CALIFORNIA: Bill To Expand Rights For Homeless Clears Assembly Committee

Yesterday a bill that would expand the rights of homeless people passed 7-2 in the California Assembly Judiciary Committee.  Sponsored by openly gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, the bill could supersede San Francisco's famed/infamous ordinance which bans lying or sitting on public sidewalks.

Under the measure, a person's housing status would be added to the list of categories included in the state's antidiscrimination law, which applies to government entities and entities that receive money from the government. The other categories include race, national origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, color, genetic information or disability.

Additionally, the proposed bill lists 15 specific rights for people who are homeless, according to an analysis of the measure. Those include the right "to move freely, rest, solicit donations, pray, meditate, or practice religion, and to eat, share, accept, or give food and water in public spaces without being subject to criminal or civil sanctions, harassment or arrest." This would extend to parks for the entire 24-hour day, regardless of whether the park has hours that it is closed.

Ammiano's bill is a "scaled-down" version of one he proposed earlier and contains exemptions for cities that meet certain criteria.

RELATED: In 1975 Ammiano became California's first out public school teacher. Two years later he, Harvey Milk, and Hank Wilson co-founded the ultimately successful campaign against the proposed Briggs Initiative, which would have banned gay people from being teachers. In 1999 he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of San Francisco. (I voted for him.)

Wednesday On The DNC Arena Floor

NOTE 1: West Virginia LGBT delegate Jerry Brookover is a daily JMG reader.

NOTE 2: Tom Ammiano was the first out public school teacher in California when the infamous Briggs Initiative sought to ban all homosexuals from being teachers. Ammiano founded No On Six (Briggs) with Harvey Milk and the initiative was defeated in 1978. After several terms on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Ammianno ran unsuccessfully for San Francisco mayor in 1999 (I voted for him!) and he's been a state Assembly member since 2008.

Anti-Bullying Law Passes CA Senate

California's state Senate has approved a comprehensive anti-bullying law requiring schools to investigate the harassment of students. The bill passed in the state Assembly three months ago and Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign it. "Seth's Law" is named for Seth Walsh, the 13 year-old California boy who hung himself in his backyard after being bullied for being gay.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic," said Wendy Walsh, Seth's mother. "I am truly honored. Seth would be very honored. I really hope the governor signs it." State Sen. Michael Rubio, D-Shafter, voted yes while state Sen. Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, voted no. Fuller said Friday she believes schools are burdened already with too many "one-size-fits-all" state laws, and local districts should be making the calls. "That's why we have school boards and superintendents," said Fuller, former Bakersfield City School District superintendent. A year ago this month, Seth Walsh hanged himself in his backyard. He left a suicide note expressing anger at his school "for bringing you this sorrow." And just more than two months ago, federal officials announced Tehachapi Unified School District failed to investigate or respond appropriately to the bullying of Seth.

Expect the "Repeal Seth's Law" campaign.

Spitting On The Graves Of AIDS Victims

Revisionists charged with "protecting the legacy" of dead dead dead Jesse Helms are trying to recast the vile homophobe as a champion of people with AIDS. Unsurprisingly, activists are furious.

Efforts to lift the [HIV travel] ban were blocked by a 1993 Congressional amendment introduced by Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina. Those who fought the law say Mr. Helms, who died in 2008, perpetuated decades of discrimination. But just as the ban has disappeared, the curators of Mr. Helms’s legacy are trying to touch up the relevant history. Some want him seen as a savior to those with AIDS and a defender of gay rights. Despite Mr. Helms’s storied opposition to “a homosexual lifestyle,” the Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, N.C., is challenging the idea that he was a “homophobe” or obstructive in the AIDS fight.

According to the center’s Web site, “It was Senator Helms who worked most tirelessly to protect the very principles of freedom that homosexuals are denied in many other nations.” John Dodd, president of the Jesse Helms Center Foundation, recently disputed an editorial in the British newspaper The Guardian that vilified Mr. Helms for his role in the ban. Mr. Dodd argued that “two million Africans were alive” because of the senator’s work fighting H.I.V. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, whose partner Tim Curbo died from AIDS, said the Helms Center sought to sanitize the record. “It’s spitting on the graves of all the people who suffered,” Mr. Ammiano said, adding, “He was truly evil and very cavalier about it. He should be in the hall of shame.”

This "champion" is the guy who said about gays: "It's their deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct that is responsible for the disease." A real fucking hero.

(Tipped by JMG reader Robert)

CA State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano To Governator: Kiss My Gay Ass!

GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger received a hostile reception on Wednesday when he dropped to at a San Francisco Democratic Party fundraiser, where openly gay state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano yelled for the governator to "kiss his gay ass."

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is lambasting what he calls "highly inappropriate" behavior by San Francisco Democrats Wednesday who greeted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with a hostile reception during a surprise drop-in at a San Francisco Democratic Party fund-raiser. But outspoken State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, who shouted "You lie!" to Schwarzenneger during the event at the Fairmont Hotel -- and didn't deny reports he walked out with a quip of "kiss my gay ass" -- said the GOP governor's "cheap publicity stunt" earned a very appropriate show of political theater, San Francisco-style.

Later Ammianno said, "This isn't a chamber where someone suffers through. This is our house -- and it's like someone came in and took a big dump. He showed up; it was rude, he got up there and it felt to us that he was trivializing all the issues we care about. You have a few options, and along with the labor people, we walked out."

Watch the video of the melee here.

CNN On Ammiano's Pot Bill

Openly gay California legislator Tom Ammiano's bid to legalize and tax marijuana could come to the ballot in 2010. Right now 56% of voters in California favor legalization.

Pot Could Bring $1.4B To CA Economy

Back in February, openly gay California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano proposed legalizing the sale of marijuana, a move tax experts predicted would bring in an annual $1B in desperately needed tax revenues. The tax experts were wrong.

California tax officials have found that a state bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol would generate nearly $1.4 billion in revenue. A State Board of Equalization report released Wednesday estimates marijuana retail sales would bring $990 million from a $50-per-ounce fee and $392 million in sales taxes. The bill introduced by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano in February would allow adults to legally possess, grow and sell marijuana. Ammiano has promoted the bill as a way to help bridge the state's $26.3 billion budget shortfall.

Ammiano is rewriting his bill to remove the stipulation that the federal government must legalize pot before taxes can be collected. BTW, is $50/ounce a good price? Would that undercut the street dealers? I've never bought it, never enjoyed it, hate the smell, but totally support legalization.

CA Legislature Sees Bill Legalizing Recreational Marijuana Use

Openly gay California state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-SF) has introduced a bill which would make California the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

The proposal would regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21 years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess cannabis - all of which is barred by federal law. Ammiano, a Democrat in his third month as a state lawmaker, said taxes and other fees associated with regulation could put more than a billion dollars a year into state coffers at a time when revenues continue to decline. He said he thinks the federal government could soften its stance on marijuana under the Obama administration.

"We could in fact have the political will to do something, and certainly in the meantime this is a public policy call and I think it's worth the discussion," Ammiano said. "I think the outcome would be very healthy for California and California's economy." A spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Agency in Washington, D.C., declined to comment on the proposal. A White House spokesman referred to a statement on a question-and-answer section of an Obama transition team blog that says the president "is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana." While Californians have shown some tolerance for marijuana, such as use for medical conditions with voters' passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, the proposal will face tough opposition in Sacramento. A lobbyist for key police associations in the state called it "a bad idea whose time has not come."

A study by the state tax collector's office says that California could raise $1.3B a year in taxes from marijuana sales. The same study estimates that legalization would drop the street price by 50% and raise consumption by 40%.

San Francisco Begins Issuing ID Cards To All, Regardless Of Immigration Status

To howls of protest across the wingnut blogosphere and talk radio, today the city of San Francisco began issuing photo ID cards to all residents who can provide proof of living in the city, regardless of their legal immigration status.

The cards, also available in New Haven, Conn., and being considered in other cities, have sparked fury among advocates of stricter immigration laws. They argue cities have no business declaring people residents if they are not in the country legally. But San Francisco officials and recipients of the cards hailed the new program as a way to connect undocumented immigrants with banks, businesses and city services, such as obtaining health care and checking out library books. They also said it will encourage card holders to report crimes to the police without fear of being arrested or deported.

"I really need the identification card," said Marvin Martinez, 50, who arrived in the city five months ago from Florida and is originally from Mexico. Martinez, who didn't say whether he was a legal resident, stood in a long line - one made up mostly of Latino men - that snaked down the marble hallway outside the county clerk's office. "I'll use it to look for jobs and for school and when the police stop me, I'll have ID to show them," he said. "It'll improve things."

The ID program was created by openly gay state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano during his previous tenure as an SF city supervisor. Expect this issue to rival gay marriage as a screaming point for opponents to SF Mayor Gavin Newsom's coming bid for governor.