California’s top lawyer has called for the result of a referendum effectively banning same-sex marriage to be quashed, two days ahead of the latest court-room showdown over the issue.

Attorney General Jerry Brown said the ballot measure known as Proposition 8, which redefined marriage in California as a union between a man and a woman, should be invalidated because it “discriminates against same-sex couples.”

On Thursday, supporters of same-sex marriage are to go before California’s Supreme Court in San Francisco to argue for the ballot measure to be invalidated in the latest twist to the long-running legal battle.

Brown said Tuesday the Supreme Court should strike down the measure on the grounds that same-sex couples had an “inalienable” right to marry that should not be allowed to be taken away by a simple majority vote.

He compared the current dispute to a case in 1964, where the California and US Supreme Courts quashed a voter measure that would have allowed racial discrimination in renting or selling of property.

See California legal chief calls for end to gay marriage ban

Some top LGBT advocates believe the tone of anti-gay rhetoric getting sharper, in response to a boost in LGBT support on the national level, while others think conservatives are shifting their tactics to push for more anti-LGBT laws. “The more gains you make and the closer your opponents are to losing, the more ferocious they are in the way in which they lash out. That is just the nature of social change,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. Washington Blade

On Top Magazine, OH Charlotte Robinson, the woman whose interviews with prominent gay and lesbian leaders we have been following closely here at On Top Magazine over the past year, has launched a new website dedicated to housing those interviews.

The new site, called OUTTAKE VOICES and located at voices.outtakeonline.com, brings together diverse voices from all corners of the gay and lesbian community. See New Website Brings Gay Voices Together

Cleveland City Council approved a domestic partner registry for gay and straight couples at its Monday session.

Passage of the registry was difficult in a state where voters passed one of the toughest gay marriage bans in the country four years ago.

The non-binding registry lacks the serious muscle of marriage or even civil unions; any benefits extended to couples would be strictly voluntary. But gay rights groups contend that in a state like Ohio, where city leaders have been hobbled by a broad constitutional amendment that forbids extending any marriage-like benefits to gay couples, it is a good compromise.

 See Cleveland Approves Gay Domestic Partner Registry
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