Recently TOMS shoes, a company famous for its policy of "buy a pair, give a pair to a child in need", was found to be connected with Focus on the Family, when founder TOMS' Blake Mycoskie accepted its invitation and spoke at an event. Focus on the Family is a Christian organization that opposes abortion and homosexuality. The amicable relationship raised eyebrows because the affiliation seemed to go against the Toms do-good, love everyone image.

Mycoskie was quick to apologize when he was accused of allying himself with the organization, saying, “Had I known the full extent of Focus on the Family’s beliefs, I would not have accepted the invitation to speak at their event…TOMS, and I as the founder, are passionate believers in equal human and civil rights for all."

A careless mistake, to be sure, as it would have taken anyone on Mycoskie's staff less than three minutes on Focus on the Family’s website to find phrases like, “Homosexuality is a complex problem that's largely about identity and unmet childhood needs."

Read more...

---

By: Karen Hu

Trying to legalize Gay marriage has been a continous war for quite a while now. Recently, California has overturned Prop 8 which means it will be on the ballet for people to vote. For those who want gay marriage to be legalized, this overturning on prop 8 is just one step closer to doing so.

Everyone has different opinions on gay marriage. There are a lot of people who do not agree to it, but a good portion of people do agree. I for one, agree to gay marriage. I don't see anything wrong with it and I think it's perfectly fine for a man and man or a woman and woman to get marry. The reason why people get married is because they love each other, so does it matter if it's the same sex or opposite sex? No, I believe it doesn't. As long as they love each other, that's enough and they should be allowed to marry.

16 year old Shawnanis McCune agrees to gay marriage as well. "I believe that love isn't just for male and female, People deserve to love who they want to. Just because you fall for someone who's the same sex as you, It doesn't mean that it's wrong." She believes that everyone deserves to marry whoever they're in love with. McCune also believes there isn't anything "wrong" it same sex marriages. "I think it's wrong, to be called wrong or bad for being who you are."

There are different reasons on why people think that gay marriage is wrong. "Religious reasons mostly. It's something they're not used to. They feel that it'll influence other people into thinking that it's okay, Like their children." said 20 year old Sharon Truong. She feels that marriage is marriage, "I feel the same way about it as straight marriage. It's just marriage."

We're all equal, aren't we? We should all be treated the same. We're all the same in the first place anyway. People act like homosexauls arent people but another species or something. They're still people who have feelings and have a heart. So think about it, Is it really that wrong for homosexuals to get married? Is it really that wrong for two people, of the same sex who love each other, to get marry? 

---

The federal trial over California's ban on same-sex marriage opened on Monday in San Francisco with pleas from two gay men and two lesbians to be treated like anyone else who wants to marry. The plaintiffs are suing to overturn Prop. 8, saying it violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender.

On Daily Kos, Adam B discusses a related 5-4 Supreme Court decision announced on Wednesday regarding YouTube broadcasting of the Prop 8 trial. The Court granted a stay of the order allowing same-day YouTube broadcast of the trial. Slate's Emily Bazelon writes about how the decision is awful and heavy-handed.

This is the first trial in any federal court over same-sex marriage; it is also seen as the first step in a case that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court determining the legality of same-sex marriage.

Previously:

• Voters Oppose Putting Gay Marriage Back on Ballot
• New York Senate Votes Against Gay Marriage
• State of the Unions

 

---

A recent Los Angeles Times/USC poll found that a large portion of voters oppose efforts to place the same-sex marriage issue back on the ballot next year.

Views on same-sex marriage were polarized based on political party, with 66% of Democrat respondents believeing it should be legal and 71% of Republicans thinking it should not. Nonpartisan voters backed same-sex marriage 59%-34%.

Overall, 51% of California voters favored marriage rights for same-sex couples and 43% were opposed to same-sex marriage. Most noteably, almost 60% of Californians did not want to revisit the issue in 2010.

In November of 2008, Californians voted 52% to 48% to limit marriage rights to one man and one woman. Same-sex marriage advocates have been split over whether to push for a new vote next year or wait until 2012, when the presidential election will draw more voters to the polls.

Supporters of gay marriage are also strategizing in other states. On Tuesday, voters in Maine repealed a state measure that had granted marriage rights to same-sex couples.

(via The Los Angeles Times)

---

I’ve been an outcast since childhood. In school, I was either the skinny kid or the only black kid or the free lunch kid. In 6th grade, there was only one kid as bad off as I was—my friend Bobby. We were on the playground when he said, “I have something to tell you. Please don’t stop being my friend.” He told me he was gay. Me too, Bobby, me too.

Every crazy day, we had to stand up for ourselves and each other. After all, we couldn’t change who we were.

I’m a long way from 6th grade, but I still have the same struggles.

Read more...

---

According to the San Francisco chronicle’s website, sfgate.com, the state Supreme Court ruled last month that a private religious school could expel students that were believed lesbian or gay. In September 2005, two girls from Lutheran High School in Wildomar, Riverside County, California, were questioned about their sexuality by a school official. They were eventually expelled because the official believed that they were lesbian. Read more...

---

Yes, part of me is cheering that the typically conservative California Supreme Court is at least reconsidering a possible overturn of November's voter initiative that reinstated the gay-marriage ban. Could it really provoke a voter revolt that could eject one or more of the justices from the bench? Read more...

---

We live in America, where all people are supposed to be allowed to be who they truly are, without fear of marginalization from our government.  A land where the ideas of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau came together to form the idea that the government exists only to protect society and work toward securing and protecting the rights all people should share, and it is not only our right, but our duty to rebel when the government oversteps or n Read more...

---

Around 6 pm on Saturday, November 8, angry protestors in Los Angeles shouted the words written on their posters : "What do we want?" "Equal rights!; "When do we want them?"; "Now!"
Read more...

---

Last night the traffic on the streets of Westwood was stopped by a group of angry protesters who are seeking to reopen the Proposition 8 battle.  The protest began in Westwood Blvd and moved west towards the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints (Mormon Church). There, protesters were welcomed by a group of Proposition 8 supporters. A small confrontation erupted between the two sides. The West Hollywood police department had to intervene to defuse the tension. Read more...

---