State

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 […]

In response to news of the death of Frank M. Robinson, science fiction writer, LGBT activist and speechwriter to San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin issued the following statement. “Through his collaboration with Harvey Milk, Frank Robinson gave the LGBT movement its rhetorical backbone–and brought hope to countless LGBT Americans, especially young people, for the very first time. I was lucky to meet Frank on my very first week on the job as HRC president, and though we all mourn his passing today, we’re overwhelmed with gratitude for his contributions to this fight […]

Equality California congratulates the EQCA-endorsed winners in Tuesday’s statewide primary election. Of the 61 candidates endorsed by EQCA, 57 are guaranteed to advance to November’s general election. In addition, two EQCA-endorsed candidates appear to be likely to advance to the general election, but the races are still too close to call. Overall, as many as 59 of EQCA’s 61 endorsed candidates are likely to progress to the general election. “This is exciting news for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and ally communities throughout the entire state of California,” said Rick Zbur, executive director-elect of EQCA. “California voters have shown that […]