On May 8th on the Cal State East Bay (CSUEB) campus, the Queer/Straight Alliance (QSA) sponsored a Mock Marriage for Marriage Equality and a LGBT Resource Fair. Five couples, of varying sexes, genders, and sexualities were mock married and three ceremony types were utilized: a Jewish ceremony, a Pagan hand fasting, and a Christian ceremony. There were also participants of varying ethnicities within the ceremonies.

May is Marriage Equality Month and the event at CSUEB was held to help support the concept of 'equal opportunity marriage' for all and to provide support to the LGBT and straight allied community on the CSUEB campus. Marriage equality is a movement to allow all people regardless of sex or gender to obtain civil marriage in the United States and beyond. The event was in support of the CA Supreme Court deciding in favor of marriage equality by June 2008 and against the upcoming ballot measure to change the California constitution to exclude same-sex couples from marrying. Through the mock wedding ceremonies the QSA and supporters demonstrated support for freedom to marry for all.

Photos | Queer Straight Alliance MySpace Page

The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday, March 4th in the marriage cases that are challenging the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage. Fifteen same-sex couples, Equality California, and Our Family Coalition will be represented at oral arguments by Shannon Price Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is serving as co-counsel with Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, Heller Ehrman LLP, and the Law Office of David C. Codell.

The marriage cases were filed in March of 2004. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard A. Kramer ruled that the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage violates the California Constitution. In a 2-1 vote, the California Court of Appeal reversed Judge Kramer's ruling. Shortly after the Court of Appeal's decision, the California Supreme Court granted review of the cases in order to consider the constitutional questions itself. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger highlighted that the California Supreme Court should decide the constitutional questions posed by the marriage statutes when he vetoed two measures passed by the California Legislature in 2005 and 2007 that would have permitted same-sex couples to marry.

The California Supreme Court typically issues its decisions within 90 days following oral arguments. 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the California Supreme Court's historic 1948 ruling that found it unconstitutional for the state to restrict access to marriage based on the race of the spouses. That ruling was the first of its kind in the nation's history, and is now the law of the land across the country. Several national and statewide organizations have urged the court to apply the reasoning from its 1948 decision to the current marriage cases.

Press releases from NCLR and EQCA | Sign an open letter to the Governor on marriage | Some of Indybay's Past Same-Sex Marriage Coverage: Valentine’s Day 2007 in Fresno || 2006: Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: “Yes!” to Caring Civil Society || 7/9/2006: California Court of Appeal Hears Landmark Same-Sex Marriage Case || 9/2005: California Governor Vetoes Marriage Equality Bill || 5/2005: Marriage Equality Loses in California State Assembly || 3/2005: SF Superior Court Says Same-Sex Marriage Could be Legal in California || 2/2005: Freedom to Marry Month || 12/2004: California's Ban on Gay Marriage Has Its Day in Court || 8/2004: Does Marriage Protect or Control? || 8/2004: Summer of Love 2004 Rally to Defend Same-Sex Marriage || 5/2004: SF Same-Sex Marriage Verdict: Illegal || 3/2004: State Supreme Court Halts Same-Sex Marriages for Review || 3/2004: As Same-Sex Marriages Spread, Controversy Grows || 2/2004: SF Issues Over 3000 Same-Sex Marriage Licenses || 2/18/2004: SF Issues Over 2000 Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

Vigils will be held across California this week to remember Lawrence "Larry" King, the 15 year old E.O. Green Junior High student who was shot on February 12th in Oxnard, CA. Larry was declared brain-dead Wednesday after he was shot in the head twice by a fellow junior high student at school, and he was taken off life support three days later. According to friends, Larry was perceived to be gay and gender non-conforming and had been bullied at school. The suspect, a 14-year old student, has been charged with attempted murder, and the case is being prosecuted as a hate crime.

GSA Network and several other organizations are mobilizing people to organize vigils and other community actions to "remember Larry's life and advocate for safer schools for all youth." In San Francisco a Lawrence King Remembrance Vigil will take place on Tuesday, February 19, with sign-making at 5 pm, and a vigil starting at 6 pm at the SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market at Octavia. There will be a Community Altar in Remembrance of Lawrence King in the Lobby of the SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market at Octavia. In Fresno, a Candlelight Vigil will take place on Wednesday, February 20 at 7pm at the Corner of Shaw and Blackstone. Additional vigils around the country are listed on the Remembering Lawrence website or can be posted to Indybay. The Lawrence King Memorial Fund has been set up to receive contributions. Read more

Remember Larry | Ventura County Rainbow Alliance | Gay-Straight Alliance Network | Remembering Lawrence on MySpace | GLSEN

UAW-QUAD writes, "Upon reading the UAW Local 2865’s summary of advancements made in the recent round of contract negotiations (emailed 10/4), one might think we made significant progress in improving our rights and benefits. It is apparent, however, that only small movement was made in the area of improving the rights of minority groups, while, generally speaking, disproportionate progress was made around the rights of the majority. We are members that are concerned with what we perceived as an unnecessary sacrificing of minority rights for the sake of the majority. It apparently still seems, contrary to union rhetoric, that an injury to one, is in fact not an injury to all.

The bargaining team’s summary of what we won in bargaining fails to offer an explanation of what we did not win. At the beginning of the bargaining process the bargaining team developed a necessary set of demands around the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people at the UC." Read More

previous coverage: UAW Files Charges Against UC Administration, Will Strike if Necessary | Where is the UCSC money going? | Teaching Assistants Fight for Workload Protections at UC Campuses | What you need to know about GSHIP and grad healthcare at UCSC

The Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), introduced to protect LGBTQ employees from discrimination, was recently stripped of provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity. The stripped down bill, which also includes an exception for religious employers, denies protection to transgendered people and introduces loopholes that would seriously limit the bill's effects.

Opponents of the new bill point out that transgendered people experience workplace discrimination at much greater rates than lesbigan, gay, and bisexual people. Furthermore, with the gender identity provisions removed from the bill, employers could claim that their actions against employees are based not on sexual orientation but on an employee's failure to act masculine or feminine enough.

With the stripped down ENDA moving quickly through Congress, activists are calling on representatives to restore the original, inclusive bill. Organizations leading the opposition to the weakened bill include the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the National Organization for Women, and the Transgender Law Center. Activists are also criticizing the Human Rights Campaign and other groups who have accepted the stripped down bill.

ENDA Update - What You Can Do Today | One more reason to protest HRC | NOW Urges House to Maintain Broad Protections | EBAR: ENDA vote scuttled

Gay Shame SF and LAGAI-Queer Insurrection sponsored an "HRC sweatshop play land" for kids of all ages at 19th and Castro Streets during the Castro Street Fair in San Francisco on Sunday, October 7th. The playland asked "how can the Human Rights Campaign claim to be for the rights of humans, while cheering on corporate culture and selling goods manufactured in sweatshops?" Organizers said that, "Contrary to popular belief, capitalism has nothing to do with respect for human life. One of the basic ideas of capitalism is that profits come before everything else." Kids of all ages learned to play on the sewing machine, the button press, and the sequin runner. A paint fume bouncy tent and a lab rat chemical dunk also were part of the play land. Photos Report

Gay Shame and LAGAI say that "The ultra straight-washed HRC urges us to Buy for equality by giving... multinational corporations a 'green light' for their commitment to 'equality.'" Coors has faced a boycott since the 1970's as a result of the Coors family's donations to "causes" such as the Heritage Foundation, which is a far-right anti-gay, anti-woman organization. Other companies that (were) exposed include Nike, which is well-known for uses of sweatshops in manufacturing; Clear Channel, home of homophobic DJ Michael Savage; Shell Oil, BP, and Chevron; and Merck, which through patented AIDS medication makes access to Efavirenz unafordable for many HIV+ people in countries such as Brazil, Thailand, and the United States.

LAGAI -- Queer Insurrection and Gay Shame ask, "What about queer people working in sweatshops, or working class/ poor people around the world and in the US that have their lives and health ripped to pieces to manufacture the HRC’s vision of equality?"

Gay Shame SF | LAGAI-Queer Insurrection | HRC, formerly the Human Rights Campaign Fund

After many years of relative safety in the Sacramento area, the last several have seen virulent protest from radical fundamentalists including many Slavic church groups. Over the 4th of July weekend, Nathan Feldman reports, "the homophobic hatred turned deadly." Satendar Singh was killed in an attack at Lake Natomas on Sunday by a group of Russian-speaking men after they perceived him as gay. Satendar was a recent immigrant to America from Fiji, having won a lottery for a green card. Satendar earned the nickname "The Lucky One" among his family and friends.

A group of Slavic men picnicking with their families at the lake allegedly noticed that Satendar did not have a female date, and that he danced with both women and men in his party. Witnesses reported that the attackers began hurling anti-gay and racist invectives. As things escalated, the attackers sent their families home and called for backup. When a new group of men showed up, the party tried to leave, but was blocked by the attackers. One of the men struck Satendar, who fell unconscious, his head bleeding profusely. As the attackers went to their cars to get away, they hurled bottles at the members of Satendar’s party, which included a young woman who is 6 months pregnant.

Satendar Singh was taken to Mercy San Juan hospital, where tests indicated no brain activity. Over 100 family members and friends went to the hospital to be with him in his final days, and he died on July 5th. Singh's parents live in Fiji and are not able to come to Sacramento. Singh’s body will be transported back to Fiji for burial. Local memorial services for Satendar are being planned. His family asks that people show up to express support, as well as opposition to violence and intolerance.

Click here for information about a fund for Satendar's family, as well as case updates | Being Gay Today | Out Sacramento

San Francisco LGBT Pride was held from June 22nd through 24th.
The City's fourth annual Trans March took place on Friday, June 22nd, with live performances, spoken word, speeches, and drag on stage at Dolores Park. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

The 15th annual San Francisco Dyke March was held on Saturday, with a rally and performances on stage starting at 3pm. At 7:00, tens of thousands of women stepped into the street, led by Dykes on Bikes, to demand Health Care for All. Photos | Audio March organizers wrote, "...and by all, we mean ALL DYKES as well as all people who are shut out, shunted aside, and shit on when they need health care. Except for the very wealthy, everyone in the world needs better health care, and we need it today."

Sunday's Pride parade started at 10:30 a.m., traveling west along Market Street from Davis to Hyde. Celebrity Grand Marshals included "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" critic Eric Alva, who was the first US soldier wounded in the war in Iraq. The annual Pride Celebration continued all afternoon in the Civic Center area. Video: 1 | 2 | 3

Early on Saturday morning, the day before the Pride Parade, Friends of the Pink Triangle installed a giant pink triangle on a hilltop that overlooks the parade route. Photos

Previous Indybay Coverage Of Pride: 2006 | 2005 (1 | 2 ) | 2004 (1 | 2 )

The 17th annual Fresno and Central Valley Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Parade & Festival, was held on Saturday, June 2, 2007.

The organizers of this event worked hard to make this event the largest one day gathering of the LBGTQ community in the area. Celebrating side by side were members of the women’s community, the professional community, the youth community, the religious community, the drag community, the Latin community, the HIV/AIDS community, the political, the supportive, and everything in between.

Not long ago, the Ku Klux Klan tried to disrupt the Gay Pride Parade in Fresno. Today, there was nothing but support in the community for the parade and festival. The Klan has not showed up dressed in their sheets for years. See the photos from this year's parade here:

Photos More Photos Photos - Part 3

In solidarity with ACT UP NY’s 20-year anniversary action, Gay Shame held "a festive die-in and real estate tour of the ever-so-scary Castro" on Thursday, March 29th, starting at 12pm at 18th and Castro Streets. The action was organized around the idea of “Healthcare and Housing for ALL!” - linking the need for free housing along with the need for healthcare.

The Castro has recently been called the “AIDS eviction capital of the world." Throughout San Francisco, people with AIDS and other low-income residents have been forced out of their homes to make way for remodeling, owner move-ins and condo conversions. “The legacy of evictions is part of the cultural history of the Castro,” said Mary Mortgage of Gay Shame. “There’s been a huge cultural erasure. We’re holding real estate companies accountable for making profits off the eviction of protected tenants.” One such company, Coldwell Banker at 2355 Market, became the scene of a die-in after protesters marched up Castro Street chanting, “ACT UP! Fight Back! Fight AIDS!”

Veteran activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca echoed the theme of eviction as part of the neighborhood’s history, recalling that gay pioneer Harvey Milk himself was pushed out of his Castro Street camera store and apartment after rents tripled in the late 1970s. After a lull during the worst years of the AIDS crisis, gentrification intensified once again with the dot-com boom in the late 1990s. “The real estate industry has raped and pillaged the Castro for decades,” Mecca said. “We need a moratorium on market-rate housing in the Castro. Realtors do not own San Francisco. We own San Francisco!”

Photos | Tommi Avicolli Mecca: 20 years of ACTing UP | Gay Shame | ACT UP New York

A memorial for Nadia Cabezas, who was also known as Kitty Kastro, will be held on Tuesday, April 3rd at 2pm at St. Anthony's Foundation, 121 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. Kitty Kastro was struck by a car and killed instantly on March 5th in Indiana. Nadia was hit while parked on the side of a highway. The perpetrator, who had been eating while driving, was a 72 year-old man who had no driver's license, and no car insurance for his unregistered car. She had attended a funeral for her grandmother in New York, and was helping her mother, who was moving to California, with the cross-country trip.

Nadia Cabezas accomplished many things in her short life, including standing with ACT UP, educating society about transgender issues, facing the religious right, fighting for the rights of disabled people, and fighting for her own place in this world. She had a confrontational way of pointing out things that were wrong in the world- she would tell the police when they were screwing up, and she would call a bad landlord a slumlord. She was a high school "dropout," but she graduated from City College of SF in 2006, and earned an Associate's degree, and a certificate for travel and tourism. Kitty Kastro also hosted a public access show called Tranny Talk, where she interviewed police chiefs, children of transsexuals, political candidates, religious extremists, mothers of transsexuals who have been killed, and others. Some of her hobbies included traveling, RV'ing, and taking care of her Mom. Nadia is survived by her partner, who is Tranny Talk producer Dina Boyer, as well as her Mom Kathy, her dog Maya, and the couple's two cats, Samantha and Kitty.

Kitty Kastro's Video from the July 8th, 2005 G8 protest in San Francisco | Tranny Talk TV | BAR article

Heather MacAllister was "a fucking sexy fat wicked smart intense and funny fierce femme." She died February 13th in Portland, Oregon after battling ovarian cancer for several years. She was 38 years old. Memorial events were held all over the United States, including in San Francisco. On Saturday, February 24th the 7:00pm Goddess Rosary service was in memory of Heather, at HerChurch, 678 Portola Drive, SF. Heather had attended this church. On Sunday, February 25th, a Funeral/Mourning/Goodbye ritual was held at 1:30pm at Precita Park, corner of Folsom and Precita, followed by a procession up Precita to El Rio. A wake was held at El Rio at 3:00pm (Report). She will be remembered by communities that she inspired and helped to create through her performances and community organizing. Heather requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to a trust, which will be used to help fat college students to afford fabulous fashions.

Ms. MacAllister was the founder and artistic director of Big Burlesque and the Fat Bottom Revue, the first burlesque act exclusively featuring large-sized performers. Her performance name was "Reva Lucian." Tours included the midwest, Canada, and the east and west coasts. She had a degree in Anthropology and worked for several non-profit groups, such as Triangle Foundation, Michigan's statewide civil rights organization for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and allied communities. She was committed to anti-racism training. She also helped to inspire the anti-size discrimination law that was passed in San Francisco in June 2000. At the Fat-Bottom Mama's Benefat, a fundraiser for her health expenses, Heather MacAllister told the crowd that she had learned how important it is for all of us "to learn to love the bodies we live in, and to truly occupy them, and to take good, good care of them."

A community member wrote, "She made her body at once both sacred and profane- the way many women who work in the sex trades do and when you are fat and do this you are, let's not kid ourselves for a second- full of a kind of chutzpah that is remarkable. She was making a revolution that Emma would have delighted to dance at and perhaps might have gone on stage, in all her anarchist glory to shake a booty with- Heather made for that kind of space in the world. She did this with a consciousness that connected the struggles of trans people with fat people with people with disabilities as people who were challenging system of normalcy. She did it with style and she laughed as she did it... I am thinking that the world did not need another dead lesbian, who died far too young from cancer- another dead fierce, outrageous political femme."

Tribute to Heather MacAllister | Leonard Nimoy's photos of Heather and her dance troupe (Heather is on the right in the clothed picture) | Big Burlesque | Rainbow Network's Article About Heather
More about Fat Activism: Fat Liberation Archives | May 6th: International No-Diet Day | October 17th: Love Your Body Day | National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance | The Council on Weight and Size Discrimination