[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Gavin Newsom
Mayor
San Francisco

California has always been a place where traditional barriers of class, race, gender have been pushed aside by a spirit of equality and opportunity that says to all - no matter who you are, and no matter where you come from - "It Can Be Done."

In that spirit, yet one more barrier gave way when the California State Supreme Court ruled that all Californians - regardless of the traditional barrier of sexual orientation - have the right to marry.

This is an historic moment - both for California and our country. From this moment forward, there can be no going back.

The road ahead will be difficult. Despite today's historic ruling, the same groups that sponsored the 2000 California ballot measure that challenged marriage equality are getting closer to placing a measure on the November ballot that would write discrimination into our state Constitution. This effort would not only overturn laws granting the most basic rights to same-sex couples - it would effectively nullify today's Supreme Court ruling.

Stand up for Marriage Equality today. Sign the petition now.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Richard Stapler
Press Secretary
Office of Assembly Speaker Karen Bass

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

This is cross-posted from the California Majority Report. It was written by Richard Stapler, the press secretary for Speaker of the Assembly.

Today, the California State Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, allowing (in 30 days time) same sex couples to wed.

It's a joyous occassion for my partner (soon to be my husband!) and myself -- and the millions of LGBT Californians who will be shortly be afforded all the rights and responsibilities of marriage.

I heard the news on the Assembly floor this morning from a newspaper reporter -- and fought back tears of joy. I read with glee the opening statement of the court's action to the Speaker of the Assembly and several Members, halting with the overwhelming emotion I felt. Text messages and calls to my partner, friends and family ensued.

But there is a sobering reality to all of this. We've won this battle, but the war for our equal rights stretches on until November.  

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Today, the California State Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, allowing (in 30 days time) same sex couples to wed.
 
It's a joyous occassion for my partner (soon to be my husband!) and myself -- and the millions of LGBT Californians who will be shortly be afforded all the rights and responsibilities of marriage.
 
I heard the news on the Assembly floor this morning from a newspaper reporter -- and fought back tears of joy. I read with glee the opening statement of the court's action to the Speaker of the Assembly and several Members, halting with the overwhelming emotion I felt. Text messages and calls to my partner, friends and family ensued.
 
But there is a sobering reality to all of this. We've won this battle, but the war for our equal rights stretches on until November.
 
An effort to write blatant discrimination into California's constitution is nearing qualification for November's ballot.
 
As California's top ballot initiative strategist said to me in an e-mail shortly after the decision became public "the ante has now gone WAY up."

There's more...

Image courtesy San Francisco Chronicle.

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Education funding has been one of THE defining political issues of modern California. The struggle to produce equitable educational funding for all Californians consumed the state's courts and eventually its politics in the 1970s. After Prop 13 was passed in 1978, it led to a series of battles in the 1980s to stop the crippling cuts that begin to hit the state's schools, once the best-supported in the nation. The outcome was mixed - Prop 98 gave some measure of protection to school funding, but the Mello-Roos system also enabled new suburbs access to resources urban schools were denied.

These temporary stopgaps seem to have run their course. As the state budget is collapsing, Arnold has focused his attention on education funding, and plans to balance the budget on the backs of students, instead of making wealthy Californians pay their fair share. But it's worse than misplaced priorities. At the core of Arnold's education funding reforms is a Nixonian effort to cut off funding for California's needy students. Arnold's goal is to reverse the hard-won victories of an earlier generation, all in the context of hitting education with massive funding cuts to balance the budget.