoring late activist Harvey Milk and another recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. In the last of hundreds of bill actions taken before midnight Sunday, Schwarzenegger approved the two bills by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. The governor last year vetoed the measure declaring May 22 a state day of recognition for Milk, suggesting that the former San Francisco supervisor be honored locally. But he subsequently named him to the California Hall of Fame. Leno's SB 54, meanwhile, requires California to recognize marriages performed in other states where same...

DALY CITY — Every other minute, the Cow Palace marquee flashes, "Gun Show Coming, Gun Show Coming." That's a message that must stop, state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said Friday in a news conference announcing the reintroduction of a bill intended to end gun shows at the venue. "It's astounding a state-owned property is being used to promote weapons of death," Leno said. "We know they're used legally, but in a neighborhood that experiences unconscionable rates of gun violence, it's just maddening." Crossroads of the West Gun Show is scheduled to take place at the Cow Palace on May...

San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno used an overwhelming showing in his home city Tuesday to beat former San Rafael Assemblyman Joe Nation and incumbent state Sen. Carole Migden in the Democratic primary for her three-county state Senate seat. With 81 percent of the precincts reporting, Leno had 43 percent of the vote, Nation 29 percent and Migden 28 percent. Leno beat Nation by about 25,000 votes in San Francisco and held Nation's margin of victory in his home base of Marin County to fewer than 3,000 votes. Although Leno still has to face Republican Sashi McEntee of Mill Valley in...

State regulators have slapped state Sen. Carole Migden and her managers with a $350,000 fine for 89 campaign spending and disclosure violations between 2003 and 2007, including illegal personal use of campaign funds. The state's Fair Political Practices Commission on Tuesday released details of the San Francisco Democrat's transgressions, which also included misrepresenting spending, soliciting donations prior to establishing campaign accounts, and failure to adequately disclose contributions and expenses. The fines come as Migden is locked in a tough re-election battle, facing two fellow Democrats in the June 3 primary, Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco and former Assemblyman Joe...

Bill of the Week- Harvey Milk Day (Leno) Last week Assemblyman Mark Leno and homosexual advocacy group Equality California (the organization that sponsored SB 777) announced that the assemblyman would introduce and carry a new bill that will establish a state holiday honoring Harvey Milk. Most citizens have no idea who Mr. Milk is or why he deserves a special state-recognized holiday. For some, Harvey Milk is considered a "civil rights" leader for his work in advancing homosexual "rights" in California. A resident of the infamous Castro district in San Francisco, Milk was one of the first homosexual elected officials...

As sharp as partisan political battles can be, nothing surpasses a full-blown shootout between members of the same party for sheer nastiness. Their ideological differences tend to be small and, therefore, their intraparty duels often turn personal. The increasingly shrill level of personal invective being thrown in the multi-candidate tussles for next year's presidential nominations of both parties illustrates the point. But in California, the syndrome is most evident in the overwhelmingly Democratic San Francisco Bay Area, which is renowned for sharp-elbow politics, and in Los Angeles. Bay Area voters may experience two nasty clashes next year as state Sen....

Many groups tell their followers to contact Schwarzenegger about a same-sex marriage bill on his desk -- With the regular legislative session complete, the battle over eight gay rights bills, including one allowing same-sex marriage, has moved directly to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office.Religious-based critics have asked volunteers to repeatedly dial the Republican governor to voice their opposition to the measures. In one e-mail, the Campaign for Children and Families asks supporters to call and write Schwarzenegger, with one piece of additional advice: "Don't forget to pray to God."At the same time, Oakland-based Marriage Equality USA organized statewide rallies Tuesday in...

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger goes through with his expected veto of San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno's measure to allow same-sex marriage in California, it's almost guaranteed the governor will say he's following "the will of the people." That's the argument the Republican governor made two years ago when he rejected a similar measure. Although Schwarzenegger hasn't taken an official position on the new bill, he made clear in February that he did not intend to sign it. "I don't want, as the governor, to go against the will of the people," Schwarzenegger said at an event put on by the...

Sacramento -- For the second time in three years, the state legislature has approved a measure giving same-sex couples the right to marry in California, with today's Senate vote split along party lines and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expected to veto the bill as he did in 2005. "Marriage is more than just a civil contract ... it is different from domestic partners, it's just different from civil unions - it means something," said Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, who presented the bill and was also the first openly gay person to be elected to the legislature. "And because it means...

As the 2007 legislative session begins its final throes, the annual duel between homosexual rights groups and their conservative foes is being rejoined. The former have already scored one victory in the much-delayed budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed last month, a first-ever appropriation for aid to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) victims of domestic violence. "These types of government and nonprofit partnerships have for many years kept many Californians healthy, safe and self-sufficient, and for the first time the California budget includes such funds for LGBT- specific services," Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, declared after the...

S.F. lawmaker holds event a day before panel he chairs will deal with billions in spending. Assemblyman Mark Leno sparked ethical questions Wednesday by holding a $1,000-per-person fundraising event just one day before the committee he chairs decides the fate of more than 600 bills totaling $8 billion in spending."To be honest with you, it just doesn't pass the smell test," said Hector Barajas, California Republican Party spokesman.Carmen Balber, of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said the group is pushing legislation in Leno's committee to slow health insurance rate hikes. "You have to raise the question: Is health-insurer...

Sacramento,California -- A Democrat-controlled committee in the California Legislature has passed full-blown homosexual "marriages." Tuesday's vote by the Assembly Judiciary Committee was 7 to 3, with all Democrats in favor of so-called "same-sex marriages" and all Republicans supporting real marriage between a man and a woman. "Shame on the Democrat politicians for attacking and redefining marriage," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a leading nonpartisan California organization defending marriage and family, who today testified in committee against AB 43. "This is an attack upon the voters and our system of government as much as it...

SACRAMENTO- Supporters will renew their efforts this week to legalize gay marriages in California, but there seems to be little doubt that the outcome will be a rerun—another veto by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Assemblyman Mark Leno, the San Francisco Democrat who introduced the gay marriage bill that Schwarzenegger vetoed in 2005, said he is confident lawmakers will send the measure to the Republican governor again this year. "We're hopeful that he will understand why it's important that he end the second-class treatment of countless California families and children," Leno said. The bill is scheduled to be considered Tuesday by the...

An unprecedented political race in the Bay Area pits two prominent gay politicians -- also both Democrats -- against one another for the same state Senate seat in California. The election isn't until next year, but Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, will need all that time if he wants to become known in the state Senate district which is split evenly between San Francisco, Marin, and Sonoma counties. But the real split is with his gay colleague, who he's trying to knock out of office: incumbent State Sen. Carole Migden. Leno will be termed-out in 2008, but Migden will not...

A looming battle between two of San Francisco's best-known gay and lesbian officeholders already is splitting the Bay Area's Democratic faithful more than a year before their June 2008 face-off. Assemblyman Mark Leno, 55, is taking on state Sen. Carole Migden in her bid for re-election, and plenty of Democrats are unhappy at the prospect of two powerful progressives duking it out in a bloody party primary. In a statement after Leno's public announcement earlier this month, state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, urged Leno to reconsider. Or else. "I am disappointed by Mark Leno's challenge of a...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Log Cabin Republicans at the state capitol are putting pressure on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign a gay marriage bill this year, NBC11's Mike Luery reported. "When it comes to marriage, we believe in the fundamental fairness of the American people. There has never been a major civil rights movement that has failed in the United States," said statewide director of the Log Cabin Republicans, James Vaughn. The Log Cabin Republicans said they see marriage equality as a civil rights issue, Luery reported. They equate it to the racial equality movement promoted by Abraham Lincoln, the log...

Monday December 04, 2006 By SAMANTHA YOUNG and DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writers SACRAMENTO (AP) -- California's newly sworn Legislature on Monday picked up where the old one left off, introducing an emotional bill to legalize gay marriage and delving into a power struggle over Central Valley flooding. While legislative leaders struck a bipartisan tone for the session that gets under way in January, rank and file members revived bills that have divided the Capitol. Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, reintroduced legislation that would allow gay couples to marry in the state of California. And Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco,...

The debate over gay marriage is back after a year's hiatus, and this time supporters are hopeful the political climate has changed since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in 2005. San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno, a Democrat who is openly gay, announced he will introduce a new marriage bill Monday, when legislators are sworn in for the upcoming session. ..... `The governor's position,'' she said, ``hasn't changed.'' ``To continue to push for full-blown gay marriage licenses is unlawful, unconstitutional and undemocratic,'' Thomasson said. ``The California Constitution specifically prohibits the Legislature from repealing voter-approved initiatives. This...

A San Francisco assemblyman will introduce new legislation to allow gay marriage when the Legislature reconvenes for its new session Monday. Democratic Assemblyman Mark Leno said his bill will be nearly identical to one vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September 2005. California law currently does not permit gay marriage, but many of the same rights and responsibilities are granted to gay couples who register with the state as domestic partners.

SAN FRANCISCO — Five months ago, state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata had called November's infrastructure bond package "a textbook example of bipartisan cooperation." Perata, D-Oakland, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that day on the Oakland International Airport tarmac. Perata said lawmakers "weren't sent to Sacramento to be stalking horses for anybody running for office," and Nunez said, "Don't underestimate the role that the governor played." But the governor's name barely was mentioned Friday as prominent Democrats, union members and others rallied for the bond package at Pier 30, just south...