Feature Archives

In an open letter to the Lesbian and Gay community during his campaign, president-elect Obama promised, "I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans." On January 10th, three South Bay activist groups came together to lead a rally calling on Mr. Obama to hold true to his word. The downtown San Jose rally was part of a national day of action to gather a million signatures to demand equal rights for the gay community. The signatures are to be delivered to Obama on January 20th, Inauguration Day.

SANTA CRUZ, CA – The Diversity Center’s Latino Outreach program will hold a presentation of the “Assessment of the Latino Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community of Santa Cruz County” on Thursday, January 15th, at 5:00pm at the Diversity Center (1117 Soquel Ave). This report will present what Latino LGBT people have identified as their issues and needs and how one can better support them as service providers, family, friends and teachers.

In the early evening of December 20th, LGBT activists lit up the night for marriage rights in gatherings throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area. In San Francisco, protesters demonstrated with a candlelight vigil in Union Square crowded with holiday shoppers, while in the South Bay city of San Jose activists chose CineArts theater as the location for a protest. CineArts theater is owned by Cinemark, whose CEO donated to the Yes on 8 campaign.

On December 19th, the Yes on 8 campaign issued a brief seeking to nullify existing same-sex marriages in California. Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton, co-wrote the argument and will argue the case as head counsel possibly as early as March 2009. The same day Attorney General Jerry Brown asked the California Supreme Court to strike down the same-sex marriage ban because it is inconsistent with the guarantees of individual liberty safeguarded by the California Constitution.

Barack Obama has chosen Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the Presidential inauguration. Warren and his Saddleback church are well known for their strong anti-gay and anti-abortion views. LGBT activists demonstrated at Saddleback following the passage of Prop 8.

Valerie Paget and Tracie Jones, a Pasedena couple affected by the passage of Proposition 8, are on a march through California to demonstrate their conviction that the California Supreme Court should revoke Prop 8. They are marching from West Hollywood Park to the California Supreme Court in San Francisco. In coordination with Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign, they will deliver a petition to revoke Prop 8 that has been signed by over 250,000 people.

"A Day Without A Gay" protest and boycott took place across the US on December 10th to show opposition to California's Proposition 8 and show the power of the LGBT community. Organizers encouraged people to "call in gay" to work and spend the day volunteering at local LGBT and/or human rights organizations. There were several rallies in the Bay Area, including a noon rally in UC Berkeley's Sproul plaza and a 4pm press conference in Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza.