Gay Central Valley, which runs GayFresno.com, GayVisalia.com and
GayHanford.com needs your help. Our workload has increased since
becoming an official nonprofit, and our wonderful volunteers need an
extra computer. We have found a computer but we find ourselves in need
of a used or new LCD Computer Monitor, at least 14" or larger. If you
or anyone you know has such a monitor they no longer need and would
like to donate it to Gay Central Valley, please contact Jason Scott at
(559) 325-4429 or Chris Jarvis through the ABOUT US page on www.gayfresno.com
The ACLU has drafted a letter to the President of Fresno City College, to
issue a formal complaint about Bradley Lopez, a health instructor at the
school. They claim his teachings include various religious based arguments as
well as anti-gay misinformation being shown to the students. Some of what the
ACLU says Mr. Bradley has...
*Presented media labeled as "homosexual facts" which state that
homosexuality is a "biological misapplication of human sexuality" and
that the "condition" of homosexuality can be treated with hormones or
counseling.
*Presented LGBT Americans as a burden on society.
*Used biblical quotes as "empirical evidence" that life begins
at conception and therefore, abortion is murder.
*Stated that the climate change to be worried about is the biblical
description of the world ending in fire.
Mr. Lopez responded in December, stating that he only provides students with
"measured, scientific information in current issues and health", as
well as noting his disagreement with the concept of the separation of church
and state.
While free speech is, of course, Mr. Lopez's right outside the classroom,
the ACLU reminds that "as a tax supported entity, FCC must of course
comply with state and federal law, which prohibits religious indoctrination in
public education".
The ACLU has demanded a response from the school by February 15th.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The first federal case to decide if
the U.S. Constitution prevents states from stopping same-sex weddings came to
an anti-climatic break Wednesday after a judge heard nearly 12 days of
wide-ranging testimony on the meaning of marriage, the nature of sexual
orientation, and the role of religion in shaping attitudes about both.
Attorneys for sponsors of California's Proposition 8
tentatively rested their case after introducing materials from the 2008
election campaign.
They called just two expert witnesses, including David
Blankenhorn, president of the New York-based Institute for American Values, who
capped the historic proceedings by saying the rights of same-sex couples should
come second to preserving the cherished social institution of marriage.
Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker heard the case
without a jury and said he will take time to review the evidence before
allowing closing arguments, probably in March or April. He has no deadline for
reaching a decision.
HONOLULU (AP) -- The Hawaii Senate approved same-sex civil
unions Friday, potentially setting up the measure for final passage as soon as
next week.
The Senate passed the bill on an 18-7 vote, moving it to
the House and signaling that the Senate's Democratic majority has enough votes
to override a possible veto from Republican Gov. Linda Lingle.
The House has yet to decide if it will vote on the bill.
House leaders say they will take up the bill if they have a veto-proof
two-thirds majority but may let it die if they have only a small majority.
"It's very close," said Democratic Speaker of the
House Calvin Say. "During an election year, this issue is so divisive that
it may hurt many of our members."
Day 10 of Prop 8 Trial - Attorneys for Plaintiffs Rest Case
Written by Chris Jarvis
Monday, 25 January 2010
On Monday, January 25th, the 10th
day of the Prop 8 case being heard in San Francisco, Ted Olson and David Boies,
attorneys for the plaintiffs, rested their case. Now, the defense team makes
their case...
The Washington
Post reports...
Kenneth Miller, a professor at
Claremont McKenna College who teaches California politics and researches ballot
initiatives, was the first defense witness in the trial over the
constitutionality of Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban.
Miller said one indication of the
gay rights movement's clout in California was that neither Republican Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger nor any other statewide office holders endorsed Proposition
8. But perhaps the best measure of the movement's strength was the $43 million
amassed to defeat the gay marriage ban in 2008, he said. That was $3.4 million
more than initiative backers raised.
Boies pushed back at Miller, asking if he
thought Prop 8 was inherently discriminatory...
"It's differential
treatment. Whether it's legally discriminatory, I don't know," Miller
said.
The New York
Times reports on the cross examination of Kenneth Miller, at
the hand of Attorney David Boies. Boies tried to illuminate Miller's lack of
knowledge when it comes to LGBT discrimination, both currently and
historically...
Mr. Boies pointed out that during
his deposition, Dr. Miller did not know how many states had laws regarding
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Mr. Boies continued to ask
Dr. Miller to answer a range of difficult questions, ranging from political
history to gay and lesbian politics and scholarship.
“What academic books and articles
are you familiar with regarding the discrimination against minority groups?”
Dr. Miller demurred.
“You mean you can’t think of any
titles?” Mr. Boies asked.
“No, I can’t,” Dr. Miller
responded.
Mr. Boies, minutes later, asked,
“Nationally, do you believe the African-American minority or the gay and
lesbian minority has the greater political power?”
Dr. Miller responded, “I’d have
to say I don’t know.”
Shannon Minter, who was a lead attorney in
the California Supreme Court case concerning legal same sex marriage, open up
and provides his take on the current Prop 8 case, as reported by the Advocate...
Aside from the judge and
litigants of the case, perhaps no one has been more present during Perry v.
Schwarzenegger over the past several weeks than Shannon Minter, legal director
for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (if you’re following the case but
haven’t seen his commentary via Twitter, take note: He’s at @nclrights).
As lead attorney in the California state
supreme court case that opened the door for gay couples to marry before
Proposition 8 slammed it shut, Minter is no stranger to the arguments that the
ballot measure’s defenders are using — ones that have ranged in this trial from
dubious to utterly baffling. Minter recently put his tweeting aside for a few
minutes to speak with Advocate.com about the landmark case as it heads into its
third week.
The Advocate
Interview touches on the matter of Paul Nathanson and Katherine
Young, handpicked and paid for by the defense, who then withdrew from the case.
Video depositions later revealed they made statements indicating the plaintiffs
were correct in this matter. Minter comments....
"I have never seen a
situation like that before in any case. Keep in mind that these were experts
handpicked and paid for by the defense. To have a party’s own experts make
admissions in depositions that the other side is completely correct about
issues that are central to their case is almost unheard of."
Minter has also been posting his updates of
the trial on Twitter. You can follow those postings here: http://twitter.com/nclrights
Mercury News provides a time breakdown of the 10th day of
the trial, including this entry...
4:52 p.m.: Plaintiffs' lawyer and
prof spar over whether Prop 8 is discriminatory
Another day is done in the
Proposition 8 trial. Kenneth Miller, a Claremont McKenna professor and the
Proposition 8 team's first witness, remains on the stand, under
cross-examination by plaintiffs attorney David Boies. As the afternoon
progressed, Boies moved on to sparring with Miller about the professor's view
of whether Proposition 8 and other same-sex marriage bans amount to
discrimination. The lawyer and witness went around and around on the topic,
with Miller only conceding that it just defines marriage as between a man and a
woman and "excludes other forms of marriage." He also at one point
said "it creates a distinction between the two groups."
It's frustrating for those
following the current Prop 8 trial in San Francisco to have to wade through the
blogs and tweets in order to piece the case together. The Supreme Court has
barred the use of live or delayed video of the trial, and understandably, much
of the information coming out via bloggers is incomplete, given the difficulty
of transferring an ongoing trial immediately into words. But an answer seems to
have arrived. It appears we'll now be able to watch daily re-enactments of the
trial, starting on Tuesday, January 19th, thanks to John Ireland.
John Ireland, (above) is afreelance
journalist and filmmaker, based in Los Angeles, who has "focused on the gay rights movement, the
electoral process and the effects of linguistics and semantics on everyday
exchanges that connect us to one another." You can check out Ireland's
previous works by clicking here.
Ireland made this statement over the
weekend... “People want to see this drama
unfold and there is a tremendous narrative that was propelled by that first day
of testimony…. I don’t think you need to be gay or lesbian to see there is a
tremendous human story being told but so few people are actually hearing it.”
Read the full interview here... On
Top Magazine Interview with John Ireland
The project's mission, according to their
website...
In its January 13, 2010 ruling, the U.S.
Supreme Court blocked the public broadcasting of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a
U.S. District Court case challenging the constitutional validity of California
Proposition 8. Working from partial transcripts and first-hand accounts from
bloggers who are present at the trial, we will re-create the trial proceedings
and post them here, for public viewing.
Ireland posted this Craigslist
Adto get the people he needed for the project. All work on the project
is volunteer only.
Apparently Day One of the trial
has been filmed over the weekend and is in the bag, to be released Tuesday,
January 19th. We'll post the ongoing video series here for you to see. For
updates on the project follow this link... Prop 8 Trial
Re-enactment
Pictured, left to right...VAUGHN WALKER (JUDGE)
- DAVID BOIES (PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY) - TED OLSON (PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY) - DAVID
KATAMI (PLAINTIFF) - JEFFREY ZARILLO (PLAINTIFF) - KRISTEN PERRY (PLAINTIFF) -
SANDY STIER (PLAINTIFF)
HONOLULU - When Hawaii
legislators reconvene on Wednesday, all eyes will be focused not on teacher
furloughs that resulted in the nation’s shortest school year or the state’s $1
billion budget deficit, but legislation that would allow same-sex couples to
form civil unions.
The measure would grant gay couples the rights and benefits
the state provides to married couples and is among a handful of similar
proposals that could pop up in several other states. At the same time, a
federal judge in San Francisco is considering the constitutionality of
California’s same-sex marriage ban.
"This bill has already been voted on, so there isn’t as
much convincing to do anymore," said Alan Spector of Equality Hawaii, a
leading supporter of the bill. "I think (legislators) get the substance of
the bill and the need for the bill."
Over 1,000,000 people voted during Round 1 to determine the top 100 charities. But that was just the beginning.
During Round 2, the top charity by votes will win $1 million, with $100,000 being awarded to the five runners-up. Votes can be cast Jan. 15 through Jan. 22 by visiting our charity page. On January 8, you can read about our BIG IDEA and how we would use this money within our organization.
There are two other organizations among the 100 finalists that work to improve the lives of LGBTQ youth: The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the Matthew Shepard Foundation. In order to ensure that these organizations' life-saving work receives as much support as possible, we are pleased to announce that we will be pooling our resources to offer each other support in hopes of all reaching one of the top six places.
So what can you do to help? Besides casting your vote between Jan. 15 and Jan. 22, please spread word among your friends and contacts. Update your Facebook status, post a link on your profile/fan page wall, send private messages and tweet about the contest. Every person you reach out to is another vote and we can't win this without your help!
If you are willing to do any of these starting January 15, we will send you a follow-up email closer to the competition launch with specific language to use.
Thank you for your continued support.
About The Trevor Project
The Trevor Project is the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioningyouth. Every day, The Trevor Project saves young lives through its free and confidential helpline, in-school workshops, educational materials, online resources and public policy advocacy.
For the best
up to minute information on the Federal Prop 8 case, visit The
American Foundation for Equal Rightswhich is the group
bringing the case against Prop 8. This site is the best resource for
information about the trial, although we have provided various other links to
keep track of the proceedings.
From the American Foundation for Equal Rights... The federal trial over the unconstitutionality of
Proposition 8 began today with an opening statement by attorney Theodore Olson,
who with David Boies is leading the legal team assembled by the American
Foundation for Equal Rights to litigate the case Perry v. Schwarzenegger.
Opening statements will be followed by testimony from Kris Perry, Sandy Stier,
Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, who comprise two couples who wish to be married
but who were denied marriage licenses because of Proposition 8. After the
opening statement David Boies gave the direct examination of Jeff Zarrillo and
Paul Katami. Read
Olson's opening statement by clicking here
You can
follow live Twitter updates from the trial by clicking on the following link...Live Updates From
the Trial
Jennifer
Vanasco of 365Gay.com is also providing live Tweet updates from the Federal
Prop 8 Case. You can view her contributions HERE
Yet another source for keeping track of the
Federal Prop 8 case. This one is through the Courage Campaign with Rick Jacobs
writing from the courtroom. Many lengthy dialogues which are occurring in the
courtroom are written out here. Prop 8 Trial Tracker - Courage Campaign
