Today marks National Coming Out Day, where closeted lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are encouraged to speak up about their sexual orientation. As National Coming Out Day is celebrated across the nation, the premise of the observance is to promote greater self-acceptance in letting young people know it’s okay to be gay. According to…
Anna Grodzka, president of TGEU, will take her seat as Poland’s first elected member of parliament. Grodzka has been a longtime supporter of LGBT equality throughout Europe and was a candidate of the Palikot Movement, a new political party that has taken special interest in LGBT issues during election. “This is an incredible step forward…
Roland Palencia, Executive Director of Equality California has announced he is resigning from the organization. After an extensive executive search, Palencia was named the Executive Director in May of 2011. His tenure has lasted less than 5 months. While it is not unusual for executive directors that follow long term executive directors, like Geoff Kors,…
Governor Brown announced Sunday that two important transgender bills have been signed into California law, making the state less discriminatory against its transgender population. The first passed law, the Gender Nondiscrimination Act, will protect transgender people against discrimination in the workplace, school, housing, and other public settings. The second law, the Vital Statistics Modernization Act,…
Equality California, the state’s largest gay rights group, announced Wednesday it would not lead a ballot campaign to overturn Proposition 8 – a discriminatory law that prohibits same-sex marriages due to a constitutional amendment that limits marriage to that between a man and woman. The reason for the fallout is described as a divided vote…
Oct. 6, 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming, accepted a ride home from Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. Little did he know this decision would be one that would ultimately claim his life and affect the lives of countless people around the world. That fateful day, Shepard was beaten, pistol…
BY THOM SENZEE Imagine: You’re enjoying a local festival in Oceanside, and you see a large homemade sign with a nice lady asking passersby to sign a petition to help protect children from predators such as John Albert Gardner III, the man who raped and killed North County youth, Chelsea King. It’s the haunting image…
Stop SB 48 has collected more than 415,000 signatures to put the repeal of the Fair Education Act, also known as SB 48, on the June ballot in California next year. The haters need a total of about 505,000 signatures by Oct. 12, and it looks like they may get them. SB 48 spells trouble…
After her breakup with longtime girlfriend Kelli Carpenter in 2007, Rosie O’Donnell is back in the swing of things after falling in love with new girlfriend Michelle Rounds, 40, PEOPLE magazine reports. The timing is well-placed for O’Donnell who, in addition to celebrating new love, will also celebrate her encore debut of The Rosie Show,…
The controversial case of Brandon McInerney who killed 15-year-old Larry King in what was an alleged hate crime will now come to a new fruition amidst today’s announcement that McInerney will now be tried as an adult. The Ventura County Star reports that McInerney will face “murder charges with the special allegation of lying in…
