September 2008

    ::   Google announced on its official company blog that it's joining other prominent California companies in opposing Proposition 8. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said the company had laid aside its usual reluctance to enter the political fray because of "the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees." Earlier this summer, utility giant PG&E donated $250,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Levi Strauss & Co. announced last week they would co-chair the businesses against Proposition 8 campaign.

    ::   A San Diego jury is expected to get the case today in a suit a suit brought by four city firefighters who claim they were sexually harassed at last year's Pride parade. The jury is expected to hear closing arguments today after two weeks of witness testimony. A paramedic who rode an ambulance in the parade directly behind the engine carrying the four firefighters testified that he wasn't bothered by comments from the crowd including, "You're so hot!" Asked if he was offended, the paramedic said, "No. If anything, it was flattering."

    ::   The Bronx, a "very machismo" and "very religious borough",  is nonetheless the New York City borough where gay/lesbian couples are most likely to have children according to a study by the Williams Institute. It's home to only 11% of the city's gay couples, but 49% of the same-sex couples there have children. Manhattan, by contrast, is home to 38% of the city's same-sex couples, but only 4% have children. Demographers say that's largely because black and Hispanic same-sex couples are two to three times more likely to have children than white same-sex couples and the Bronx is 83 percent black or Hispanic. It's also much cheaper to raise children there.

     ::   Clay Aiken's unsurprising public announcement that he's gay has prompted another round of consideration about whether it matters anymore. "We've gone from the revolution to the evolution," says a gay publicist. But coming out can still present an extra challenge for celebs on any of the X-lists. But out actors like Neil Patrick Harris, TR Knight, Cynthia Nixon, and Noah's Arc star Daryl Stephens [right] are rattling the foundations of the Hollywood closet, but not yet tearing it down. LiLo? Oh, please.

state_ca, state_ny,

Source: Missoulian, Associated Press via Missoulian
Missoula, Mont. -- A district court judge ruled Monday that a woman should share custody of children she raised for years with a same-sex partner, who then sought sole custody when the relationship ended.

Michelle Kulstad went to court to seek joint custody of two children -- an 8-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl -- adopted by Barbara Maniaci.

Kulstad testified last week that she provided for the children's physical, psychological and developmental needs on a day-to-day basis and "made a commitment to both of them that I would always there to be their parent."

In his order, District Judge Ed McLean recognized Kulstad as a legal parent, even though Barbara Maniaci had legally adopted the two children, the Missoulian reports.

"To discriminate further against Ms. Kulstad because of her sexual preference in this day and age is no different than telling a person to go to the back of the bus because of her skin color," McLean wrote.

The "significant ruling" confirms the rights of children to share in the lives of both parents, said Scott Crichton, executive director of Montana's ACLU chapter, and is a milestone in the quest for equal rights, the Missoulian reports.

"This shows that gay parents are every bit as qualified to care for their children" as straight couples, Crichton said.

The judge ruled Kulstad must receive joint decision-making authority in the children's lives, including their "education, activities, health care and spiritual upbringing."

"We are very pleased with the court's order, and I'm very pleased for Michelle and the children," said Susan Ridgeway, an attorney representing Kulstad. "We looked at this as a parental rights case, and really just applied existing Montana law, which says you must view parental rights from a child's perspective."

Attorneys for both Kulstad and Maniaci said the same-sex parental rights trial is a first in Montana.

"They should be allowed to just be children," Kulstad said in a statement, "and to know that we both love them, even though we aren't living together any more. They need to know that it's OK for them to love both of us."

Kulstad presented her case Thursday, saying that she and Maniaci were in a committed relationship for about 10 years. She said they two were living together in Turah, a small town near Missoula, when they decided Maniaci would adopt the young boy in 2004 and the girl in 2006.

Kulstad said she was not listed on either child's adoption records because it is illegal in Montana for same-sex couples to adopt, Associated Press reports.

She said the couple decided Maniaci would be the adoptive parent because Kulstad was working full-time and Maniaci would be able to spend more time with the kids. She added that Maniaci later created a will that gave her guardianship if anything happened to Maniaci.

After their relationship deteriorated, Maniaci moved out with the children and later filed a restraining order against Kulstad, AP reports.

Maniaci was represented in the case by the right-wing anti-gay legal group Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).

Austin R. Nimrocks, senior legal counsel for ADF, claimed at trial that Maniaci paid the cost of the children's adoption, nurtured them and is their "fit, natural parent."

"Undermining the rights of fit parents harms families and children," Nimrocks said. "A natural parent who has never been declared unfit as a parent has the right to prevent access to her children by legal strangers."

He argued that Maniaci is now married and is being "prevented from raising her children with her husband in the way they see fit."

A psychologist who conducted the women's parenting evaluation for the court later testified that the children have an important attachment to both Kulstad and Maniaci. The psychologist cited American Psychological Association studies that say no significant differences exist between children raised by same-sex parents and those raised by heterosexual parents, the Missoulian reports.

In his 48-page decision, McLean rejected Maniaci's argument and ruled that it was in the best interest of the children for their parent-child relationship with Kulstad to continue. He found that Kulstad raised the children with Maniaci and provided for them financially. The court also noted that the children recognized Kulstad as a parent and have a constitutional right to that relationship.

Source: Court: Same-sex parent has custody rights | Missoulian
Trial under way in same-sex parental rights case | Missoulian (AP)

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Source: San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, Republicans Against 8 press release 

CA Prop. 8

The first ads supporting California's anti-gay Proposition 8 campaign began airing today in California while a unique new voice opposed to the ballot measure responded with a web ad.

The campaign supporting Proposition 8 unveiled the first installment in its multimillion-dollar ad campaign. It features San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom as its unwitting star.

Although it is not backed by a budget that would allow it to be shown on television, a unique sixty-second video response was released today by a group of California Republicans opposed to the ballot measure. [see clip at the end of this post] The video urges voters, "Join Arnold Schwarzenegger and Republicans Against 8 to support freedom for all Californians."

The 30-second broadcast spot for the Yes-on-8 campaign opens with a shot of Newsom speaking to a cheering crowd last May 15, the day the state Supreme Court overturned 2000's Prop. 22 ban on same-sex marriage, San Francisco Chronicle reports.

"This door's wide open now," an expansively smiling Newsom says. "It's going to happen, whether you like it or not."

The ad makes it clear that the Prop. 8 opponents don't like it, not even a little bit. "It's no longer about tolerance," the ad says. "Acceptance of gay marriage is now mandatory."

Frank Schubert, the Yes on 8 campaign manager, wrote supporters that the campaign has reserved $10 million in TV ad time in the final five weeks of the campaign, Sacramento Bee reports.

"California, meet San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom!" Schubert wrote to supporters, according to the Bee.

In only 30 seconds, the ad levels several charges, including that "churches could lose their tax exemption" and suggests a future of "gay marriage taught in public schools."

Steve Smith, a senior consultant to the No on 8 campaign, accused his opponents of "trying desperately to change the subject so they can get onto some ground that they can win," Sacramento Bee reports.

Smith called the churches and schools charges "red herrings" that are "misleading."

"They are losing by, depending on which public opinion poll you want to believe, somewhere between 10 and 15 points," Smith said.

Foes of Proposition 8 began airing their opening ad last week. It’s a much softer spot that features a gray-haired couple, Sam and Julia Theron. The heterosexual couple talks about how they raised their three children with equal amounts of love but that one, daughter Liz Theron, who is lesbian, would not have the right to marry if Proposition 8 were to be approved.

Backers, funded primarily by religious conservatives, have raised more than $18 million. They're seeking at least another $3.6 million to remain on the air through the Nov. 4 election, Los Angeles Times reports.

Foes have raised upward of $13 million. Whether that gap continues remains to be seen. With Hollywood celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg involved, foes of the initiative are likely to raise millions more in the coming weeks, according to the Times.

Although it won't appear on television, the Republicans Against 8 video targets Republican women by focusing on the GOP's history of expanding rights for all Americans, not taking them away, according to a statement from the group that prepared the video.

"Republicans Against 8 are giving a voice to the more than one million Republicans who believe our party should stand for freedom and limited government. Our party shouldn't be trying to take away people's rights," Republicans Against 8 campaign manager Scott Schmidt, said in the statement.

The video highlights the GOP's historical accomplishments promoting equal treatment for women -- from women's suffrage to Richard Nixon signing Title IX granting equal access to athletic scholarships for college women, and Ronald Reagan appointing the first woman to the Supreme Court.

The video ends with a dual message to Republican voters in November: "It will take a Republican to put a woman in the White House," and "The Republican Party is the party of freedom, not taking it away." The group is asking voters to reject Proposition 8, the California Initiative Constitutional Amendment which would eliminate the right to marry for same-sex couples.

[youtube:PwoVtFIBBpc&hl=en&fs=1" width="425" height="344" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" />

Source: Like it or not, Newsom stars in first pro-Prop. 8 TV ad | San Francisco Chronicle
Newsom: The unwitting star of Yes on 8 ad | Sacramento Bee
Gavin Newsom is about to become even more famous | Los Angeles Times
Republicans Against 8 Launch Response to Yes on 8 Ads | Republican Against 8 press release

state_ca, proposition 8

Source: Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province
A White Rock man will undergo surgery today after he was swarmed and sucker-punched in a Davie Village gay bashing that police are calling a hate crime.