State

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, in partnership with the Equality Federation, today released its first national report assessing the status of state legislation affecting LGBT equality across America, including in California. The inaugural State Equality Index reveals that, even with progress on marriage equality, there are extraordinary state-to-state disparities in LGBT non-discrimination protections, including in the workplace, and efforts continue by equality opponents to pass state-level legislation that would sanction discrimination and undermine even minimal existing protections. California is one of 18 states in the country that has explicit state-level […]

  Urloved Photography, based in the Bay Area of Northern California, have announced they will no longer provide wedding photography after refusing service to a same-sex couple.  According to Jezebel’s Mark Shrayber, a gay couple recently sought to hire Urloved owners Nang and Chris Mai, but the Mais responded, “Photographing a gay wedding is not the best match for us.” They offered the couple a referral to another photographer, wishing them “the very best!” The couple complained about the discrimination they experienced — illegal in California — on Facebook, which drew a lot of negative attention to Urloved. The Mais […]

Equality California calls on Young Kim, the candidate challenging Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva in Assembly District 65, to reject and apologize for a misleading mailer sent on her behalf that cynically scapegoats transgender students and plays on unwarranted fears of the electorate. “The mailer supporting Young Kim blatantly lies about the law and scapegoats lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender kids. Throughout this campaign, Kim has engaged in the same dishonest tactics in an attempt to win votes,” said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. “As a mother and former teacher, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva has been a staunch advocate for all […]

A Southern California school district has settled a government claim that it discriminated against a transgender student who said she was forbidden to wear makeup, was harassed by other children and was encouraged to change schools, it was announced Tuesday. The Downey Unified School District agreed to give the teenager access to the same facilities and activities as other female students, including athletic tryouts and district-sponsored overnight events, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Without acknowledging any violations of federal law, the district southeast of Los Angeles also agreed to ensure that […]

Equality California, the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization in California, today announced that it has updated its mission statement to more fully reflect the organization’s current and future focus. While Equality California has historically focused the bulk of its efforts on achieving full equality for LGBT Californians by working for state level civil rights and pro-equality legislation and electing state-level, pro-equality candidates in California, the successes in achieving LGBT civil rights and protections in California allow the organization to focus on new priorities for the California’s LGBT community. “As we successfully close the remaining gaps […]

Equality California PAC today endorsed three officials in federal legislative races: Amanda Renteria for Congressional District 21, Ted Lieu for Congressional District 33 and Pete Aguilar for Congressional District 31. A former chief of staff for U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and former high school teacher, Renteria is a dedicated public servant who helped create an agenda that brought manufacturing jobs back to America, a slate of clean-energy production incentives that seeded the alternative energy industry and new trade enforcement policies. “The race for Congressional District 21 provides a stark choice for Californians — do we want an incumbent that has […]

Four bills that Equality California sponsored during the 2014 legislative session are now before Gov. Jerry Brown, one of which was EQCA’s 100th piece of legislation to pass in the California Legislature. That bill, AB 2501 by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, would eliminate the so-called “gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses, outrageous tactics used by defendants who claim their violent acts were triggered by the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It is the first measure of its kind in the nation, as are the other three bills now awaiting Governor Brown’s consideration. Another important piece of legislation Equality California sponsored […]

Equality California, the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organization in California, celebrated its 100th piece of passed legislation today when the California Assembly — by a preliminary bipartisan vote of 58-14 — approved AB 2501, which would prohibit the use of the “panic defense” to support a finding of sudden quarrel or heat of passion, which is necessary to reduce a charge of murder to manslaughter. This bill, the first of its kind in the nation, now moves on to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. For more than a decade, EQCA has partnered with legislators to successfully sponsor […]

On July 7, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1306, authored by Sen. Mark Leno and co-sponsored by Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, Equality California and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. The bill will bring California statutory law into line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision restoring the freedom to marry in California. While both the California and U.S. Supreme Courts have affirmed the right for same-sex couples to marry, current state laws in many cases do not reflect that change. SB 1306 ensures that references to “husband” and “wife” will be replaced with gender-neutral language such as […]