Beverly Hills disowns anti-gay Miss California contestant

(Beverly Hills, Calif.) Less than a year after dethroned Miss California USA Carrie Prejean stirred up controversy with her remarks against gay marriage, a similar war of words is brewing in Beverly Hills.

Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne said she is outraged over a Miss California USA contestant who is claiming …

Miss Calif. pageant gives ad time to gay group

(San Francisco) The Miss California USA pageant director who became embroiled in a war of words with former title holder Carrie Prejean has donated 30-seconds of free ad time to the state’s largest gay rights group.

Equality California announced Thursday that it would be airing a spot featuring a teenage girl …

Film documents Mormon role in gay marriage debate

(Salt Lake City) Reed Cowan’s reasons for making a film about the Mormon church’s activism against gay marriage in California are personal.

Himself gay and Mormon, Cowan clashed with his family over his sexual orientation and the beliefs of their faith, but it was a conversation between him and a sibling …

Obama administration says marriage law unfair

(Washington) The Obama administration filed court papers Monday claiming a federal marriage law discriminates against gays, even as government lawyers continued to defend it.

Justice Department lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a gay California couple challenging the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The administration’s response to the …

Utah paper rejects same-sex wedding announcement

(Salt Lake City) A southern Utah newspaper has rejected a gay California couple’s wedding announcement, saying its policy is to publish announcements only for marriages legal under Utah law.

The Spectrum in St. George initially accepted a paid wedding announcement for Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones last week, but then changed …

California Equality: Wait til 2012 to attack gay marriage ban

(San Francisco) California gay rights activists are at odds over when to ask voters to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage ban, with one of the largest groups saying it needs until 2012 to put together a winning campaign and two others saying they plan go to the polls next year.

For …

Episcopal Church ousts 61 clergy in gay dispute

(Fresno, California) National leaders of the Episcopal Church have ousted 61 clergy who aligned with a former bishop in California when he broke with the national church in a dispute over the Bible and homosexuality.

Former Bishop John-David Schofield led the Diocese of San Joaquin to become the first full diocese …

LGBT groups urge dropping federal gay marriage case

(San Francisco, California) A coalition of gay rights groups says a federal same-sex marriage lawsuit brought by two high-profile litigators is premature.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and other national organizations issued a statement Wednesday saying they think the U.S. Supreme Court is not ready to issue a favorable …

Twitter mistake causes gay marriage internet stir

(San Francisco, California) A year-old story on the California Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the state’s gay marriage ban had the blogosphere buzzing last week.

A Web version of the Los Angeles Times newspaper story on the justices’ May 15, 2008, ruling was misread by some inattentive bloggers, who apparently didn’t …

Lambda Legal Marks First Anniversary of Historic California Marriage Victory

‘…denying marriage to loving and committed same-sex couples is morally wrong…’
(Los Angeles, May 15, 2009) — On the first anniversary of the California Supreme Court’s historic ruling in In re Marriages, Lambda Legal Marriage Project Director Jennifer C. Pizer issued the following statement:
“One year ago today many thousands of lesbian and gay Californians became full citizens for the first time when the state supreme court ruled that we all are equal under law and everyone – gay and straight alike – must have the same right to marry the person they love. For some of us who’d worked on the case for years, the court’s clarion clear decision gave real meaning to the California Constitution’s promise of equality. And then, as more than 18,000 same-sex couples jubilantly exercised that right all over the state, family and friends shared their joy, cried during their vows, and were changed for the better.

The court’s historic decision also paved the way for the high courts of Connecticut and Iowa, which in turn gave great boosts to the legislatures in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia. Awareness now is dawning for great numbers of Americans that denying marriage to loving and committed same-sex couples is morally wrong and inflicts real harms—government should not be in the business of discrimination. Public opinion is shifting fast toward fairness. But no minority should have to depend on the generosity of the majority to enjoy basic rights. Proposition 8′s theft of our right to marry has advanced a broadly pernicious recasting of “equal protection” that, if upheld, puts every California minority at risk. It was a sad, knee-jerk response to the sight of couples in love celebrating their happiness.

Paper is the traditional first anniversary gift and there are two obvious examples — our constitution, torn asunder by Prop 8′s antigay exception, and the high court’s imminent decision that we hope will mend that tear. Today’s anniversary reminds us that we win in court and in life when we publicly celebrate our truth, love and joy in equal measures.”

Jennifer C. Pizer is Director of Lambda Legal’s Marriage Project and co-counsel in the cases that established same-sex couples’ right to marry in California and the pending challenge to Proposition 8.