Company Encourages Other Businesses to Join Business Council to Protect Freedom to Marry for All Californians (San Francisco, CA, July 29, 2008)—NO on 8—Equality California today received a significant contribution of $250,000 from Pacific Gas and Electric Company to help secure the freedom to marry for all Californians. PG&E is partnering with Equality California and the NO on 8 campaign to defeat Proposition 8, the November statewide ballot initiative that aims to treat same-gender...
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same-sex couples
(San Francisco, CA, July 29, 2008)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) today announced the launch of a new political action committee (PAC) to defeat Proposition 8, the marriage ban appearing on California’s November ballot. Through the No on 8 / NCLR Social Justice Fund, NCLR pledges to contribute significant dollars to the campaign to defeat Proposition 8. “Proposition 8 seeks to deny LGBTQ couples the right to marry, but the stakes go far beyond that critical issue. If the...
(San Francisco, CA, July 16, 2008)—Today, the California Supreme Court issued an order in Bennett v. Bowen, S164520, denying a petition to remove Proposition 8, the proposed marriage ban, from the November ballot. Equality California, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the American Civil Liberties Union issued the following statement: “We’re disappointed, but this ruling does not affect the campaign against Prop. 8 in any way. We have been focused on continuing the...
Seventeen-year-old J.W. and 18-year-old D.A. had been dating for almost six months when J.W.’s mother, Ms. W., learned about their relationship. Because she disapproved of her daughter dating another woman, in December 2007, Ms. W. petitioned a Florida court to get a restraining order to prohibit any contact between the two. Ms. W. admitted in court that she was seeking a restraining order only because she did not want her daughter to have a relationship with another woman. Even though...
(San Francisco, CA, June 20, 2008)—Three California voters and four organizations dedicated to protecting the civil rights of gay and lesbian people filed a lawsuit in the California Supreme Court today about an initiative that seeks to change the California Constitution to bar gay and lesbian couples from marriage. That initiative is currently slated to appear on the November ballot. The lawsuit argues that the rules for revising the California Constitution were not properly followed. “We...
(San Francisco, CA, June 12, 2008)—The petition filed by the Campaign is frivolous and will have no effect. The California Supreme Court held that gay and lesbian couples have a fundamental right to marry and denied the Campaign’s petition for a stay. The court of appeal is bound by the California Supreme Court’s ruling and does not have authority to stay the decision. This is a non-event, and we are delighted that loving, committed gay and lesbian couples and their families will be...
(New York, NY, June 10, 2008)—Four LGBTQ legal organizations and five other leading national LGBTQ groups have issued a statement entitled “Make Change, Not Lawsuits.” The statement explains that while couples who go to California to marry should ask friends, neighbors and institutions to honor their marriages, they generally shouldn’t sue. The statement says that ill-timed lawsuits are likely to set the fight for marriage back, and that there are other ways to fight which are more likely to...
(San Francisco, CA, June 4, 2008)—Shannon Price Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who argued the marriage case before the California Supreme Court, issued the following response to today’s news that the California Supreme Court denied requests to stay its decision in In re Marriage Cases: “The Court’s denial of the petitions for rehearing today means that the Court’s decision will be final on June 16. Lesbian and gay couples in California will be...
State notifies county clerks that California lesbian and gay couples can marry starting June 17; Field Poll shows majority support for allowing lesbian and gay couples to marry (San Francisco, CA, May 28, 2008)—Attorneys representing same-sex couples, Equality California, and Our Family Coalition filed a legal brief today opposing a request to stay the court’s ruling and prevent couples from marrying for several months. The request to stay the California Supreme Court’s ruling was filed...
(San Francisco, CA, May 23, 2008)—On May 22, anti-gay groups filed a Petition for Rehearing in the California Supreme Court asking the Court to stay its historic ruling on May 15 striking down laws that had prohibited lesbian and gay couples from marrying based on the possibility that voters may enact an anti- marriage amendment to the California Constitution in November. We believe this Petition will be denied and there will be no stay ordered by the Court. However, simply as a matter of...