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Top Stories Today - 11.14.2008

Friday, November 14, 2008 - 9:55am by Justin Cole, GLAAD's Director of Digital Media

National News:

Calif. county clerks are asking for legal advice to resolve confusion about when Prop. 8 takes effect. Calif. Attorney General Jerry Brown said the state wouldn't recognize new marriages after Nov. 4, but some clerks continued to issue marriage licenses.

As protests continue and more and more people speak out against Prop. 8, some LGBT advocates feel the amendment's passage has only further mobilized the community and its allies to fight for legal protections and speak against intolerance.

A constitutional analysis of Prop. 8: "What's troubling for US citizens in the California case is the idea that an equality guarantee could not be effectively enforced against the will of a majority. The point of such a guarantee is precisely to protect minorities from discrimination at the hands of a majority."

Joel Stein writes that in lieu of protesting Prop. 8's passage, gay people should participate in his proposed "No Gays for a Day" day on Dec. 5 by staying home from work and school and not shopping, thereby proving "how crucial they are to American society."

In an exclusive interview with Barbara Walters on 20/20, Thomas Beatie discusses family life after giving birth as a transgender man, and reveals that he is pregnant with a second child.

Regional News:

In an 82-18 vote, the Michigan House approved expanded hate crimes legislation that would protect victims of crimes motivated by sexual orientation and disability. The bill now faces a Senate vote.

The Calif. Supreme Court has asked state Attorney General Jerry Brown to reply by Monday to lawsuits challenging the passage of Prop. 8, "a sign that the justices are taking the cases seriously and will not dispose of them quickly."

City and town clerks in Connecticut conducted a partial tally and found that 66 marriage licenses have been issued to gay couples in the states since Wednesday.

Maine religious leaders held marriage-equality news conferences on Thurs.: "We feel a moral obligation at this pivotal time to raise our voices on behalf of Mainers who are denied that most basic human right - the right to marry and form a family with the person of their choice."

Sheriff's deputies in Saugus, Calif., are investigating an apparent hate crime at a local high school where a student's locker was defaced with drawings of a swastika and an anti-gay slur.

The Commercial Appeal discusses the murder of Duanna Johnson, a transgender woman who had been planning to file a lawsuit against the Memphis police: "Let's hope they find out who's responsible and quickly bring them to justice."

The outcry against Prop. 8 has expanded beyond protests and rallies to include boycotts against businesses and individuals who contributed to the campaign supporting the anti-gay initiative.

A Chronicle analysis of voting results obtained from the Department of Elections found that one in four S.F. voters supported Prop. 8, and that "race, age and education influenced voters more than anything else" -- although religion was not factored into the analysis.

International News:

A Queensland, Australia, mother and son have been ordered to pay $23,100 in damages to a gay couple they harassed during a neighborhood dispute that was sparked by barking dogs.

From the Blogs:

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GLAAD and thousands of New Yorkers gather to mourn victim of anti-gay hate violence

More than 1,500 New Yorkers gathered today in Manhattan to mourn the death of a 32 year-old gay man, who was shot down on Friday just blocks away from the historic Stonewall Inn in an apparent act of anti-gay bias.

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