The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.

The justices released the 4-3 decision Thursday, saying that domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.

The cases were brought by the city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples, Equality California and another gay rights group in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco's monthlong same-sex wedding march that took place at Mayor Gavin Newsom's direction.

Because this is a state issue, the decision cannot be appealed to a higher level of court. This is the end of this saga. Come November though there is a good chance that a constitutional amendment will be on the ballot. The question then is whether or not this ruling will have an effect on that if it was to be appeal after November should the voters approve discrimination in the California Constitution.

The ruling can be read here.

Labels: california, marriage, supreme court

The question they will answer:
Does California's statutory ban on marriage between two persons of the same sex violate the California Constitution by denying equal protection of the laws on the basis of sexual orientation or sex, by infringing on the fundamental right to marry, or by denying the right to privacy and freedom of expression?

Labels: california, marriage, supreme court

Tomorrow at 10am, the California Supreme Court will make their ruling on whether California's marriage ban will be upheld or not.

Stay tuned.

Labels: california, marriage, supreme court

Obama picked up an endorsement from California superdelegate Crystal Strait, a Young Democrats of America board member and a former California Young Democrats president.

"It's probably the hardest decision I've made in my life," Strait told CNN.

"I respect both candidates so much. But listening to how young people voted and caucused around the country, I know this was the right decision."

[...]

Clinton has a 43-percentage-point advantage over Obama, 66 percent to 23 percent, according to a survey from the American Research Group released Friday.

[via CNN]

May 20th is Oregon's primary where Barack is expected to win.

Labels: 2008 Presidential Election, barack obama, hilary clinton

Some great stories surrounding the race for president.

Young evangelical voters ditching the GOP and voting for Obama? [Seattle Times]

Saturday Night Live gives Clinton a not so subtle hint [video here]

GOP Convention organizer, Doug Goodyear, resigns after his PR firm accepted $350,000 to represent the Burmese junta in 2002. [source]

Regional campaign manager for McCain, Doug Davenport, also steps down due to ties to the DCI Group. Doug had run DCI's lobbying practice before signing on with McCain last month to run Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Kentucky and West Virginia for McCain. [source]

Obama came to Oregon again. This time he was in Corvallis, Eugene, Portland and Bend. He visited both Oregon State and U of O. Pictures here.


In "You've got to be fucking kidding me" news:

Disgraced Republican U.S. Rep Vito Fossella may be seeking re-election despite his recent drunk-driving arrest last week led to talk of an extramarital affair, and then finally Thursday, an admission of a child from that affair. This is the same self-proclaimed "family values" man who voted multiple times for the so-called "Defense of Marriage" amendment. Way to protect marriage Vito![via NY1]

Labels: another disgraced Republican, barack obama, mccain, scandal

As Oregonians are voting right this very second - and each day following until May 20th (we all vote by mail), I feel this wave of change and damn it feels good. With a solid victory in North Carolina and what I consider a victory in Indiana - Obama-rama is taking hold.

On a side note, Oregonians should know that Obama will be in here Oregon May 9th and 10th. That is this Friday and Saturday! More details to come on location, etc.

I leave you with this.

Labels: 2008 elections, 2008 Presidential Election, barack obama

It's no surprise that we are crazy about the idea of having Sam Adams as Portland's mayor. His unique vision, his tackling of the big/controversial issues and his steadfast drive to create a more livable Portland - or as his campaign would say 'Let's Move Portland Forward'. That sums it up.

It's also hard to overlook the fact that Portland would make history, aside from his groundbreaking, progressive policy. Portland would be the first Top 40 city in history to have a gay mayor.

We'll be voting for Sam. We hope you join us. His latest commercial is below, although I would highly recommend also watching an earlier video we posted a while back. We've posted that one below as well.

Labels: oregon, portland, sam adams

On April 29, the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted plaintiffs' motion for expedited review in Lemons v. Bradbury, the lawsuit filed by out-of-state groups seeking to revive last year's failed referendum against Oregon's domestic partnership law by forcing elections officials to change the way they treat signatures on voter petitions. The original review schedule set by the Court likely would have resulted in a decision sometime next year, but Friday's order means the case could be decided as early as July.

Basic Rights Oregon has more information including updated Lemons v Bradbury timeline, court docs etc. That's here.

Related posts from Gay Rights Watch:

BREAKING: Basic Rights Oregon Files Motion to Intervene

Judge Mosman Grants BRO's Motion to Intervene in Lemons v Bradbury

Right Now In Oregon Federal Court Your Future is Being Decided

I'm Sorry. This is Bullshit, I Need to Vent.

OREGON WINS: DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS GO INTO EFFECT

Labels: anti gay, appeal, basic rights oregon, domestic partnership, federal court, lemons v bradbury, oregon

A monument honoring the homosexual men and women who were persecuted due to their sexual orientation and perished during the Holocaust is to be established in Meir Garden in Tel Aviv, according to Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai

A quarter of a million homosexuals were persecuted during the Holocaust, and tens of thousands were murdered because the Nazi Party believed their sexual preference to be deviant. In the concentration camps in which they were imprisoned, gay men were forced to wear a pink triangle while lesbian women wore a black patch.

via Ynet

Labels: holocaust, israel

After failing on their first attempt to overturn Oregon's Anti-Discrimination and Domestic Partnership laws, Oregon's anti-gays (who actually live in Tennessee) have admitted possible failure. More importantly they are claiming a possible failure on IP 146 which is Oregon's Domestic Partnership law. This means that Oregon's Anti-Discrimination law would be the only one on the ballot come November if they can muster up the signatures for it.

I have to question their logic. Have they not done polling? Quite obviously they haven't - as multiple polls indicate a record number of Oregonians support this anti-discrimination law.

For more background on the whole debacle, see our post from yesterday (here & here). I highly recommend reading it as it explains all the background details.

In an email to supporters, David Crowe from "Restore America" said the following:

Initiative 144 is legally flawed and apparently beyond use. Now corrected, it has been refiled by Marylin Shannon, as Initiative 146.

The process described above is underway on 146, and it may well be too late to get to the people for signature and then to the Elections Division by the deadline, which is July 3rd.

The likelihood is that we will have just enough time to get enough signatures for 145 on the ballot, but not 146.

Again, they need about 83,000 signatures to qualify - meaning they need to shoot for well over 100,000 to actually make it unless they have an incredibly clean list without many mistakes.

If they do make it even just an attempt to repeal the anti-discrimination law then I predict a very nasty campaign from their side, the likes of which we haven't seen since the days of Lon Mabon. At the same time I do wonder how they will finance their anti-gay crusade. It could easily cost millions if history is correct. Back in 2004 Basic Rights Oregon spent roughly 3 million dollars to fight Measure 36 and the opposition group is struggling to even get $25,000 and they are almost 7k in the hole.

Oy vey. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday folks.

Labels: anti-discrimination, anti-gay, domestic partnership, oregon

In just about a month (May 30) the Sex and the City movie will be in theaters! I for one cannot wait. Take a look at this new trailer.

Labels: entertainment

Could it be? Shall we plan celebration parties already? Well not quite yet - but on the heels of Basic Rights Oregon appealing (to the Oregon Supreme Court) the language of two initiatives (IP 144 & IP 145) that would aim to repeal Oregon's newly enacted Domestic Partnership and Anti-Discrimination laws, and the possibility of the same thing happening to the third filed by anti-gays... they may be up shit creek.

Yesterday we talked about the group "Concerned Oregonians" who actually happens to be led by David Crowe who now resides in Tennessee. Make of that what you will. In any case - their desperate pleas for tens of thousands of dollars, even if answered, would still leave their anti-gay crusade in limbo. And funny enough currently it looks as though they are in debt.

Giving credit where credit is due.
Basic Rights Oregon has proven once again that it will relentlessly fight these initiative attempts to strip families of their basic rights as citizens of this state. Thanks BRO! (ech hem - donate here)

Credit should also be given to everyday Oregonians. Oregonian's don't see this as a Measure 36 - and rightly so. They see this simply for what it is, workplace protections against blatant discrimination and as I said above, the ability to legally provide and care for your family.

No victory dance yet folks.
Again, lets not get our hope up too high. But come July when anti-gay forces must turn in over 83,000 valid signatures to qualify and they can't do it - I'll be the first cracking open that bottle of bubbly.

Counting down the days.
Just think, each and every day that this bigoted attempt to strip Oregon families and individuals of their basic human rights is delayed, that's just another day these folks cannot gather signatures.

Related:
Appeal to Oregon Supreme Court Sparks Delay in Anti-Gay Plans

Labels: anti-discrimination, basic rights oregon, domestic partnership, oregon, supreme court