On September 29th Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed Equality California-sponsored Assembly Bill 849, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which had passed the state Senate and Assembly. In his veto statement, he said that he did not feel that the legislature can overturn an initiative that the voters had decided. As a result of his veto, hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Californians and their families will continue to live without equal protection of the law. Equality California chapters and allied organizations are hosting community gatherings in response to the Governor's veto on Friday, September 30th. Most of the gatherings will take place between 5 and 6pm. Protests are scheduled for Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Modesto, Sacramento, San Francisco (Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Video ), San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Solano County, and Ukiah. People in San Diego held a protest on Thursday night. Full list

The Governor did sign four remaining EQCA-sponsored bills: Assembly Bill (AB) 1400, the Civil Rights Act of 2005 (Laird, D-Santa Cruz), builds upon the Unruh Civil Rights Act and related provisions to clarify and reinforce that all businesses that provide services, goods or accommodations to the public cannot discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status; Senate Bill (SB) 973 (Kuehl, D-Santa Monica), allows domestic partners of public employees who retired prior to January 1, 2005, to receive death benefits if the retiree dies before their partner; SB 565 (Migden, D-San Francisco), ensures legally recognized domestic partners are treated the same as spouses under California's property tax laws; and AB 1586, the Insurance Gender Non-Discrimination Act, (Koretz, D-West Hollywood), adds gender and gender identity to existing anti-discrimination provisions in California laws regulating insurance companies and health care service plans. Read more

Transgender Law Center Statement | Past Indybay Coverage of AB 849