GLBT History Museum Opens in The Castro

San Francisco, the center of the queer universe, has added another gem to its collection of must-see destinations. The GLBT Historical Society is marking its 25th anniversary with the opening of the GLBT History Museum, located in the epicenter of all things gay, the Castro District.

OutInLosAngeles.com reports:

"A quarter century after the founding of the GLBT Historical Society, we're proud to open a museum to showcase our community's history," said Paul Boneberg, executive director of the Historical Society. "The GLBT History Museum is in the heart of the Castro, a neighborhood visited not only by locals, but also by tens of thousands of tourists every year who come in search of queer culture. At our museum, they'll discover treasures from our archives that reflect fascinating stories spanning nearly a century of GLBT life. We have gone all out to create a museum as rich, diverse and surprising as the GLBT community itself. Whether they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or straight, visitors are sure to be moved, enlightened and entertained."

Located at 4127 18th St., San Francisco, the museum includes 1,600 square feet of gallery and program space built to the specifications of the Historical Society, with custom fixtures, lighting and multimedia installations reflecting professional standards. Funding has come from Levi's, the City of San Francisco, Castro district merchants, and numerous other sponsors and individual donors.

The museum will feature two debut exhibitions: In the main gallery, "Our Vast Queer Past: Celebrating GLBT History," curated by historians Gerard Koskovich, Don Romesburg and Amy Sueyoshi; and in the front gallery, "Great Collections of the GLBT Historical Society Archives."

The museum's grand opening is slated for Thursday, January 13th. Visit the GLBT History Museum's site for more information.

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Breaking: Judge Walker Rules, No Stay in Prop 8 Repeal!

Update: Word from the Federal Courthouse
in San Francisco is that the stay will be in effect for only 6 days, which means that after next Wednesday, gay couples will once again be allowed to marry in California.


Kudos to Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God., who scooped everyone on the story by a full 20 minutes, thanks to his mole in the courthouse. Joe writes:


While my mole in the SF courthouse did allow me to scoop everybody by 20 minutes or so, it was not until at least ten minutes later did I learn that the lift order doesn't go into effect until Wednesday. I quickly updated my posts here and on Facebook and Twitter, but I must apologize to everybody for my premature ejacutweeting. This is why bloggers aren't considered "real" journalists, I'm afraid.


This breaking news comes fresh from the steps of City Hall in San Francisco. Within the last 15 minutes, Judge Vaughn Walker released his decision to dismiss the claim made by the anti-equality side in his ruling last week to stay the implementation of his ruling to overturn Prop 8.

Via 365Gay:

Just moments ago, Judge Vaughn Walker issued a decision that there denied an extension on the stay on gay marriages in California.


This means that gay couples in California may get married immediately. Proposition 8, voted in by the electorate in November 2008, limited marriage to opposite sex couples in California. The decision on the stay comes after last week’s historic decision denying the constitutionality of Prop 8 in California
.
In his decision, Walker wrote: “Plaintiffs seek to have the state recognize their committed relationships, and plaintiffs’ relationships are consistent with the core of the history, tradition and practice of marriage in the United States.”


It is not clear whether Walker’s decision overturning Prop 8 can be appealed; if it is decided that the plaintiffs have standing and may appeal, the case will advance to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – the nation’s largest and most unpredictable federal appeals court.
This is a breaking news update – We’ll have more soon.

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Breaking: Judge Vaughn Walker to Announce Ruling on Prop 8 Stay on Thursday

The Advocate is reporting tonight that Judge Vaughn Walker, who found California's Prop 8 unconstitutional last week, will announce his decision on Thursday about whether or not to allow same-sex marriages to resume during the appeals process. Judge Walker issued a temporary stay while he considered arguments from both side in the case. The announcement is due between 9:00 am and 12:00 noon tomorrow.

Following is the court's announcement:

The court will enter its order on the motion to stay judgment pending appeal (docket number 705) in Perry v Schwarzenegger, C09-2292, between 9 am and noon on Thursday, August 12 PDT. 

The order will be posted on the court's web page devoted to the Perry case, will be available through PACER and will be available in hard copy at the San Francisco courthouse in the hallway outside the ADR courtroom (16th Floor) and in the Press Room on the 18th Floor. 

Lynn Fuller

Media & Public Outreach Liaison

United States District Court

Northern District of California 

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Prop 8 Day of Decision: Ruling Expected Today

The San Francisco Chronicle reported last night that the federal court of appeals in San Francisco announced that Judge Vaughn Walker will be disclosing his ruling on Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, the federal court challenge to California's Mormon-backed Proposition 8, the voter initiative that amended the state constitution and defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

The amendment was passed five months after a court ruling found that banning same-sex marriage was a violation of California's constitution. In the window of opportunity between the June 2008 ruling and the passing of Prop 8 the following November, 18,000 same-sex couples were legally married.

On the news of today's announcement, proponents of Prop 8 filed a motion to delay implementation of the ruling out of the fear that another window will be created until they can appeal it to the US Supreme Court. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Supporters of Prop 8 are expecting to lose this round and have already filed a motion to stay the ruling out of fear that another window of opportunity will be created until the ruling is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

After court officials on Tuesday announced plans to release the decision, Prop. 8's sponsors filed papers making it clear they expect to lose this round. They asked Walker, if he rules against them, to leave the ban on same-sex marriages in place while they appeal.

Lawyers for Prop. 8's backers told the judge they are confident that any such ruling would be overturned on appeal. They said a stay would honor the will of the voters and would not harm same-sex couples, who can still register as domestic partners.

CNN reports this morning that the ruling is expected at around 4:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. The American Foundation for Equal Rights has set up a page where you can sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as the ruling is announced.

Rallies are planned nationwide in anticipation of the ruling. The following schedule comes via Joe.My.God.:

LOS ANGELES: 6 p.m. | West Hollywood Park | 647 N. San Vicente
SAN DIEGO: March: 6 p.m. @ 6th & University | Rally: 7 p.m. @ LGBT Community Center | 3909 Centre St
SAN FRANCISCO: 5 p.m. | Castro & Market
LONG BEACH: 6 p.m. | Bixby Park | Junipero & Cherry @ Broadway
SACRAMENTO: 6 p.m. | Party | K & 21st | In the unlikely event Judge Walker rules against teh gay, there will be a march to the Capitol
SAN JOSE: 6 p.m. | Billy DeFrank Center | 983 the Alameda


New York City's event will take place in downtown Manhattan at the New York Supreme Court, 60 Centre Street, at 7pm.

Blogger Rex Wockner has compiled a list of other rallies taking place throughout the country. 

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CA Congresswoman Predicts ENDA Passage Could Take 5 years

Congresswoman Jackie Speier recently told a crowd at the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club Pride breakfast in San Francisco that DADT will be history this year, but getting ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, passed could take another five years.

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter following the annual breakfast, Speier broke ranks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has consistently stated that ENDA will pass this year.

From The Bay Area Reporter:

Addressing the crowd of gay and straight political and community leaders at Sunday's Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club Pride breakfast, Speier said, "Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi is doing all she can to ensure a majority for next year so we can pass ENDA."

Asked later in a brief interview if that meant the House would not vote on ENDA this year, Speier told the B.A.R. , "The rest of the year is in question."

"There's no question 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' will be history this year," she said. "ENDA, we will have that law for sure within the next five years."

Speier, a Democrat whose district includes parts of San Mateo and San Francisco counties, said she was acknowledging reality.

"I'm being realistic," she said.

With Congress leaving Washington, D.C. next week for its Fourth of July recess, and the summer recess in August, there's not much time left before members head out on the campaign trail in the fall ahead of the November midterm elections.

Speier also said that right now there are 290 bills in the Senate awaiting action that the House has already passed. Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said Monday that the number was now over 300 bills.

"A lot depends on the Senate," Speier said.

While this is a disappointing -- but not completely unexpected -- development, it is refreshing to hear truth coming from an elected official. I just wish it had come sooner so we could step up our efforts before the 2010 election madness kicks off. Read the full story here.

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GetEQUAL Activists Stage Bi-Coastal Sit-ins in Pelosi's Offices (video)

What a day for LGBT activism yesterday! Activists from GetEQUAL staged sit-ins in the San Francisco and Washington DC offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday in an effort to push the speaker to take action on the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

According to en email blast from GetEQUAL, members "won't leave until Speaker Pelosi commits to bring the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to the floor for a vote this month – or until they are arrested."

Well that's exactly what happened in DC and San Fran. The coordinated bi-coastal protests took place within hours of  Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo taking over an HRC photo op with Kathy Griffin in Washington. Choi then led a march to the White House, where he and Pietrangelo chained themselves to the fence. The twowere arrested with activist Robin McGehee, founder of Meet in the Middle and an organinzer of the National Equality March.

The following video was posted on YouTube by GetEQUAL just minutes before the sit-ins took place.

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Perry vs. Schwarzenegger: Day 4 focuses on economics, stress of being gay

Image via Wikipedia

In the fourth day of testimony at the Prop 8 trial, expert witnesses were called to testify about how San Francisco's economy is impacted by the lack of equal marriage rights and the potential positive affects of that were reversed. Later testimony addressed how the daily stress associated with being a member of a despised group impacts public health care costs.


BoxTurtleBulletin.com reports:  The day starts with testimony from Edwin A. Egan, Chief Economist for San Francisco. His job includes determining the economic impact of legislation.

His argument: marriage equality means more married couples. Those who marry tend to accumulate wealth, spend more, increase property values, etc. Married individuals also engage in healthier behavior which leads to greater productivity and a positive economic influence.

Egan discussed direct economic benefits to the city from legal marriages (event costs, hotel, restaurant). He noted that if DOMA were lifted, income taxes per couple would be reduced on average by $440, some of would be spent in the city thus increasing sales taxes and improving the economy.

Later in the day, Dr. Ilan H. Meyer, Associate Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health testified about the discrimination and stigma felt be gays and lesbians in society and it's impact on stress and over all health.

More from BoxTurtleBulletin: Meyer argues that domestic partnerships do not have the same social meaning as marriages and thus Proposition 8 imposes structural stigma. He talks about social stressors, both event (a bad thing happens) and non-event (something expected and looked forward to does not happen). Because all children expect to marry some day, denying marriage to gays is a non-event stressor. Meyer identified the processes that create minority stressors as prejudice events, expectations of rejection and discrimination, concealing–not being out, and internalized homophobia.

Ted Olson for Newsweek: "The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage" (video)

In the current issue of Newsweek, Ted Olson, one half of the dream team challenging the constitutionality of California's Prop 8 in federal court, wrote an excellent piece explaining why he took the case, why the time is now and why he believes we'll win.

Olson writes, "... there are now three classes of Californians: heterosexual couples who can get married, divorced, and remarried, if they wish; same-sex couples who cannot get married but can live together in domestic partnerships; and same-sex couples who are now married but who, if they divorce, cannot remarry. This is an irrational system, it is discriminatory, and it cannot stand.

Americans who believe in the words of the Declaration of Independence, in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, in the 14th Amendment, and in the Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and equal dignity before the law cannot sit by while this wrong continues. This is not a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American one, and it is time that we, as Americans, embraced it."

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Prop 8 challenge hinges on proving "Suspect Class" status

Image via Wikipedia

An article posted by KeenNewsService.com over the weekend provides a fascinating look at how attorneys challenging California's Prop 8 intend to present our case:

What do gay political icon Harvey Milk, anti-gay marriage activist Maggie Gallagher, controversial military contractor Blackwater, and the Walibiri aborigines of Central Australia have in common?

All are cited in the 3,001 exhibits filed by supporters of California’s same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8, for inclusion in the trial challenging that law. The trial begins Monday, January 11, in a federal district court in San Francisco. The exhibits provide a glimpse into the strategy that conservative attorney Charles Cooper and his team will use to defend the California law that voters passed in November 2008.

One major focus of the exhibits encompasses the legal question of whether gay men and lesbians are a “suspect class”—that is, whether discrimination against them is so common that there is a reason to suspect that laws that treat them differently are based on that discrimination. In its 1996 decision Romer v. Evans, examining the motives behind an anti-gay ballot measure in Colorado, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped short of identifying sexual orientation as a suspect classification, but it did rule that laws based on animus toward gay people violate the federal constitution."

Read the full story here.

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Supreme Court Asked to Block Video of Prop 8 Trial

The legal challenge to California's Proposition 8, which made same-sex marriage illegal in the Golden State last year, is scheduled to begin today in the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco. The judge in the case, Vaughn Walker, ruled last week to allow video cameras to record the precedings for later posting to YouTube.

Lawyers defending Prop H8 filed a motion in the federal circuit court to ban the cameras, citing the potential for witness intimidation. They believe that if the identities of witnesses are made public, those witnesses may not be as forthcoming in their testimony. Late on Friday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to uphold Walker's decision.

On Saturday the H8'ers appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the case will be heard by Justice Kennedy. It is hoped that Kennedy will rule in the case today.

The YouTube channel set up for the video has been taken down pending a final ruling.

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Ca. Prop 8 Lawsuit will be Shown on YouTube

Image via Wikipedia

The federal court challenge to California's Prop 8, scheduled to begin on Monday, January 11, will be shown on YouTube via taped delay. The groups challenging Prop 8 argued that what happens in the court is public property and should be aired live.

The homophobic defenders of H8 argued that live cameras in the courtroom might be intimidating to some witnesses, while others might use their camera time to grandstand. It's amazing how bigots always want to remain anonymous, like Klansmen hiding under their hoods.

In his ruling, Judge Vaughn Walker said, most of the witnesses will be campaign officials or academic experts accustomed to speaking in public.

"I've always thought that if the public could see how the judicial process works, they would take a somewhat different view of it," the judge said.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

"The lawsuit by two same-sex couples, a gay rights group and the city of San Francisco says the initiative violates the U.S. constitutional guarantee of equal protection by discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender. The nonjury trial, the first in any U.S. court on same-sex marriage, begins Monday and is scheduled to last two to three weeks.

Walker's order, subject to final approval by the appeals court's chief judge, allows live video feeds to public areas of federal appeals courthouses in San Francisco, Pasadena, Seattle and Portland, Ore., and to a federal court in Chicago that has requested it.".

The link to the YouTube channel is here. There is nothing of interest being shown right now, but you can visit the USDCCAND Channel and bookmark it to keep up to date.

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Federal Judge orders Obama to stop fighting partner benefits

From SF Gate:
SAN FRANCISCO -- The chief federal appeals court judge in San Francisco bluntly ordered the Obama administration Thursday to stop resisting his finding that the wife of a lesbian court employee was entitled to government insurance coverage.

The federal agency that oversees benefits for government employees "shall cease at once its interference with the jurisdiction of this tribunal," Judge Alex Kozinski said in response to the Office of Personnel Management's rejection of his earlier ruling in the case.

He told the agency to let Karen Golinski, a staff attorney at the court's headquarters in San Francisco, enroll her wife, Amy Cunninghis, in the family health plan that already covers their 6-year-old son. Read the full story here.

San Francisco wants a say in Prop. 8 lawsuit

(From the San Francisco Chronicle)

"The city of San Francisco asked a judge Thursday for permission to intervene in the federal lawsuit challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage, a request that may intensify the battle for control of the high-stakes litigation.

The leader of an organization that filed the suit against Proposition 8 has already accused established gay-rights groups of trying to undermine the case and promised to oppose their attempt to intervene. San Francisco raised the stakes Thursday by filing a similar motion with Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 19.

The city would add "a unique local government perspective" to the case, along with its extensive legal experience in defending gay and lesbian rights, if allowed to intervene, City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office said in court papers."

Gay Penguins Split Over Home-Wrecking Hen

The San Francisco Zoo reports that its gay penguin couple, Harry and Pepper have split up after six years. The pair had been so devoted to each other that caretakers had let them incubate an egg and raise the chick together.

Zookeeper Anthony Brown told the San Francisco Examiner, "Of all of the parents that year, they were the best. They took very good care of their chick."

But in the end it seems that Harry may have just been bi-curious. Linda, a widowed female, took a shine to the doting dad, entertaining him in the burrow of her late mate.

Brown says that molting season tends reshuffle penguin pairs. "It'll be interesting to see if Harry spends any of that time with Pepper," Brown said. "We'll have to wait and see."

The heart-broken Pepper could not be reached for comment, although there are unconfirmed reports of empty Ben and Jerry's containers piling up in his burrow. Zoo officials have not said who will get the Celine Dion CD's.