California Legislative Lbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgenr and Queer Cc

Contents:

• HARVEY MILK BE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PERSON ELECTED TO PUBLIC OFFICE CALIFORNIA
• CALIFORNIA VOTERS WILL BE ASKED TO REAFFIRM GAY MARRIAGE PROTECTNS ON 2024 BALLOT
• 40 YEARS AFTER ASSASSATN OF FIRST OPENLY GAY ELECTED OFFICIAL IN CALIFORNIA
• CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR F SCHOOL DISTRICT $1.5MILLN FOR REJECTG TEXTBOOK MATERIALS MENTNG LATE OPENLY GAY POLICIAN
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

HARVEY MILK BE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PERSON ELECTED TO PUBLIC OFFICE CALIFORNIA

California legislators, all Democrats, are proud of their succs but say unrsr the hard work that remas their own state and elsewhere, such as handlg the fallout om measur such as Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans some lsons on sexual orientatn and genr inty, or laws other stat limg transgenr stunts’ participatn sports or blockg genr-affirmg medil re for tone was further shroud by the Saturday night shootg at a gay nightclub Colorado, which killed five people and wound many others. Jared Polis, who jt won a send term, was the first openly gay man elected as a state’s ernor when he won 2018. Meanwhile, the Legislature has not yet reached pary genr or race and ethnicy, acrdg to statistics om the California State Hampshire and Vermont have each had more LGBTQ legislators, acrdg to the stute, but their legislatur are bigger than California’s and so have not reached the 10% 2022 electns are a landspe of firsts for LGBTQ people, cludg Corey Jackson, the California Legislature’s first gay Black man, who noted that Ain Amerins — particularly Black trans people — are pecially margalized.

“It’s hard to feel optimistic as a young queer person wh everythg that’s gog on, ” Perri the newly elected LGBTQ officials are overwhelmgly Democrats, at least one gay Republin — Gee Santos, a supporter of former Print Donald Tmp — won a U. Hoe seat New York by featg another gay man, a crease LGBTQ lawmakers ntrasts wh efforts some stat led by members of Santos’ party to lim the fluence, visibily and rights of LGBTQ Tennsee, lears of the state’s Republin legislative supermajory said the first bill of the 2023 ssn will seek to ban genr-affirmg re for mors.

CALIFORNIA VOTERS WILL BE ASKED TO REAFFIRM GAY MARRIAGE PROTECTNS ON 2024 BALLOT

1% of Californians are LGBT, acrdg to the US legislators, all Democrats, say that spe the ws, much work remas California and the US, cludg the fallout om measur such as Florida’s “don’t say gay” law and laws blockg genr-affirmg medil re for youths and limg transgenr stunts’ participatn news me as the US mourns a shootg at a gay nightclub Colorado that left five people ad. In Colorado, Jared Polis, the first openly gay man elected as a state’s ernor when he won 2018, was ’s a rerd, well up om 2020, when 336 LGBTQ+ ndidat won, acrdg to the group, which along wh Equaly California lculated that California is the first state to pass the 10% the 12 current or soon-to-be members of the California legislature, eight were already part of s LGBTQ uc, cludg the lear of the senate and three other senators whose terms n until 2024.

Photograph: Ben Hovland/APThe 2022 midterms brought a number of firsts for LGBTQ+ people, cludg the electn of Corey Jackson, the California legislature’s first gay Black man, who noted that Ain Amerins, particularly Black trans people, are pecially margalized. The newly elected LGBTQ+ officials are overwhelmgly Democrats, but New York, the Republin Gee Santos, a gay man and supporter of Donald Tmp, won a US Hoe seat, featg the Democrat Robert Zimmerman, who is gay. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official the history of California, tak his place on the San Francis Board of Supervisors on January 8, 1978.

The first and, for years, most visible openly gay polician Ameri, Milk was a longtime activist and pneerg lear of San Francis’s LGBT servg the Navy durg the Korean War, Milk held several whe-llar jobs New York Cy. Inially nservative and reluctant to advote for gay rights, Milk’s views changed around the time he and his then-partner opened a mera shop on Castro Street, the heart of the San Francis’s LGBT muny, many bs owners and cizens of the largely-gay Castro District, Milk was harassed by police and lol officials.

40 YEARS AFTER ASSASSATN OF FIRST OPENLY GAY ELECTED OFFICIAL IN CALIFORNIA

Dpe alienatg many Democrats, cludg other gay activists, wh his bombastic language and flower-child persona, he won the Castro district handily and me 10 out of 32 ndidat. Still, Milk and the Castro’s rise to power cid wh the rise of anti-gay reactnari like Ana Bryant, and Milk unrstood both the power and the danger of his posn as facto lear of the largt gay muny Ameri.

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR F SCHOOL DISTRICT $1.5MILLN FOR REJECTG TEXTBOOK MATERIALS MENTNG LATE OPENLY GAY POLICIAN

On the nth anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, shortly after his partner mted suici and the face of nservative backlash across the untry, Milk addrsed San Francis’s gay pri para, begng wh his tchphrase “My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to rec you” and endg wh a msage of “Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to e to if the prsur at home are too great.

”The followg November, 75 percent of California voters rejected a referendum that would have allowed schools to fire teachers for beg homosexual.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

On the 50th anniversary of Stonewall 2019, Milk was an gural ductee onto the Natnal LGBTQ Wall of MORE: The Gay Rights MovementAlso on This Day History January | 8. The measure put gay and lbian marriag on hold the state, but a feral appeals urt 2010 emed Proposn 8 unnstutnal.

The se ma s way to the US Supreme Court, which dismissed an appeal 2013 over same-sex marriage on jurisdictnal grounds, lg private parti did not have standg to fend California’s voter-approved ballot measure barrg gay and lbian upl om state-sanctned wedlock. Californians will vote on a proposal to amend the state Constutn on the 2024 ballot to reaffirm gay marriage rights — a ut move that amid natnal anxiety after recent lgs by the nservative-leang U.

Although there is no current threat to the legaly of gay marriage, and Print Bin signed a bill safeguardg last year, the Democratic-domant state Legislature is seekg to remove language om California’s Constutn that still f marriage as between a man and outdated state fn has been emed unenforceable and unnstutnal thanks to feral law, but LGBTQ advocy groups are askg voters to repeal and amend the California Constutn to stead explicly state that marriage is “a fundamental right.