FOX NEWS– A federal judge on Wednesday overturned a California ban on same-sex marriage, ruling that the Proposition 8 ballot initiative was unconstitutional, but a pending appeal of the landmark ruling could prevent gay weddings from resuming in the state any time soon.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Vaugh Walker, one of three openly gay federal judges in the country, gave opponents of the controversial Proposition 8 ballot a major victory.

Gay couples waving rainbow and American flags outside the courthouse cheered, hugged and kissed as word of the ruling spread. “Our courts are supposed to protect our Constitutional rights,” lead plaintiff Kris Perry said as Sandy Stier, her partner of 10 years, stood at her side. “Today, they did.”

Despite the favorable ruling for same-sex couples, gay marriage will not be allowed to resume. That’s because the judge said he wants to decide whether his order should be suspended while the proponents pursue their appeal in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge ordered both sides to submit written arguments by Aug. 6 on the issue. Supporters argued the ban was necessary to safeguard the traditional understanding of marriage and to encourage responsible childbearing.

California voters passed the ban as Proposition 8 in November 2008, five months after the state Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. “Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples,” the judge wrote in a 136-page ruling that laid out in precise detail why the ban does not pass constitutional muster.

The judge found that the gay marriage ban violates the Constitution’s due process and equal protection clauses. “Because Proposition 8 disadvantages gays and lesbians without any rational justification, Proposition 8 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the judge ruled.

Read full article about Overturning Prop 8. 

© COPYRIGHT FOX NEWS, 2010

Photo by flickr user Elsie esq.

Hundreds of protestors from more than 30 cities gathered on Sunday in solidarity to participate in “International Sakineh Mohammedie Ashtiani Day.” Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43 year old mother of two, was recently sentenced to death by stoning for adultery by an Iranian court.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted of having an ‘illicit relationship’ with two men in 2006. In addition to receiving 99 lashes for her charge, she was also sentenced to death by stoning.

Under Iranian sharia law, “the sentenced individual is buried up to the neck, and those attending the public execution are called upon to throw stones.”

Ashtiani’s controversial death sentence spurred outrage from human rights groups worldwide who have condemned the practice as inhumane and barbaric, causing the Iranian authorities to delay the execution until further notice.  Organizers from yesterday’s rallies said that they hoped to “intensify the international support [for Ashtiani’s case].”

Apart from China, Iran has the highest execution rate in the world. Last year they executed 388 people – mostly by hanging.

Written by Abby Martin, Reported by KPFA

BBC– Argentina has become the first country in Latin America to legalise gay marriage after the Senate voted in favour. The country’s Chamber of Deputies had already approved the legislation.

The vote in the Senate, which backed the bill by just six votes, came after 14 hours of at times heated debate.

The law, which also allows same-sex couples to adopt, had met with fierce opposition from the Catholic Church and other religious groups. The legislation, backed by President Cristina Fernandez’s centre-left government, passed by 33 votes to 27 with three abstentions.

There were demonstrations for and against the bill outside Congress as senators debated. Outside Congress, as the debate continued into the early hours of Thursday, supporters and opponents of the bill held rival demonstrations.

“Nearly every political and social figure has spoken out in favour of marriage equality,” said Maria Rachid, president of the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals. “And we hope that the Senate reflects this and that Argentina, from today forward, is a more just country for all families,” she told the Associated Press.

Ines Frank, from a group called Argentine Families Argentina, said opposition was not discrimination “because the essence of a family is between two people of opposite sexes.”

There have been several gay marriages recently in Argentina, some of which were annulled by the Supreme Court, creating a legal controversy. Civil unions between people of the same sex are legal in Buenos Aires and in some other provinces but there was no law to regulate it on a country-wide level.

Argentina’s capital is widely considered to be among the most gay-friendly cities in Latin America. It was the first Latin American city to legalise same-sex unions. Same-sex civil unions are also legal in Uruguay and some states in Brazil and Mexico, while gay marriage is legal in Mexico City.

© COPYRIGHT BBC, 2010

Photo by flickr user Mariano Pernicone

(Video of Oscar Grant killing below)

ABC– The jury has found former BART officer Johannes Mesherle guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Mehserle was accused of murdering an unarmed man, Oscar Grant, on a BART platform on New Year’s Day 2009.

The jury begain deliberations Thursday around 8:30 a.m. They broke for a one-hour lunch just after noon. Around 2:10 p.m. they informed the court they had reached a verdict. The deliberations with the most recent jury panel totaled only seven hours over two days.

Mehserle sat stone-faced, looked forward and did not cry. His father was sobbing in the front row behind him. Mehserle put his hands behind his back minutes after the verdict was read, placed in handcuffs and taken away into custody. The judge had denied a request from the defense not to take Mehserle into custody immediately after the reading of the verdict.

The jurors sat serious and quiet as the verdict was read. Grant’s family was sitting in the second row behind the media in the packed courtroom. Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, was visibly upset, shaking out of shear frustration.

“The system has let us down, but God will never, ever let us down. Though the system has failed us, though we fight continually, but one thing I know, the race is not given to the swift or to the strong, but to the one who endures until the end. As a family and as a nation of African-American people, we will continue to fight for our equal rights in this society,” said Grant’s mother Wanda Johnson. “My son was murdered. He was murdered. He was murdered. He was murdered.”

Grant family attorney John Burris called the verdict a small victory, but also called it a “compromise verdict” and said it was a step backwards because “true justice” was not served.

Read full article about the Oscar Grant Verdict.

The killing of Oscar Grant was caught on this video.

© ABC, 2010

Photo by Abby Martin