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  Opponents of the controversial Prop 8. Image courtesy the LA Times. A federal appeals court Tuesday struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage, clearing the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on gay marriage as early as next year, according to the Los Angeles Times. Opponents are expected to continue appeals to that highest level.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the California measure restricting marriage to between a man and a woman violated the U.S. Constitution’s right to equal protection. The 2-1 decision is in line with the earlier ruling of retired Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who declared it unconstitutional in 2010.
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  Yesterday’s vote in the Washington state Senate was the first big push to get the same-sex marriage ball rolling in the state. Now the Washington state House has to pass the bill, and the governor has to sign it. The bill is expected to pass as early as next week, according to the Seattle Times.
The state Senate was seen as the biggest hurdle the bill’s passage. The House apparently has more than enough votes in its favor, according to the bill’s supporters, and Gov. Chris Gregoire strongly supports it.
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  Task Force Deputy Executive Director of External Relations Russell Roybal presents Ernesto Dominguez with the Youth Leadership Award. Local youth, HIV/AIDS and immigration activist Ernesto Dominguez isn’t new to winning awards. A year and a half ago Dominguez received the HRC’s student activist award and he just recently accepted the the Paul A. Anderson Youth Leadership Award for his work with ChatPDX, a collaboration between organizations and individuals working to curb HIV and AIDS transmission among young people through peer education and outreach, HIV testing, youth services and social media, and with Advocates for Youth, which also aims to help teens make informed decisions around sex.
You can see video of Dominguez’s acceptance speech, given at the Creating Change conference in Baltimore, MD, Tuesday January 31st, put on by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. In it he powerfully equates LGBT and immigration rights saying, “LGBT rights are immigrant rights, and immigrant rights are LGBT rights,” and basically gives us all hope for the future of our young people. (I can say that now that I am a solidly adult 30 year old right?)
The video, as well as a transcript of his acceptance speech, are below.
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  Big business has been getting some press for their support of Washington’s newly introduced gay marriage bills, which are now expected to pass both the Senate and the House. Last Thursday six prominent companies, including Microsoft and Nike signed a letter of support for SB 6239 and HB 2516. Today Starbucks joined the growing list of corporations in support of Washington state marriage equality saying,
Starbucks is proud to join other leading Northwest employers in support of Washington State legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples…
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 USPS March January 3, 2012
Is this Goodbye?
Congressman Issa, R-CA (one of the richest men in Congress) has proposed to end Saturday delivery of mail. As a result to Issa’s proposal, there will be jobs lost and hours cut for the postal employees. There has been public outrage from many different states. Rep. Green, D-TX announced that he found a particular pattern of targeting the low-income neighborhoods for closures.
Every single facility mentioned is located in a lower income and predominately minority neighborhood. Nearly 30% of the all the postal facilities listed for consolidation are located in five states, with Texas leading the way at 222 potential closures. Almost without exception, this pattern holds for our nation’s other great cities as well.
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  Rick Santorum With a frighteningly high place finish in the Iowa caucus last week, all of the sudden Rick Santorum is warranting actual, serious attention. Up until Iowa, Santorum was one of the only Republican candidates who had not had his 15 minutes of not-Romney front-running fame. Indeed, Santorum has been such a joke throughout the race that, until Iowa, Santorum’s own website came up second on google to a website hilariously (and anally) defining his last name.
Santorum’s outlandish Iowa-fueled surge came to a 9.4% trickle in New Hampshire, where he took fifth place, with only the other anti-gay Rick behind him. Although in New Hampshire he seemed to be back where he should be in the contest, South Carolina’s primary is next up, where he has spent $1.5 million in ads and is hoping for a high finish in the socially conservative state. In deep-seated fear that Santorum may continue to be a Romney challenger throughout the rest of the primary season, I thought it wise to share with the qPDX readers exactly what Santorum thinks of you, your love, and your queer-ass sex (or queer ass sex. Or both, really.)
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 qPDX likes to keep the focus local but we are also queers in this big bad world with national and international news that affects us all. These are my picks for the most important ones of 2011. […]
  Gov. Chris Gregorie-D-WA Speaks up for Gay Marriage Could Washington State be the 7th state to legalize gay marriage? With the help of Gov. Chris Gregoire, it is entirely possible! She announced Wednesday that she will put forth legislation to legalize marriage between lesbian and gay couples. The proposal will be introduced on Monday, January 9th during the legislative session.
In the past, Gregoire has supported same-sex partners having the same rights as married couples, however, has never advocated it publicly. While running for Governor in 2004, she announced that she did not think that Washington was “ready to support gay marriage.”
When she ran for a second term in 2008, she spoke in an interview, stating, “To me, the state’s responsibility is to absolutely ensure equality. The other is a religious issue, and I leave it to the churches to make that call about marriage.” But, this week Gregoire spoke for 20 minutes about her reasons to move forward, now.
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 Occupy Portland 2011 I have been active in the Occupy Movement since its beginning in October. Occupy PDX is just one of many occupations around the world. I proudly stand up for my rights and the rights of others as part of the 99%. In the past, I have covered the “story” from a neutral prospective; only covering the facts and keeping my opinion at bay. I believe in this movement and the voices behind it. I had the awesome opportunity to sit down and document some diverse prospective.
Kelly Koblacki, 28 , has Occupied Portland, OR, NY, New York and Olympia, WA. “I became involved with the movement because I believe in positive progressive social change. Growing up low income, Queer, Jewish, and from a single parent household, I have experienced and acknowledge many different forms of repression. It is essential for our society to move towards a more socially & environmentally sustainable way of life. I am here to raise awareness and open the eyes of the 99%. All of the things that the 99% do in addition to the 1% are detrimental to our well-being.”
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 This week Lyska and Alley invite a guest to the studio, Shannon Wiberg, aka DJ Action Slacks. We laugh a lot. […]
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