Category Archives: Same Sex Marriage Rights

Equality California Urges President Obama to Take Action on Federal Prop. 8 Case
Equality California filed an amicus brief supporting the federal challenge of Proposition 8 SAN FRANCISCO– Today, Equality California renewed its call for President Obama to take action on the federal court challenge of Proposition 8. Yesterday the deadline passed for third parties to file amicus briefs in the case weighing the constitutionality of Proposition 8, [...]
Marine Band Plays Patriotic Pieces in Porterville
Crowd Whipped Into A Frenzy. On Wednesday night, the President’s Own United States Marine Band produced a colorful and patriotic performance underscored by brass notes punctuating rapidly paced reeds and roaring percussion to pieces arranged by some of the nation’s most well known composers. The audience, housed in the Frank “Buck” Shaffer Theatre was pleased, [...]
Judge refuses to dismiss gay marriage ban lawsuit
What is the harm to the procreation purpose you outlined of allowing same-sex couples to get married? This is a remarkable article containing what is tantamount to an admission in open court that Prop 8 supporters do not believe their own rhetoric, in fact do not even understand it well enough to be able to [...]
Schwarzenegger signs gay rights bill SB 54 now law
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 [...]
Quotes from the National Equality March
Nature vs. Nurture: The origin of bigotry should be the focus of a nature vs. nurture debate. – Kim Coco Iwamoto, Hawaii State Board of Education On the Nature of Justice: No one should be patient when it comes to their Human Rights. Justice delayed is Justice denied. Justice is Indivisible – you can not [...]
Porterville this is aimed right at you!
Local Tulare County Professor Professor Robin McGehee is co-Director of the event, streaming now. Porterville City Council, watch what you have wrought! RT @unitethefight: Coverage of National Equality March has started on C-SPAN!! http://ow.ly/tPlt #NEM C-SPAN Live Stream – C-SPAN C-SPAN offers gavel to gavel coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives. C-SPAN also offers [...]
Top Judge Calls Calif. Government ‘Dysfunctional’
Chief Justice George said, “Chickens gained valuable rights in California on the same day that gay men and lesbians lost them.” Beyond budget matters, Justice George, a Republican appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1991, was critical of a 2008 voter initiative that ended same-sex marriage in California. In May 2008 the Supreme Court struck [...]
Rep. Joe Sestak: The Civil Rights Test of Our Generation
In response to this, a Christian friend, and police officer, suggested privately to me that it was wrong of me to equate the fight for equality with the Civil Rights Era of the 50s and 60s, and especially wrong to invoke the plight of Selma Alabama when examining the recent history of Porterville California and [...]
Porterville Council’s Hate Vote Sparks a National Movement
We urge the Porterville California City Council to reverse its explicit and implicit rejection of its rights-affirming 2001 Resolution in the Wake of the Patriot Act. Your September 2008 Resolution asking constituents to vote to remove existing rights from a minority of people has and is damaging the City’s valuable reputation, and has sparked a [...]
‘Whatever’ – Why Anti-SSM Hateful Actions, are , Well, Hateful and Hated
“It doesn’t surprise me because ‘whatever’ is in a special class, probably,” said Michael Adams, author of “Slang: The People’s Poetry” and an associate professor of English at Indiana University. “It’s a word that — and it depends how a speaker uses it — can suggest dismissiveness.” via ‘Whatever’ so totally tops most annoying word [...]
Sharp Debate At High Court Over Cross On US Land
Debate Mirrors Ongoing Porterville Controversy in Murray Park “I have been in Jewish cemeteries,” Eliasberg continued. “There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew.” From: Sharp debate at high court over cross on US land – Yahoo! News. This case mirrors a current situation in Porterville, one of many that our City [...]
Texas judge clears way for gay divorce
[Texas Attorney General]Abbott has argued that because the state doesn’t recognize gay marriage, its courts can’t dissolve one through divorce. Texas judge clears way for gay divorce – Yahoo! News. So it seems that Texas is torn – they are so set against two men or two women having a marriage, yet they won’t lift [...]
Wounded psyche in need of repair, not a statesman
There is a distasteful type of article that appears often, covering many kind of topics. The rhetoric goes along these lines: I tried something, it didn’t work out, and so you shouldn’t try it. Movie and restaurant reviews are generally of this type. But there is a less innocuous but still common variant that is [...]
Porterville California City Council to Vote on Controversial Same-Sex Marriage Topic Yet Again
PRESS RELEASE July 29, 2009 Porterville, CA Continues to drain city resources and reputation Former Mayor and current Councilmember Cameron Hamilton is scheduled to introduce a resolution asking the Council to condemn same sex marriage, this time using Mark Leno’s Senate Bill 54 as a hook, at the next Porterville City Council Meeting on August [...]
CBS 47 Covers Same Sex Marriage Rights Demand in Porterville
Video coverage here Emotions ran high at the Porterville City Council meeting Tuesday night. Gay marriage supporters spoke out, chastising members for publicly supporting Proposition 8 earlier this year. This comes just one week after the Supreme Court upheld the proposition. Nearly a dozen supporters of gay marriage were at the council meeting to ask [...]
Additional Media Coverage – Porterville Residents Again Stand Up for Civil Rights for All
Porterville Recorder: Grassroots same-sex marriage effort takes flight A grassroots campaign to overturn Proposition 8 kicked off Tuesday before the Porterville City Council. A dozen speakers took turns addressing council members on topics ranging from the council’s resolution last year in support of the ballot measure, the potential psychological effects of banning same-sex marriage, and [...]
ABC 30 in Fresno Travels to Porterville to air Civil Rights Story
Last night Channel 30 sent reporter Gene Haagenson to Porterville to cover the pro-same sex marriage Civil Rights discussion that took place as the public spoke in unanimous voice before the only City Council in the State that took a stand in favor of Prop 8. I introduced the speakers that were to come, and [...]
Brian Ward revises his campaign web site, continued
Earlier we reported that Porterville City Councilman Brian Ward, sponsor of the only city council resolution in the entire state to suport Prop 8 last fall, has quickly changed his hateful campaign web site amid publicly aired allegations of improprieties regarding campaign laws. The allegations alleged that Ward was using the school where he works [...]
Porterville Councilman Ward Revises Web Site After Charges Made
Porterville City Councilmember Brian Ward has updated his hateful campaign web site, voteforbrianward.com in response to public comments at last night’s City Council meeting that some of the material there was unethical and illegal. The assertion was made that some material was either a midemeanor or felony at the prosecutor’s discretion, and that the charges [...]
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D’you know that you can use it? It’s the best years of your life they want to steal No man born with a living soul Can be working for the clampdown I will have more to say in this space soon regarding yesterday’s Prop H8 decision, I am still gathering my thoughts. But these lyric [...]
Prop 8 Upheld, Tears Flood the Streets
Hand of the Law Comes Down Hard Separate But Equal the Law of the Land Once Again in California I can legislate the right of your kids to marry at the ballot box at any time. At least we know that is clear. I wonder what else I can legislate with my organizing skills and [...]
Prop 8 D-Day Actions, Tulare County Announced and Confirmed
From Jamie Garza Chair Porterville LGBTQ, Tulare County Chapter Leader Marriage Equality USA (MEUSA) It was confirmed yesterday that the Supreme Court will issue its ruling on Prop 8, Tuesday May 26th at 10:00am. We have two very important local actions to follow. And Please lets make this viral. Call your friends and family, Forward [...]
Breaking News – Prop 8 Ruling Imminent
This in from the California Supreme Court notification service: STRAUSS v. HORTON Case: S168047, Supreme Court of California Date (YYYY-MM-DD): 2009-05-22 Event Description: Notice of forthcoming opinion posted For more information on this case, go to: http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/dockets.cfm?dist=0&doc_id=1899725
Portia Rossi is Sorry
After listening to Rossi’s mea culpa, I understand now what the Porterville City Council was thinking -hey City Council are you too ashamed of your resolution to even bother to make sure it is posted prominently for all the public you represent to see on the city web site? It is not there at all [...]
Jerry Brown: Proposition 8 Should Be Struck Down
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? [...]