Free Republic

Calif. AG Urges Court to Void Gay Marriage Ban SAN FRANCISCO – The California attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. In a dramatic reversal, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters. But Brown...

California’s Rush To Judgment on Same Sex Marriage December 20th, 2008 By JERRY REMMERS Only in California can the bizarre become the norm. In a spate of a few hours Friday afternoon, briefs were filed with the state Supreme Court challenging, supporting and extending a ban on same sex marriages. Backers of Proposition 8, the initiative that bans same sex marriage, petitioned to nullify the 18,000 marriages conducted after the high court voted 4-3 approving such nuptials. State Attorney General Jerry Brown countered with a brief indicating he could not support the proposition because “the amendment process cannot be used...

SAN FRANCISCO - California's attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now joining forces with homosexual activists to overturn the results of Proposition 8. In a dramatic reversal, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters. But Brown said he reached a different conclusion "upon...

SAN FRANCISCO — In a sharp rebuke to supporters of a contested state ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, the California attorney general said Friday that the measure was constitutionally indefensible and should be overturned. The attorney general, Jerry Brown, had previously hinted of his opposition to the measure, Proposition 8, but made his legal opinion concrete on Friday in a brief to the California Supreme Court, which is reviewing the measure. “Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification,” Mr. Brown said in a statement. The attorney...

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown has changed his position with respect to the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. Brown filed a brief Friday saying the measure, which amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman, is itself unconstitutional because it deprives gay couples of a fundamental right.

When you write a column for a living, you get called lots of names on a regular basis. Moron, liar and sellout, to name a few. I'm in no position to complain, though, since I occasionally use the same words to describe public officials and captains of industry. But I've never been called a bigot so many times as I have since I wrote in my Sunday column about the boycott of El Coyote, the Los Angeles cantina whose Mormon manager donated $100 to Proposition 8, the successful November ballot initiative to ban gay marriage. "Your article defending" the manager...

Margie Christoffersen didn't make it very far into our conversation before she cracked. Chest heaving, tears streaming, she reached for her husband Wayne's hand and then mine, squeezing as if she'd never let go. "I've almost had a nervous breakdown. It's been the worst thing that's ever happened to me," she sobbed as curious patrons at a Farmers Market coffee shop looked on, wondering what calamity had visited this poor woman who's an honest 6 feet tall, with hair as blond as the sun. Well, Christoffersen was a manager at El Coyote, the Beverly Boulevard landmark restaurant that's always had...

Kenneth W. Starr, the former U.S. Solicitor General who led the inquiry into President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica L. Lewinsky, will argue the case in favor of upholding a ban on gay marriage before the California Supreme Court. Starr was today named lead counsel for the official proponents of Proposition 8. This afternoon, the group filed court briefs defending the legality of the proposition, which was approved by 52% of California voters last month throwing into question thousands of marriages performed during the five months the practice was legal in the state. The briefs are in response to a...

The sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions. The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions.

I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS FROSTY THE SNOWMAN LET IT SNOW I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS OBAMA'S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS UP ON THE HOUSETOP SILVER BELLS RUDOLPH BARNEY FRANK - DANCE OF THE SUGAR PLUM FAERIE WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS LITTLE DRUMMER BOY AL GORE'S GLOBAL WARMING WONDERLAND DECK THE HALLS FELIZ NAVIDAD - The Police Nailed Rod PARADE OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN (gays not happy at all over Obama choosing Pastor Rick Warren)

Internet Criminals Attack MOVIEGUIDE® and Ted Baehr; Bogus Email Sends People to Porn Site Dec 17th, 2008 Date: December 16, 2008 A bogus email in the name of MOVIEGUIDE® and its Christian founder, Ted Baehr, is sending people to a homosexual porn site, Dr. Baehr said today. “This is a criminal attack on our ministry,” Dr. Baehr noted. He advised supporters and friends to report any similar attacks to MOVIEGUIDE® at info@movieguide.org. “We are looking at legal and criminal action,” Dr. Baehr said. “But, in the meantime, we urgently ask all of our partners and supporters to please pray that...

Gay activists furious with Obama By: Ben Smith and Nia-Malika Henderson December 17, 2008 06:32 PM EST Barack Obama’s choice of a prominent evangelical minister to perform the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement that – in the wake of a gay marriage ban in California – is looking for a fight. Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, opposes abortion rights but has taken more liberal stances on the government role in fighting poverty,...

According to the official Statement of the Vote released by the Secretary of State. Proposition 8 passed by a margin of 52.3% to 47.7%. Here are some additional facts: # Prop. 8 received 2,150,000 more votes than did Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was reelected in 2006 # Prop. 8 received nearly 2 million more votes than Dianne Feinstein did when she was reelected to the US Senate in 2006 # Prop. 8 received 250,000 more votes than did John Kerry when he carried California in 2004 # Prop. 8 received 45,000 more votes than did Barbara Boxer in her landslide...

The congregants from the Wasilla Bible Church were not looking to cast stones in the wake of the fire that nearly destroyed Gov. Palin’s house of worship. With an investigation in progress, the authorities will not comment or theorize. Given the criticism of the church by the forces of political correctness and the historical background of the election, is it possible that this arson is the work of the Anti-Prop 8 Mafia?

How was your “Day Without a Gay” day?Did you “call in gay” yesterday?Were you afforded the opportunity to “Fight H8 with love” on Wednesday?Yesterday America was slated to feel the pain and hurt of a day where homosexuals were taken out of the societal equation. Gays across the map were encouraged to stay home on Wednesday – to “call in gay,” as it were – as a form of nonviolent protest against an American society still mired in antiquated anti-gay sentiment (or something close to that) - not unlike the wildly successful “Day without an Immigrant” day, you might remember,...

Marc Shaiman, the Tony Award-winning composer of the film and stage musical “Hairspray,” has done the country a major, if inadvertent, service. He has composed a brief musical piece against California Proposition 8 that takes only three minutes to reveal the ignorance and hate that pervades so much anti-Proposition 8 activism. This short musical, viewed more than 2 million times on the Internet, features major Hollywood talents playing (through song) two groups on a beach -- gay men and women in beach clothes and a stuffy formally dressed church group composed of whites and blacks. Its message begins with a...

"Moving forward together" In his column this week in Catholic San Francisco, Archbishop George H. Niederauer calls for an end to hate and name calling in the aftermath of Proposition 8, and issues a call for reconciliation based upon trust, respect, and tolerance. The leader of the San Francisco Archdiocese says we must be able to disagree without being disagreeable, and “with God’s grace and much prayer, perhaps we can all move forward together.” The full text of the Archbishop’s column in the Dec. 5 issue of Catholic San Francisco follows. Proposition 8 on November’s ballot added fourteen words to...

Then Prop 8 argument, was settled by the voters almost three weeks ago and in that time the argument has shifted from "should there be gay marriage" to "should people/institutions be punished for their political views? Two weeks ago a theater director was forced to resign because he gave money to the pro-Prop 8 forces, then the head of the LA Film Festival has been forced to resign for the same reason. There are regular and sometimes vicious protests in front of the Mormon Church in California. The Argument has shifted. This no longer has to do with the definition...

Yes on Proposition 8 campaign today accused legislators of “grandstanding for the cameras” in an inappropriate and misguided publicity stunt designed to influence the California Supreme Court in the lead-up to the Court’s scheduled hearing on the validity of Proposition 8. “You’d think that these legislators would be focused on resolving the budget deficit or improving the economy. Instead, they seem more interested in grandstanding for the cameras and thumbing their noses at voters who enacted Proposition 8 by a nearly 600,000 vote margin,” said Ron Prentice, Chairman of ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8. “Sadly, with an approval rating hovering...

“Same Sex Marriage” and Its Threat to Religious Liberty November 29th, 2008 by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse Tactics used by gay marriage campaigners confirm believers’ worst fears. As wildfires blazed in California last week, anger at the outcome of the state’s referendum on marriage blazed across the country. After a hard-fought campaign over Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman, a clear majority of California voters endorsed it, and the gay marriage lobby was enraged. Now, as same sex marriage campaigners take the issue back to the courts, it is unclear what the...

In the nearly four weeks since Election Day, gay activists and thousands of their supporters have rallied outside Mormon temples around the country, protesting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' support for California's Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to make same-sex marriage illegal in the Golden State.There have been calls to boycott the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah; some activists have called for a boycott of the entire state of Utah. Protesters have defaced some church buildings, and in Arapaho County, Colo., the Sheriff's Office is investigating a possible hate crime — the torching...

Ever since a slim majority outlawed gay marriage in California, opponents have waged national protests and petitions, urging the judicial system to reconsider the results of the Nov. 4 referendum. (Proposition 8 overturned an earlier decision by the California Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage.) While the court weighs whether or not to get back into the fray, the civil unrest ignited by the ban shows no sign of abating. A national protest against Prop. 8 organized by JoinTheImpact.com is scheduled for today. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which opponents say donated more than $20 million to...

After the passage of Prop 8 in California, homosexuals are still howling that they don’t have “equal rights.” Hopefully, the California Supreme Court will respect the equal rights of voters by affirming Prop 8 because the howls of homosexuals are false. The truth is every person in America already has equal marriage rights! We’re all playing by the same rules—we all have the same right to marry any non-related adult of the opposite sex. Those rules do not deny anyone “equal protection of the laws” because the qualifications to enter a marriage apply equally to everyone—every adult person has the...

First, it was Scott Eckern, the director of the nonprofit California Musical Theatre in Sacramento. Now, it's Richard Raddon, the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival: Yet, the anti-Raddon bile continued to bubble in the blogosphere, and according to one Film Independent board member, "No on 8" supporters also berated Raddon personally via phone calls and e-mails. The recriminations ultimately proved too much, and when Raddon offered to resign again, this time the board accepted. . . ."I'm personally saddened by the outcome," said Film Independent board member Bill Condon, the writer-director of "Dreamgirls." "Someone has lost his...

Above the Hate.com Letter Against Hate to President Monson November 15, 2008 President Thomas S. Monson Office of the First Presidency Church Administration Building 47 East South Temple Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 Dear President Monson: We write firstly to express our deep gratitude to you and the entire LDS community for the large and impressive contributions of your church and its members in protecting marriage in California and Arizona. Anyone who participated in this process has come to admire the competence, diligence and moral courage that so many members of your faith community displayed as part of this coalition...

More than 3,000 people, including longtime Mormon critic James Dobson of Focus on the Family, have signed an online petition thanking the LDS Church for its efforts on behalf of California's traditional marriage initiative known as Proposition 8. "Anyone who participated in this process has come to admire the competence, diligence and moral courage that so many members of your faith community displayed as part of this coalition effort -- as Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons and people of other faith communities all came together to fight this great battle for marriage," says the petition, which is addressed to LDS President Thomas...

Left to their own devices, most Americans can work these differences out in politics much as they do in their everyday lives, as untidy as these solutions may be. Unfortunately, when the courts short-circuit this process, they do three things corrosive to our politics. First, they act as dishonest referees, imposing one set of preferences over another. Second, they cheat the American people of an honest political contest, where candidates need to persuade the people of their views to put them into effect. Ed Whelan, a former Justice Department official who now runs the D.C.-based Ethics and Public Policy Center,...

I was interested to see that in the recent election exercise in the USA, although the Democratic Party won the presidency, and increased its majority in the Senate and the Congress, it lost ballots in three States which would have redefined the institution of marriage to include same-sex unions. In Arizona, Proposition 102 won by 56 per cent to 44 per cent; in Florida, Amendment 2 passed by 62.4 per cent to 37.6 per cent and in California, Proposition 8 passed by 52.2 per cent to 47.8 per cent in a hard-fought contest. In California, campaigns for and against Proposition...

California officials are planning to investigate whether the Mormon church gave an accurate accounting of its role in the campaign that succeeded in getting a same-sex marriage ban approved in the state. The action by the California Fair Political Practices Commission came in response to a complaint filed two weeks ago by a gay rights activist. Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of failing to report the value of the work it did to support Proposition 8. Roman Porter, the agency's executive director, said Monday that the decision to open...

Proposition 8 was an unsung victory for defenders of individual liberty. Wait, I know what many people will say to this. How can a measure that prevents gay couples from getting a marriage license be beneficial to the defense of individual liberty? It's because that vote represented a line drawn in the sand, even if a thin one, preventing the government from furthering its control over the institution. As it currently stands, there is nothing short of the problem of finding a pastor, priest or rabbi who is willing to perform the marriage rite that is stopping most gay couples...

Should there be boycotts, blacklists, firings or de facto shunning of those who supported Proposition 8? That's the issue consuming many in liberal Hollywood who fought to defeat the initiative banning same-sex marriage and are now reeling with recrimination and dismay. Meanwhile, activists continue to comb donor lists and employ the Internet to expose those who donated money to support the ban. Already out is Scott Eckern, director of the nonprofit California Musical Theatre in Sacramento, who resigned after a flurry of complaints from prominent theater artists, including "Hairspray" composer Marc Shaiman, when word of his contribution to the Yes...

Just so we're clear, the ongoing gay rage after California's vote isn't about benefits. California's civil unions were materially indistinguishable from marriage. That state's Supreme Court said so when it ruled that this wasn't enough. Nor is it about having a family. Gay couples have those. Billboards around our town point this out. As one woman among the 200 protesters in downtown Milwaukee last weekend put it, "We want our family recognized." Which is to say it's not about gay people at all. It's about you. Their love isn't at issue. Your love for their love is. Employer benefits were...

On a temperate night in the City by the Bay last month, a community gathered to honor one of its fallen with the world premiere of "Milk." Gus Van Sant's film stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the San Francisco city supervisor who, along with Mayor George Moscone, was shot and killed on Nov. 27, 1978. In front of the Castro Theatre, the cast and civic VIPs stopped for interviews. There was Josh Brolin, who plays Dan White, the city supervisor who pulled the trigger. There was James Franco, who plays Milk's most significant other. Across the street, people waved...

Tonight's episode we will be talking about Proposition 8, open lines and some football. Tune in at 11:30pm EST

I've had a few people wanting to see the video I did on gay marriage that was banned from YouTube. I put up a new video on my website. Hope you'll watch, and keep up the fight to keep marriage between one man, and one woman. God bless ya!

The emotion and strong-feelings on both sides of Proposition 8 divided leaders in the African-American community on Friday night. At the annual NAACP Banquet in San Francisco some pastors chose to boycott because of another's stance on same-sex marriage. "Seizing our moment of triumph" was the NAACP celebratory theme for this major fundraiser, but conversation often still centered on Proposition 8 and Rev. Amos Brown's much publicized stance to support same-sex marriage civil rights. "Tonight our national president, Ben Jealous, will be here to show he stands with us. And for the state president Alice Huffman to be here, to...

A supporter of Proposition 8, fed up with what he believed was the gay community's and "liberal media's" refusal to accept the voters' verdict, fired off a letter to the editor. "Please show respect for democracy," he wrote, in a letter we published. What he encountered instead was an utter lack of respect for free speech. Within hours, the intimidation game was on. Because his real name and city were listed - a condition for publication of letters to The Chronicle - opponents of Prop. 8 used Internet search engines to find the letter writer's small business, his Web site...

Proposition 8: Governor Schwarzenegger Respect the Voter's Will If you are a California citizen, please act immediately to sign this petition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is urging the California Supreme Court to overthrow the results of the recent free and fair election which passed Proposition 8, defining marriage as between a man and a woman. His actions as governor in attempting to negate this vote are an insult to the voters of California and undermine the rule of law. We will deliver this letter with your signatures to his office as a means of saying that the voices of...

There's been a lot of outrage from the No on Proposition 8 camp since California voters approved a ban on gay marriage. But until now, there has been less soul searching about what went wrong. But Terry Leftgoff, founder of the Gay and Lesbian Business Assn. of Santa Barbara, has a thoughtful piece on WeHo News looking at how the opposition to Proposition 8 fell short. It did, he says, on several levels: A mixed message, failing to respond to attacks from Yes on 8 forces, little black and Latino outreach. A snippet: The No on 8 campaign began by...

Although we too will welcome the day that Proposition 8 is consigned to history and the right to same-sex marriage is restored to Californians, we are sorry to see that the court agreed to take the cases directly, rather than letting this issue percolate up through the lower courts. We see no reason for the haste, despite the intensity of emotion roused by the measure's defeat.In fact, that very heatedness is a reason for the court to move slowly, allowing it to rule under cooler circumstances. Similarly, painful though it is to see Proposition 8 take effect, we agree with...

The California Supreme Court voted 6 to 1 on Wednesday to review legal challenges to Proposition 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a final decision. The court may hold a hearing on the lawsuits as early as March, a timetable that scholars said was swift considering the complexity and importance of the legal issues. The court's action, taken during a closed conference, suggested that the court wants to resolve all of the legal issues surrounding Proposition 8, including the fate of existing gay marriages, in a...

Responding to pleas for legal clarity from those on both sides of the issue, the California Supreme Court said Wednesday that it would take up the case of whether a voter-approved ban on same-sex unions was constitutional. The court, however, stopped short of suspending the ban, which California voters passed as Proposition 8 two weeks ago after an expensive and hard-fought campaign.

SAN FRANCISCO – California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules. The California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits seeking to nullify Proposition 8, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that overruled the court's decision in May that legalized gay marriage. All three cases claim the measure abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group. They argue that voters alone did not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change.read entire article here

RUSH: Today we start with Jerry in Phoenix. Nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: It's great talking with you, Rush. How are you today? RUSH: Thank you, sir. CALLER: All right. Really fast, I noticed that the Democrats were saying how we should all be unified and -- and get away from the rancor (garbled) Bush, but I noticed that the gay activists in California, they lost. Why aren't they gracious? They've been all angry, full of rage and protesting and knocking off ladies' crosses. Well, why shouldn't we be like them? RUSH: Well, answer the...

The official proponents of Proposition 8 and ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8, the campaign committee responsible for its enactment by voters today said it is “profoundly gratified” that the California Supreme Court granted all their requests by agreeing to accept original jurisdiction of three cases challenging the measure’s validity, granted their request to intervene in the cases as Real Parties in Interest, denied the request of others to delay implementation of Proposition 8, and refused to allow outside groups to directly participate in the litigation. “This is a great day for the rule of law and the voters of California,”...

he California Supreme Court agreed today to review legal challenges to Prop. 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a ruling. Meeting in closed session, the state high court asked litigants on both sides for more written arguments and scheduled a hearing for next March. The court also signaled its intention to decide the fate of existing same-sex marriages, asking litigants to argue that question. Today's decision to review the lawsuits against Proposition 8 did not reveal how the court was leaning. The court could have dismissed...

An article in The New York Times reports that Attorney General Jerry Brown has asked the state’s Supreme Court to rule on the legality of a voter-approved constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. “The central argument in the recently filed lawsuits is that Proposition 8 is a significant enough revision to the State Constitution to require approval by the legislature,” the article stated. It also noted that the passage of Proposition 8 “has prompted protests across the country.” Here’s what the paper that makes all the news fit its agenda forgot to mention:...

Wednesday could be a big day in the fight over Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage in California that voters approved Nov. 4. That's when the California Supreme Court could decide whether to review several lawsuits filed by Prop 8 opponents. The groups claim the ballot measure is unconstitutional. The court could also issue a stay on Prop 8 while it decides. That would allow same-sex marriages to resume until a final ruling is made on the lawsuits. Four Bay Area counties are the latest to join the legal fight to try to stop state Proposition 8. The Board...

Elation over Barack Obama’s victory two weeks ago was dampened by less good news for left-leaning voters, as same-sex marriage bans passed in Arizona, California, and Florida. For many gay activists, the new bans in Arizona and California were particularly disheartening, given that Arizona voted down a similar ban two years ago and that California has been allowing same-sex marriage since this summer. Over 40 states have now passed bans on gay marriage, leaving Connecticut and Massachusetts as the sole states allowing the practice. Proponents of gay marriage have been quick to respond to this setback. In recent days, an...

d) Equal Rights Advocates and California Women's Law Center - These (fellow) wimmins libbers argue that, if the process that brought us Prop 8 is legitimized, women stand a distinct chance of being harmed by whatever rights some unholy alliance of self-loathing chicks and unattractive men want take away from women as a group. They point out that the 1879 California State Constitution prohibited Chinese people from voting. e) Asian Pacific American Legal Center, et al. - This petition was filed by a group of organizations dedicated to the protection of the rights of minorities - including the NAACP. As...