Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld California SB 1172 which prohibits dangerous and disproved efforts designed to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender expression that have proven to inflict great emotional harm. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law last year. A similar bill in New Jersey…
SACRAMENTO – The Senate today passed legislation authored by Sen. Mark Leno that reforms California’s drug sentencing laws for simple possession. SB 649 allows counties to significantly reduce incarceration costs by giving prosecutors the flexibility to charge low-level, non-violent drug offenses as misdemeanors instead of felonies. The bill also gives judges discretion to deem a non-violent…
On the heels of the controversy surrounding the Boys Scouts of America’s policy to exclude members of the LGBT community as scouts or adult leaders, today state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Long Beach) and Equality California announced the introduction of new legislation that would remove a state tax exemption for any youth group, including the Boy…
SACRAMENTO – Sen. Mark Leno announced today the introduction of legislation modernizing California’s HIV confidentiality and data sharing laws. Co-sponsored by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, AIDS Legal Referral Panel and Conference of California Bar Associations, SB 249 protects the privacy of HIV and AIDS patients while allowing the…
By LZ Granderson Editor’s note: LZ Granderson, who writes a weekly column for CNN.com, was named journalist of the year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and is a 2011 Online Journalism Award finalist for commentary. He is a senior writer and columnist for ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com. GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (CNN)…
A coalition of more than 30 national religious leaders gathered by Gaylesta, an LGBTQ psychotherapy association that provides mental health services including therapist referrals, education and consultation and Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, faith work director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund and convenor of the National Religious Leadership Roundtable, have endorsed Senate Bill 1172,…
BATON ROUGE, La. – Forum For Equality Louisiana and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) are calling on Louisiana state Sen. A.G. Crowe to withdraw SB 217, a discriminatory measure that would force state agencies and local governments to write discrimination into public contracts by limiting protected classes to just race, religion, national ancestry, age, sex,…
SACRAMENTO – Senator Mark Leno introduced legislation Friday that reaffirms a family court judge’s ability to recognize parent-child relationships based on the evidence and what is in the best interests of the child. SB 1476 modernizes state law by giving courts the flexibility to protect children who have parent-child relationships with more than two people….
Fletcher’s support for LGBT rights? Dear Editor, I have read the many words Nicole [Murray Ramirez] has penned in the past months in praise of Mr. (Assemblyman Nathan) Fletcher, and I am at a loss to understand Nicole’s thought processes. I concur strongly (with) Mr. Corbin’s editorial statement in the LGBT Weekly of Jan. 12,…
