State

Today, Equality California is proud to announce its endorsement of incumbents Gov. Jerry Brown for governor, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom for lieutenant governor, Attorney General Kamala Harris for attorney general, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones for insurance commissioner and Superintendent Tom Torlakson for superintendent of public instruction. In addition, EQCA has endorsed former Speaker of the Assembly Bob Hertzberg for Senate District 18. They join a group of over 50 other candidates already endorsed by Equality California in the 2014 election cycle. In his current term, Brown has governed California since 2011 and he has been a tremendously effective advocate for […]

Equality California applauds CalPERS, the country’s largest public pension fund, for divesting from the Russian companies MegaFon and Mail.ru due to the companies’ links to the neo-Nazi “Occupy Pedophilia” vigilante group, which has posted videos of torture and assault of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Russians on a company-owned social media network. “Californians raised their voices and CalPERS listened. We will not have our money supporting hate crimes against our LGBT brothers and sisters in Russia, and we are very glad to have made an impact on a global scale,” said John O’Connor, Equality California executive director. “This is a […]

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has become an official co-sponsor for AB 2501, a bill authored by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla and designed to curb the so-called “panic defense” by making it clear that a defendant’s discovery of a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity is not sufficient provocation to reduce a charge of murder to manslaughter. Equality California is a sponsor of the bill. “Getting Attorney General Kamala Harris to co-sponsor AB 2501 is an exciting sign that California is serious about curbing these bogus ‘panic’ defenses,” said John O’Connor, Equality California executive director. ”A victim’s sexual orientation or gender […]

Equality California, the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organization in California, announced today that its executive director, John O’Connor, will step down in July following a successful, 18-month tenure leading EQCA through a period of extensive organizational transition. EQCA also announced that board member Rick Zbur, a senior partner with the law firm of Latham & Watkins and an LGBT and environmental advocate, has been unanimously elected as the organization’s new executive director. “John has been an incredibly effective leader and the boards of directors of both Equality California and Equality California Institute are extremely grateful for […]

Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez introduced AB 1951, sponsored by Equality California, to modernize birth certificates to accurately reflect the gender of a child’s parent or parents. The new birth certificates would allow each parent to identify as mother, father or parent. “Birth certificates establish real rights and responsibilities, and it’s important to have them in sync with modern families,” said John O’Connor, executive director of Equality California. “Every child deserves a parent or parents who love them, and AB 1951 will give every child the dignity of respectfully and accurately representing them.” “The definition of a family needs to be more […]

Today, the Support All Students campaign — including a broad coalition of nearly 100 state and national organizations backing California’s law that ensures all school children have a fair chance to do well — applauds the California School Boards Association’s new model policy to help districts comply with the law. The model policy released today lays the foundation for California’s 1,043 school districts to ensure that all children — including those who are transgender — have fair opportunities to do well in school following the January 1 start of the new School Success and Opportunity Act, also known as Assembly Bill 1266. […]

Transgender students and their families are celebrating California