Tag Archives: California

The Los Angeles Times has published a piece investigating the backgrounds of Lawrence King and his murderer Brandon McInerney. For teens living in a shelter for abused and neglected children, school can provide a daily dose of normalcy, a place to fit in, a chance to be just another kid. It didn’t turn out that way for Lawrence King. According …

With anti and pro-gay demonstrators outside, in yesterday’s arguments the California Supreme Court seemed to be split in their opinions on marriage equality, with some legal experts predicting a loss for our side. Dale Carpenter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, issued this opinion: [T]the most likely result is that the gay-marriage litigants will lose 4-3 or …

The California Supreme Court will hear the long-awaited gay marriage case today. Locals can watch live on the California Channel from 9am – 12pm Pacific. For the rest of us, there will be a live webcast. In briefs submitted to the court, same-sex marriage supporters argue that California’s Constitution leaves no room for denying gay men and lesbians the right …

San Francisco Pride has nominated the Human Rights Campaign for their annual Pink Brick award, the first time a LGBT organization has received such a dubious distinction. The Pink Brick is meant to recognize groups or persons on the wrong side of the fight for LGBT equality. While no other LGBT groups have been nominated since the award was created …

The murder of Lawrence King brought hordes of angry parents to his middle school yesterday. Hundreds of parents filled an Oxnard gymnasium Tuesday night to ask hard questions about why school officials didn’t intervene more aggressively in an escalating feud between two students, which ended last week with the shooting death of 15-year-old student Lawrence King. In orderly fashion, one …

A total of over 1000 people gathered at two locations on Friday and Saturday in Oxnard, California to honor the memory of Lawrence King, 15, an openly gay middle-school student who was shot in the head last Tuesday by Brandon McInerney, a 14 year-old fellow 8th grader. New reports suggest that days before the shooting King may have told McInerney …

Please consider sending a donation to the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance in memory of Lawrence King, a flamboyant, effeminate gay kid who was murdered for having the courage to be exactly the person he was. The above link will take you to a PayPal donation page where you can make a tax-deductible contribution with a mere click of your wrist. …

Ventura County, California prosecutors have declared that the shooting of Lawrence King by 14 year-old Brandon McInerney (left) was a premeditated hate crime. McInerney’s family was in a Ventura courtroom Thursday as the adolescent was brought into a holding chamber to face charges. His arraignment was delayed to give his attorney time to review the police investigation before entering a …

Prosecutors in Oxnard, California have charged a 14 year-old boy with attempted murder (with a hate-crime enhancement) and use of a firearm in the case of Lawrence King (pictured, at unknown age), the 15 year-old gay youth shot in his 8th grade classroom yesterday. Despite reports late yesterday that King had died, he is brain-dead and remains on a ventilator …

A sad update to the California shooting: A 15-year-old boy who was shot in the head at school died Wednesday, a police spokesman said. Eighth-grader Lawrence King, who was shot Tuesday during a class at E.O. Green Junior High, died at St. John’s Regional Medical Center, David Keith said. An unidentified 14-year-old classmate arrested near the school after the shooting …

A 15 year-old high school student in Oxnard, California is it critical condition today after being shot by a classmate who taunted him for his feminine mannerisms and for wearing make-up. A student at an Oxnard junior high school shot another classmate Tuesday in front of two dozen other students who were settling into their first-period English class, police said. …

WingNutDaily is claiming that 10% of California’s public school students may be leaving for private and home schooling due to the state’s anti-bullying bill, SB777. Only months after a new state law effectively banned “mom” and “dad” from California schools [JMG: It doesn’t.], a total of 600,000 students could follow because of what has been described as the “repudiation” of …

The California Supreme Court announced today that they will hear arguments over the state’s ban on gay marriage on March 4th in San Francisco. The three-hour hearing will consider a 2004 lawsuit filed on behalf of Equality California, the Our Family Coalition, and 15 same-sex couples denied marriage under the ballot measure approved by voters in 2000. Oral arguments will …

As expected, yesterday’s Super Tuesday primary did little to reveal a clear Democratic frontrunner. Hillary Clinton took eight states including the biggest: California and New York. Barack Obama took 13 states, including Illinois, his home state. CLINTON: AR, AZ, CA, MA, NY, NJ, OK, TNOBAMA: AK, AL, CT, CO, DE, GA, ID, IL, KS, MN, MO, ND, UT Clinton’s big …

California Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-SF) is planning to introduce a bill that would declare May 22 “Harvey Milk Day.” The bill would make the day a non-fiscal state holiday in which government workers and school children would not have the day off. Leno’s effort is thought to be the first in history that would establish a statewide holiday to honor …

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will endorse John McCain today. The governator withheld his endorsement until the Republican debates were over because “he didn’t want to be seen taking sides in advance of the event.” His endorsement is seen a huge boon to McCain in “delegate rich” California. Unrelated: I’m so sick of reading “delegate rich”.

Clinton is leading in a new poll of California voters. The latest Field Poll, taken among 377 likely Democratic primary voters Jan. 14-20, gives Clinton a 12-point lead over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, 39 percent to 27 percent. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards comes in a distant third with 10 percent, and by more than 2 to 1, his …

Wingnuts in California have failed to deliver the necessary petition signatures to challenge SB 777, the public schools anti-bullying law signed into effect by Gov. Schwarzenegger last year. “Save Our Children” needed to turn in 434,000 signatures by last Friday, but claims they could only find 350,000 people willing to sign their names to hate. Equality California Executive Director Geoff …

Gays domestically-partnered in California are now protected from increased property taxes in the event of the death of one of the partners. (San Francisco, CA, January 3, 2008) – Today, in a major victory for same-sex couples, the California Supreme Court denied a petition by county assessors seeking review of a California Court of Appeal decision affirming the validity of …

“When society tells a young person —- in subtle or, often, not so subtle, ways —- that they are less valuable, perhaps because of the color of their skin, their religious practices or the gender of the person they want to take to the prom, the whole society suffers. “When we mandate that every young person must go to school, …