EQCA to air ads for same-sex marriage
The state’s largest gay rights group announced plans May 7 to launch a new media and public relations campaign for same-sex marriage in California.
See EQCA to air ads for same-sex marriage
Gay and Lesbian Times - San Diego,CA,USA * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Miss California sparks outrage over gay marriage remarks
Mixing a beauty pageant with politics is a recipe for disaster. You could make a strong case for it, anyway.
The two merged last night at the site of the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas. The result was similar to the fallout after the Miss Teen USA pageant in 2007 when Miss South Carolina gave the greatest non-answer answer perhaps in American history. Both times the non-winner of a pageant got all the attention the next day.
But unlike the pageant two years ago, the contestant in the crossfire didn’t give a nonsensical (and wildly entertaining) answer. The contestant last night, California’s Carrie Prejean, was too articulate in the minds of many and led to some flaring tempers (similar to Janeane Garofalo’s flare-up on Keith Olbermann’s show the other night).
The question posed to the contestant couldn’t be any more incendiary: gay marriage.
Asked judge Perez Hilton to Prejean, “Vermont recently became the 4th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit. Why or why not?”
Observers quickly learned that in Hilton’s mind there was only one correct answer. And Prejean picked the wrong one.
“Well I think its great that Americans are able to choose one or the other,” she said. “We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you very much.”
Prejean was greeted with a mixed reaction from the audience. Boos followed by applause. And the reactions didn’t stop at the pageant. It went into overtime.
Worst answer
Perez then blasted her on his video blog calling it the “worst answer in pageant history.” He also made comments that he has since apologized for. Now he’s asked her out for coffee to “talk.”
The directors of the Miss California pageant condemned her answer on Monday morning.
“As co-executive director of Miss CA USA and one of the leaders of the Miss CA family, I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss CA USA 2009 believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman,” wrote Keith Lewis on Hilton’s blog. “Although I believe all religions should be able to ordain what unions they see fit, I do not believe our government should be able to discriminate against anyone. Religious beliefs have no place in politics in the Miss CA family.”
Sticking by it
Does she regret the answer? Not at all.
“I was raised in a way that you can never compromise your beliefs and your opinions for anything,” she told AccessHollywood.
Further, she informed the entertainment site that her sister is a gay rights activist in the Air Force. By the way, her sister was more sympathetic than Hilton.
“She was just in my hotel room and she said, ‘Sis, I’m not offended by anything that you said. We have two different opinions and I love you because of it. I love you because you stood up for what was right, and it’s not a matter of being gay or not gay, it’s a matter of you competing for Miss USA and getting a question and answering it to the best of your ability.”
On one area both Hilton and Prejean agree: her answer killed her chances of winning the competition.
“She lost it because of that question. She was definitely the front-runner before that,” Hilton told ABCNews.com
“It did cost me my crown,” she concurred. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I said what I feel. I stated an opinion that was true to myself and that’s all I can do.”
See Miss California sparks outrage over gay marriage remarks @ Christian Science Monitor - Also:
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Miss USA Scores Controversy, Not Ratings E! Online -
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California Supreme Court appears likely to uphold gay marriage ban
The California Supreme Court today appeared inclined to uphold Proposition 8, but showed obvious reluctance to void thousands of same-sex marriages already in place when voters restored a ban on gay marriage last fall.
During three hours of arguments in San Francisco, the justices peppered lawyers opposing Proposition 8 with questions that suggested they do not believe they have the authority to trump the will of the voters.
At the same time, even justices who voted against striking down California’s previous ban on gay marriage indicated that Proposition 8 should not wipe out an estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place last year. Those couples mobilized around the state to obtain marriage licenses after the Supreme Court ruled last May that California’s prior ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.
“Is that really fair to people who depended on what this court said was the law?” Justice Ming Chin asked Ken Starr, the former Clinton impeachment prosecutor who argued that same-sex marriages shouldn’t be recognized under Proposition 8.
See California Supreme Court appears likely to uphold gay marriage ban
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA
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Gay marriage on trial
California’s long, tortuous war over same-sex marriage enters its next phase on Thursday, when the state Supreme Court hears oral arguments on three lawsuits challenging Proposition 8, the controversial constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage.
The easy way to think about these cases — and the way most non-lawyers are likely to do it — is to decide which side of the issue you’re on and root for that side to win. In other words, if you support marriage between same-sex couples, you’ll want the cases to succeed so that Proposition 8 will be overturned. If you believe men and women should only be allowed to marry each other, you’ll hope the lawsuits fail.
That’s fine. It’s outcome-based. But frankly, it has very little to do with what the Supreme Court is going to consider in the oral arguments.
Instead, the argument in the courtroom will be broader and more abstract. Who makes law in a democracy? What should we do when laws contradict one another? Who is the ultimate sovereign in the state of California — the people at the polls or their written Constitution or their appointed judges or their elected legislators? Can fundamental constitutional rights — inalienable rights — be withdrawn from one group but not another?
These are big, thorny questions with implications that go well beyond whether gays are allowed to marry. What follows is a cheater’s guide to the issues at hand.
Remind us: How did we get here?
The battle over same-sex marriage sometimes seems endless. Gay couples have been trying to get married in California since the late 1970s, and their opponents have been working just as hard since then to ensure that it does not happen.
Here are some highlights @ Gay marriage on trial
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
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Is California ready for 2010 vote on gay marriage?
Could California be voting on gay marriage again next year? Well, there is a new group, Yes! on Equality, that is beginning a campaign for the “2010 Marriage Equality Initiative.” It’s hard to say how serious this is, and whether voters really want to take this issue up again, but the website says organizers have learned their lesson from Prop. 8:
In addition to starting early, there are numerous factors that distinguish the Yes! Campaign. Perhaps the most paramount, is the inclusion of people. RollingStone, in a critical analysis of the No on 8 Campaign, noted that No on 8 failed to create a grassroots style organization and excluded LGBT community leaders. The Yes! Campaign recognizes this and has therefore built its foundation upon the inclusion of a diverse set of people. The purpose of this campaign is not to turn-away supporters, but rather to bring them together for a more effective outcome. Connecting with other minorities is an imperative part of this cohesion. The Yes! Campaign is continuing where other attempts left off by targeting all groups in our society.
Examiner.com reports signature gathering is coming.
See Is California ready for 2010 vote on gay marriage?
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
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Proposition 8 backers attack Brown’s efforts to keep gay marriage
Proponents of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage filed legal briefs today urging the California Supreme Court to reject the novel legal argument put forth last month by state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and to preserve Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban approved by voters in November.
“The people have the final word on what the California Constitution says,” lawyers wrote. “The practical result of the Attorney General’s theory is that the people can never amend the Constitution to overrule judicial interpretations of inalienable rights.”
The legal filing comes in response to a brief two weeks ago from the attorney general in which he surprised legal experts by putting forth an unusual theory to argue that Proposition 8 should be invalidated, saying that the measure undermines fundamental liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.
His theory surprised experts because he had pledged to argue in favor of Proposition 8 — as the attorney general, it is his job to defend the state’s laws. But it also advanced an unorthodox interpretation of the Constitution.
See Proposition 8 backers attack Brown’s efforts to keep gay marriage
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