SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Gav Newsom nomated the first openly gay Black man to the state Supreme Court on Monday, potentially replacg one of the urt's more nservative members wh a former feral civil rights attorney who prosecuted cross-burngs and police misnduct s unr Print Ronald Reagan. Mart Jenks, 66, would be the urt's first gay member and the third Black person to serve on , acrdg to the ernor's office. In a news nference announcg the nomatn, Jenks said his inty as a gay man has been “perhaps the greatt challenge my life.” “I want the young people to know that livg a life of thenticy is the greatt gift you n give yourself. And if you do that, you will fd yourself a posn where people see you,” Jenks said. “Thank you, Governor Newsom, for seeg me.” Jenks, a lifelong registered Democrat, mt first be nfirmed by the Commissn on Judicial Appotments after a public hearg for the job that wh a $261,949 annual salary. The missn nsists of Chief Jtice Tani Cantil-Cakye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the most senr pridg judge of the Court of Appeal. Newsom said Jenks uld be on the urt next month. “He knows that spe what the claratn says, life, liberty and the pursu of happs are not simply alienable. They mt be relentlsly protected and fend,” Newsom said. Jenks would replace Jtice Mg W. Ch, the urt's first Che Amerin jtice who was appoted by Republin Gov. Pete Wilson 1996. The urt has two other Asian Amerin jtic, cludg the chief jtice. Jenks grew up San Francis, the son of a stay-at-home mom and a dad who was a clerk and janor at the cy's inic Co Tower. He lived a two-bedroom, one-bathroom hoe and attend Catholic school. He said he wasn't poor but told The Associated Prs an terview that his fay did not have a lot of disposable e. “There is a portn of folks who live like that this untry, maybe more now that live below the poverty le than the ‘50s and ‘60s when I was g up," Jenks said. He played football at Santa Clara Universy, where he was a team pta and dreamed of playg the NFL. But his ach, Gee Patrick Malley, noticed his good gras and suggted he go to law school. Malley troduced Jenks to his iend, Eugene Lynch, who was a judge and beme Jenk's mentor. When Lynch retired as a feral judge nearly 20 years later, Jenks replaced him. “It was solely the head football ach who saw somethg me that I didn't,” Jenks said. After graduatg om the Universy of San Francis School of Law 1980, Jenks worked as a prosecutor for the Alameda County district attorney's office before jog the U.S. Department of Jtice as a civil rights attorney. Sce then, he's been appoted to four different judghips by Republins and Democrats. A pair of Republin ernors appoted him to state judghips before Democratic Print Bill Clton ma him a feral judge 1998. He left that job 2008 when Republin Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appoted him to the state Court of Appeal. Jenks retired last year to bee judicial appotment secretary for Newsom, helpg him vet judicial appotments. Jenks would not scribe himself as nservative or liberal, sayg “I don't land on labels.” He noted one of the state Supreme Court's key rol is to ci ath penalty s. But when asked to discs his views on the ath penalty, a spokman for the ernor's office tervened and said Jenks would not answer that qutn. Newsom imposed a moratorium on the ath penalty last year. “I try to approach the law openly,” Jenks said. “I basilly have a great fily to the law and rpect for and try to rolve ways that are reflective of what mak so much sense and don't make sense a way people live their liv,” he said. He poted to two s that he says bt reflects the way he analyz and terprets the law. He led that current and past female employe had the right to sue Walmart what would have been the largt genr bias class-actn lawsu U.S. history. And he led AT&T uld not stop women om g their time off durg pregnancy lculatg their pensn benefs. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Jenks both s. “I wasn't happy wh the oute, but I thk they reflect the way which I try to look at law and analyze legal issu,” he said.
Contents:
- MEET CALIFORNIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY ERNOR — FOR A FEW HOURS, ANYWAY
- GAV NEWSOM: ‘UNBELIEVABLE’ GAY MARRIAGE CISN, 11 YEARS AFTER HIS MOVE
- CALIFORNIA WILL HAVE AN OPENLY GAY GOVERNOR — FOR ABOUT EIGHT HOURS
- CALIFORNIA’S NEW ERNOR MA NAME WH GAY MARRIAGE FIGHT
- GAV NEWSOM WAS A PNEER ON GAY MARRIAGE. NOW HE’S TRYG TO MAKE LGBT HISTORY AS ERNOR
- CALIFORNIA ERNOR NOMAT 1ST GAY TO STATE SUPREME COURT
- CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR
- COLORADO'S JARED POLIS, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN ELECTED ERNOR, ADDRS 'HORRIFIC' SHOOTG AT AN LGBTQ CLUB
- TAKG ON HISTORIC HOMOPHOBIA JTICE SYSTEM, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR NEWSOM LNCH PROCS FOR PARDONG PEOPLE PROSECUTED FOR BEG GAY
- GAY CALIFORNIA LAWMAKER JOS GRDR TO CAMPAIGN AGAST RELL
- WHAT 'S LIKE BEG AMERI'S FIRST OPENLY GAY ERNOR
MEET CALIFORNIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY ERNOR — FOR A FEW HOURS, ANYWAY
Toni Atks beme California's first openly gay ernor on Wednday -- for a perd of roughly ne hours. * is the governor of california gay *
Toni Atks beme California's first openly gay ernor on Wednday -- for a perd of roughly ne hours.
GAV NEWSOM: ‘UNBELIEVABLE’ GAY MARRIAGE CISN, 11 YEARS AFTER HIS MOVE
Gav Newsom was jumpg to the r, head to a breakfast speech on job creatn, when a monplace day turned extraordary: The Supreme Court of the Uned Stat had affirmed the right of gays to marry. * is the governor of california gay *
Assembly Speaker]Toni Atks, D-San Diego, (R) walks hand hand wh her spoe, Jennifer LeSar, to the rostm of the Assembly where she took the oath of office as the 69th Assembly Speaker at the Capol Sacramento, Calif., on May 12, 30, 2014, 9:49 PM UTC / Updated July 30, 2014, 10:16 PM UTCCalifornia Assembly Speaker Toni Atks beme the Goln State's first openly gay ernor on Wednday -- for a perd of roughly ne to the travel schl of Democratic Gov. ”Atks is only the send openly gay ernor the U. He rigned shortly openly gay person has ever been elected ernor.
In 2020, the Governor appoted Jtice Mart Jenks to serve as the first openly gay man on the California Supreme Court, and this year appoted Sacramento County Superr Court Judge Andi Mudryk, the first openly transgenr person to serve on the state’s judicial bench.
CALIFORNIA WILL HAVE AN OPENLY GAY GOVERNOR — FOR ABOUT EIGHT HOURS
Gov. Gav Newsom is takg on nservative Temecula Valley Unified school officials over textbooks that discs sla gay activist Harvey Milk. * is the governor of california gay *
Shortly after takg office, the Governor lnched a new iative to pardon people who were prosecuted California for beg gay.
In 2014, she beme the first lbian and send out LGBTQ+ person to be speaker of the California Assembly; John Pérez, a gay man, had held the post prevly. Gav Newsom was jumpg to the r, head to a breakfast speech on job creatn, when a monplace day turned extraordary: The Supreme Court of the Uned Stat had affirmed the right of gays to rights have been fought for over s.
But among the polil class, Newsom was the protagonist who almost sglehandly wrenched gay marriage onto California’s radar. As San Francis mayor 2004 he phed the cy to issue marriage licens to gay upl, openg a turbulent 11-year siege of unns celebrated and blocked, anti-marriage mpaigns and urt battl, and public opposn that slowly then swiftly turned to public Friday, a majory of the urt’s jtic announced that they, too, saw gay marriage as a basic right too long nied.
CALIFORNIA’S NEW ERNOR MA NAME WH GAY MARRIAGE FIGHT
California Has Its First Gay Governor, Jt For Today. * is the governor of california gay *
Not after the ballot measur all over the untry subsequent years that sought to forbid gay marriage. 12, 2004, ma the first municipaly the natn to issue marriage licens to gay upl.
It was a rebell gture: Gay marriage was illegal almost everywhere, cludg the state of California.
GAV NEWSOM WAS A PNEER ON GAY MARRIAGE. NOW HE’S TRYG TO MAKE LGBT HISTORY AS ERNOR
Governor Gav Newsom beme a natnal figure by allowg gay marriag as San Francis mayor. He’s signalg wh his hir and appotments that he wants to make CA ernment more clive of LGBT people. * is the governor of california gay *
Senators, om the Bay area — were opposed to gay marriage. A Los Angel Tim poll taken two months after Newsom’s actn showed that only 31% of Californians supported gay marriage, while 40% nsired morally ’s actn was ultimately quashed by the urts but he remaed an tegral player, the worst way. In May of 2008, when the state Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, he growled out a fger-potg, tntg msage to gay marriage opponents.
CALIFORNIA ERNOR NOMAT 1ST GAY TO STATE SUPREME COURT
* is the governor of california gay *
In the narrowg marg was a harbger of astonishg change to the last several years, approval of gay marriage has surged at warp speed. A USC Dornsife/Los Angel Tim poll May of 2013 found that 58% of Californians approved of gay marriage, almost double the percentage om ne years earlier. In that poll, more than a quarter of nservativ and 35% of Republins supported gay marriage.
And is voters who have led the policians: Not until late sprg of 2012, after he was publicly prodd by Vice Print Joe Bin, did Print Obama pronounce his support for gay marriage, a move that Newsom lled “a profound moment” bee of the petive reelectn race the print faced. Dianne Feste did say 2004 that gay marriage surfaced “too much, too fast, too soon.
’”More needs to be done on the gay rights ont, he said, as dited by recent battl Indiana and elsewhere over whether bs owners n refe to serve gays. “This cisn today is not gog to end homophobia, ’s not gog to end bigotry agast the gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr muni, ” he said.
CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man elected ernor the Uned Stat, on Sunday cried Saturday's “horrific” adly shootg at a Colorado Sprgs LGBTQ nightclub. * is the governor of california gay *
Gav Newsom and sla gay rights lear Harvey the ne-hour Temecula Valley Unified meetg, which ran past midnight, some parents spoke support of the nservative majory on the school board and s buckg of state standards for clive and diverse pated Newsom — who plans to send textbooks that reference Milk to Temecula stunts fiance of the board — as a “tyrant” who “forc his le” upon a district he knows nothg about. ”The bate arose after the board rejected proposed stctnal material that mentned Milk, a member of the San Francis Board of Supervisors and the first out gay man elected to public office California, who was assassated 1978. ” Conservative school board Print Joseph Komrosky, who lled Milk a “pedophile” and has been publicly fdg wh Newsom over the issue, asked sheriff puti on Tuday to remove a teacher om the meetg after she lled nservative board member Danny Gonzalez a “homophobe.
COLORADO'S JARED POLIS, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN ELECTED ERNOR, ADDRS 'HORRIFIC' SHOOTG AT AN LGBTQ CLUB
” Whout evince, Gonzalez said that proposed stctn would promote pedophilia and said he opposed teachg about the gay liberatn movement that began the 1960s bee ’s “not appropriate to discs sexualy. For eight hours today, California will have s first openly gay ernor. Rick Perry (R), who has equated homosexualy wh alholism, "I'm not addicted to anythg except ffee.
" The Uned Stat has yet to elect an openly gay ernor, acrdg to the Washgton Post. However, Atks will be the send openly gay person to serve as a ernor after New Jersey Gov. Newsom was San Francis’s youngt mayor a century when jt three months to his term he jumped to the gay marriage was creded wh advancg the civil rights of gays and lbians more than a before the U.
He’s touted his selectn of the hight-rankg openly transgenr appotee state office was so eager to make more history that announced had flown the gay pri flag for the “first time ever” at the Capol earlier this week. Newsom walked back the claim after some observers poted out that lawmakers had raised the flag over the Capol for a few hours nearly 30 years was another signal that Newsom, who beme a natnal figure 2004 when he issued marriage licens to same-sex upl as San Francis mayor, wants to make state ernment even more clive of gay people than his Democratic ernor has appoted many LGBT people to boards, missns and admistratn posns as part of a larger effort to hire people who reflect the mographics of the state. Zgale hasn’t personally been a victim of police btaly, but as a gay man he said he’s faiar wh feelg that your muny is beg targeted by law enforcement.
TAKG ON HISTORIC HOMOPHOBIA JTICE SYSTEM, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR NEWSOM LNCH PROCS FOR PARDONG PEOPLE PROSECUTED FOR BEG GAY
“Beg a member of the gay muny helped me see some of what was beg lled out on that issue of excsive force.
“That is somethg a whe gay man n’t do for me as a Lato man. Jerry Brown appoted the first openly gay UC regent. Brown also appoted the first openly gay judge to the California Court of Appeal, Jim Hum, who had served his also illumated the Capol dome rabow lights and draped the flag over a balny 1999, then-Gov.
GAY CALIFORNIA LAWMAKER JOS GRDR TO CAMPAIGN AGAST RELL
Zgale, who served Arnold Schwarzenegger’s admistratn, said he sometim disagreed wh the Republin ernor’s posns on LGBT issu, but has sce e to nsir him an ally who even offered to officiate Zgale’s and Newsom are “the two most mted ernors to LGBTQ equaly, ” said Rick Zbur, executive director of LGBT-advocy anizatn Equaly Zbur said Equaly California se an even greater opportuny to expand gay rights and reprentatn unr Newsom.
Zbur poted to his anizatn’s efforts to require schools to tra teachers to be supportive and sensive of gay and transgenr stunts as an example.
Gav Newsom nomated the first openly gay Black man to the state Supreme Court on Monday, potentially replacg one of the urt’s more nservative members wh a former feral civil rights attorney who prosecuted cross-burngs and police misnduct s unr Print Ronald Jenks, 66, would be the urt’s first gay member and the third Black person to serve on , acrdg to the ernor’s office. In a news nference announcg the nomatn, Jenks said his inty as a gay man has been “perhaps the greatt challenge my life. This legislatn will provi public health officials wh more rmatn on patients who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, which is sential to addrsg health equi and signg public health terventns that help California’s diverse muni.
WHAT 'S LIKE BEG AMERI'S FIRST OPENLY GAY ERNOR
This month – and every month – California stands wh the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (LGBTQ+) muny as they take pri who they are and whom they love. California still has an anti-gay marriage law on the books.
Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a subsequent legislative attempt to legalize gay marriage. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage natnally two years later.