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."

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Image courtesy San Francisco Chronicle.

The California Supreme Court today just overturned California's ban on mariage equality. CMR will have more later, but this means California will be the second state in the nation to allow all couples the right to marry.

Parents and educators have voiced their strong opposition to all cuts to schools and students. And while the Governor’s revised budget proposal avoids suspending Proposition 98, the state’s minimum school funding law, it still cuts billions of dollars from public education. It makes cuts to the many vital programs that help student achievement, like class size reduction. It also fails to include a cost-of-living adjustment for schools, despite the steadily increasing operating costs for local districts. With this budget, schools and students are once again being asked to “do more with less.”
 
With more than 20,000 layoff notices already sent to teachers, custodians, school bus drivers, principals and other school employees around the state, California's schools and students have paid a steep price for proposed budget cuts. Many teachers have already been recruited to leave the state. In addition, many school districts have already been forced to cut music, arts and career technical education programs.

These facts remain: all cuts hurt students and California's schools are still woefully underfunded. Our schools rank dead last in the nation for the number of teachers per student, as well as in the number of librarians, counselors and critical support staff, while having some of the largest class sizes in the nation. Today's budget proposal keeps our schools and students at the bottom of those rankings, despite recent studies that show that California needs to spend 40 percent more to ensure that all students meet the state's rigorous standards.

Continuing to balance this budget with a cuts-only approach hurts children and schools. The final budget agreement must include increased revenues as part of any approach to balancing the budget. We look forward to working with the Legislature and the governor in passing a state budget that invests in the future of our students and our state.

I suppose it is somewhat fitting that the so-called Nixonian "southern strategy," devised by Harry Dent, appears to have survived its author by a mere six months." Dent refined Strom Thurmond's "Dixiecrat" agenda, the "States' Rights" campaign of Barry Goldwater and George Wallace's 1968 segregationist screed to perfect a cynical and unfortunately successful scheme to turn the south red -- frighten southern whites. Dent bragged that "the South will never go back." Dent may have overestimated the dominance of his Reich, but for nearly 40 years, he was, regrettably, correct. The once solid Democratic south fell almost completely within Republican domination and stayed that way until this year.
 
What Dent refined, Lee Atwater and Karl Rove perfected. All three made southern whites vote against their economic and personal interests by, well, scaring them -- making them feel that their way of life was threatened by African Americans, liberals, gays, "radical" feminists, heathens and foreigners.
 
First at the Presidential level and then trickling down to Senate, Congressional and local races -- the only time trickle down anything has actually worked -- the south slowly became a sea of impenetrable red. In many campaigns, the racism was barely, if at all, disguised. Anyone who saw Jesse Helms odious "Hands" ad against Harvey Gantt knows just how blatant the racism was. And, everyone recalls the menacing mug of Willie Horton. As recently as 2006, Republicans used the "southern strategy" to defeat Harold Ford, Jr.'s bid for a Senate seat.

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History was made on Tuesday May 13, 2008 under the dome of the California State Capitol when Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) was sworn in as the first African-American female Speaker of the California Assembly. She is the first African-American female to hold such a high legislative post anywhere in the United States. In her speech after the swearing in ceremony Speaker Bass said she’s ready to begin tackling the many challenges facing the state.

You probably heard already that Karen Bass made history yesterday when she was sworn in as the first African-American woman speaker in California history, as the Los Angeles Times reports. She is to be commended and congratulated, but not envied: the months ahead for the Assembly will not be easy.

How quickly Arnold has changed his tune. Administration officials told the Sacramento Bee that the Governor will release a budget that borrows from state lottery income, but does not short-change our schools or close down 48 state parks. Speaker Bass has already called the plan "risky," so we'll see how far it goes.

Before you can say "no-tax pledge," the LA Times reports that Arnold has an alternative to the lottery proposal: a sales-tax increase. The Governor deserves credit for his willingness to bend with the times, although it is difficult to be so optimistic about the GOP caucus.

Sad thing is, the Governor had a lot of policy ideas that weren't half-bad and might have allowed for a median point with Democrats, but the state's budget woes have prevented these plans from coming to a fruition, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Instead, the year of health care yielded proposed Medi-Cal cuts and the year of education led to the potential for deep cuts.

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News flash ... Hell has frozen over. Tuesday night, Mississippians elected a Democrat to fill the remainder of Republican Roger Wicker's term. Really ... No joke ... We picked up a House seat deep in the heart of Dixie, in a R +10 district..
 
Democrat Travis Childers defeated Greg Davis 52% -48-%, with 89% reporting.
 
This is the third Republican seat that Democrats have picked up in the past two months. In March, we took Speaker Hastert's former seat. And, last week, we won Louisiana's 6th District.
 
Republican threw their entire arsenal at Childers, spending more than $1.3 million dollars, not including what their 527 allies pumped in, to air a constant stream of ads tying Childers to Obama and Reverend Wright. The result? Mississippi now has three Democratic House members in a delegation of four.
 
There was a lot of GOP hand ringing after the Louisiana loss. I suspect that there will be a very very tense Republican Conference this week and there may well be coups attempts against leadership. Republican House members must be quaking in their boots. If Republicans cannot win in a R+10 seat in Dixie, where are they safe?

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Today, Speaker Karen Bass was sworn in as California's 67th Assembly Speaker. Here are her remarks:

“To the former Speakers who joined me today as my escorts -- you honor us with your presence the way your service honored this house and this state. Thank you for taking the time to be here today. Since I have been in the legislature I have sought each of you for your guidance, critique and solidarity. And I thank you for that -- and assume you’ll be available for many more phone calls.
 
Members….honored guests…dear friends and family….since my election on February 28th to be the 67th Speaker of the Assembly, I have had the opportunity and experience to be part of an incredible transition –  part of a complex and comprehensive process of receiving the torch from the 66th Speaker of the Assembly, Fabian Núñez.
 
I know the job ahead of me as Speaker will be both easier and harder because of the example set by Speaker Núñez.
 
Easier because of the outstanding processes he has put in place for this house. Harder because of the high threshold he has set for results.
 
Mr. Speaker, thank you so much for your leadership, your friendship, and, especially, for the enormous generosity of spirit you have shown me during this seamless transition.
 
Members, as Mr. Speaker mentioned, I do feel the weight of history on my shoulders today -- as the first African American woman in U.S. history elected to head a state legislative body. ..."

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After learning that the November ballot will more than likely include a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, I was inspired to offer some personal, rather than just purely political, commentary on the issue. Of course I'm a proponent of gay marriage and vehemently oppose this possible ballot initiative, but simply saying "I support this" and "I oppose that" is not good enough. I'm a 22 year old, politically-inclined, gay Democrat working in the California Legislature. Shouldn't I have something fresh, personal, and touching to say about this issue? Well, here is my attempt:
 
I think I am part of a new era for LGBT folks. I have tons of gay and lesbian friends that experienced their teenage years in the 1970's, 80's, and 90's, and I think their experiences were significantly different than mine. The new millennium marked the beginning of high school for me as well as the beginning of my "coming out" process. However, it more importantly marked the beginning of an era where young gays and lesbians could grow up in an environment where their sexuality was not only accepted, but failed to be the sole factor by which other's judged them.

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