Orange County News Blog

Jennie Warren / OC Weekly

​A few ideas I couldn't quite fit into this week's cover story on gay-rights activism in Orange County:

- LGBT-rights doesn't necessarily mean LGBT: Most of the LGBT activists working in Orange County told me that one of the most remarkable thing about the network that has developed because of Prop. 8 is that it includes a ton of "straight allies." Alex Gorman--the guy in the story wearing the nun costume--is one. So is Felicity Figueroa, the Orange County Equality Coalition's membership chair, as are a number of other board members. Groups that don't have marriage equality as their stated mission, like Americans United for Separation of Church and State, have also played a big role in activism here.

- OCEC is full of newbies. There's an old guard in Orange County gay activism. People like Jeff Letourneau, Harvey Liss, Misha Houser, Zoe Nicholson and even Weekly contributor Dave Barton--as well as groups groups like the Elections Committee of the County of Orange and institutions like The Center OC--paved the way in the 1980s and 1990s with their work on AIDS awareness, gay visibility and the opposition of maniacs like Bill Dannemeyer. They all remain involved in some way, but one of the noteworthy things about gay activism since Prop. 8 has been the emergence of completely new leaders--most of whom show up in this week's cover story.

- You can see it all in action this weekend. Read on...

From his laughable campaign...

​Did you nearly spit our your morning orange juice in amazement like me upon reading that the Weather Underground tried to bomb the Fullerton offices of legendarily homophobic state senator John Briggs? Probably not, since I'm a nerd and you're cool. But that brief mention in this week's cover got me scrolling through the ol' Los Angeles Times microfilm at UC Irvine to learn a bit more.

Here's the skinny: on November 20, 1977, the feds arrested five Weathermen in Houston and Los Angeles just hours before they were to plant explosives in Briggs' office. It was to be the grand debut of a campaign of assassinations against politicians. The terrorist organization targeted Briggs specifically because of his anti-gay views; he was already in the process of campaign for the ultimately disastrous Proposition 6, which sought to ban homosexuals from teaching in California schools. Two FBI agents spent seven months infiltrating the Southern California faction of the Weathermen to foil the plot, ultimately arresting their former pretend pals--but not before shaving their beards and cutting their hair.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that there were many more same-sex couples saying they were married last year than actual weddings and civil unions, another confusing indicator society can blame on the lack of marriage equality.

The Associated Press examined the data and then sought explanations:

Analysts said the disparities are probably a reflection of same-sex couples in committed relationships who would get married if they could in their states. The numbers are also an indicator of the count to come in the 2010 census, a tally that could stir a state-by-state fight over same-sex marriage, gay adoption and other legal rights.

A breakdown of the numbers follows the jump . . . 

Photo by Christopher Victorio

Sal Landers, performing at the Aug. 15 OC Pride festival in Irvine, is on the bill for Equality California's Aug. 27 show.

​
Marines, Teamsters and wildcats have helped pull this country out of some sticky situations, but when it comes to an issue that's divided California, the time has come to call in the drag queens.

Equality California (EQCA), which aims to legalize same-sex marriage in the Golden State, has teamed up with local drag queen Lady V for weekly drag and variety fund-raising shows at Durty Nelly's in Costa Mesa every Thursday beginning Aug. 27. The shows begin at 8 p.m. and are all-ages until 10 p.m.

Half of the proceeds from the shows benefits EQCA's Win Marriage Back: Make it Real campaign, and the other half goes to different community partners. Show one at the pub on Red Hill Avenue near Bristol Street benefits ECCO, otherwise known as the Elections Committee of the County of Orange. Future shows will help The Shanti Orange County, Orange County Equality Coalition and AIDS Services Foundation. Tickets are only $10 at the door for each show.

Performing alongside Lady V will be such drag artists as Nicole Javier, KC Cacia (Buster Hymen), Travis Kendall, Archer Altstaetter (Aerial Lotta) and Elizabeth Aversa as Oliver Klozhoff.

Sal Landers will perform her music, Sarah Ferrer will read her poems and Cate Gary will bust your gut with her comedy.

In case you need an address to punch into your GPS, Durty Nelly's is at 2915 Red Hill Ave., Costa Mesa.

Photo by Pete Souza

The Chosen One

​U.S. District Judge David O. Carter is working his magic in his Santa Ana courtroom in two cases involving President Barack Obama.

One pits The Chosen One against his gay supporters, the other against his nuttiest foes.

Carter on Monday dismissed the first of several pending challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act on a technicality, ruling that the same-sex marriage lawsuit must be refiled in federal court. The suit brought by Mission Viejo couple Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, argues that the DOMA violates the U.S. Constitution by discriminating against gay men and lesbians.

Carter essentially said it would be pointless to weigh the suit's merits because it had been improperly filed in state court before landing in his jurisdiction.

Photo by Christopher Victorio

Park rangers talk with OC Pride participants about the noise at Mason Regional Park in Irvine on Saturday.

​The crowd was small but boisterous, there was a minor issue with the noise and some participants did not know at first that the showy police presence was for their benefit, but otherwise the resurrected, family friendly OC Pride Festival at Mason Regional Park in Irvine Saturday was "a smashing success," according to organizers of the LGBT event.

(See photographer Christopher Victorio's slideshow.)

Nearly 500 people attended and feedback "was really strong," according to James S. Nowick, a member of the Orange County Equality Coalition and a UC Irvine professor who also organized a Proposition 8 forum on campus last spring with UCI Law School dean Erwin Chemerinsky.

Equality California's decision to hold off on pursuing a same-sex marriage voter initiative at least until 2012 is not being cheered by groups on either side of the Prop. 8 debate.

Reports the San Francisco Chronicle:

But the organization's decision appears to collide with other progressive groups fighting for marriage equality. The 700,000-member Courage Campaign said Tuesday it is "pushing ahead to file a ballot measure" in 2010, when state voters will decide their next governor, and its officials said today they have raised $135,998 to invest in research, polling and focus groups in an effort toward repealing the ban next year.

"It's time to keep this marriage equality movement going," urged Courage Campaign chair Rick Jacobs in a fundraising e-mail.

Chaz Lowe, the founder of Yes! On Equality--which says it was the first LGBT organization to file plans to go back to the ballot in 2010 after passage of Prop. 8--said this week that his group is also prepared and ready for the new fight.

"Any way we slice it, we find the (gay) community wants to move forward in 2010," he said in a telephone interview with The Chronicle. One key reason, he said, is that reaching voters through advertising and media may be considerably cheaper than during 2012, a presidential election year.

But Lowe added that there seems to be enough passion and momentum now for an effort to repeal Prop. 8, and in the gay community, he said, "it's not a matter of if, but a matter of when."

Meanwhile, pro-Prop. 8 ProtectMarriage.com's executive director Ron Prentice issued the following statement . . .

​Two weeks ago, Clockwork linked you to a report by The Liberal OC's Chris Prevatt about a disastrous same-sex marriage confab summit he attended where folks were split between what can loosely be labeled "the gay masses" calling for a new initiative to counter California's Proposition 8 on the next ballot and the "the political operatives" who--looking at polls, voter fatigue and most especially potential funding--suggested waiting until 2012 to have a better chance at victory.

Well, the politicos have apparently won.

A guest from Equality California is telling Larry Mantle of KPCC-FM right now--and reports are beginning to be posted online--that 2012 will be the soonest a pro-gay marriage initiative will be on the state ballot.

In fact, the officials say the 2012 campaign has already begun; advocates began knocking on doors this past weekend.

Sasha Baron Cohen's comedy has nothing to do with OC pride festivals. We just can't find photos from past fests.

​Orange County's first-ever gay and lesbian pride festival was held in Santa Ana's Centennial Park in 1988, when angry Christian conservatives showed up not because they'd finally come out of the closet (knew it!) but to fling urine-filled balloons, taunt attendees with chants of "Go back to your closet," and cheer on an airplane they'd hired to fly over the event with a banner reading, "Sodomites out of Santa Ana! No AIDS in OC!"

It's gone downhill ever since.

That is to say, OC pride fests eventually became less controversial, more mainstream and waaaaaay more taken for granted. (Wish we could say the same about angry Christian conservatives.) By 2002, and event that had once drawn 9,000 revelers was quietly canceled due to waning interest. Locals have had to be content with pride weekends in Long Beach, Palm Springs and West Hollywood ever since.

James S. Nowick aims to change that.

A member of the Orange County Equality Coalition and a UC Irvine professor who organized a Proposition 8 forum on campus last spring with UCI Law School dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Norwick is also helping organize the Orange County Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Festival "revival" on Saturday, Aug. 15, in William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine.

"OC's LGBT Pride festival started 20 years ago in a public park, but was driven to the refuge of the UCI campus in subsequent years because of a confrontation between participants and protesters," Norwick explained. "Eventually, the cost of renting the UCI campus made it prohibitive to continue. Catalyzed by Proposition 8, the pride festival has been revived in a family friendly form as a public picnic."

If that sounds modest in comparison to the past, that's by design.

​Chris Prevatt of TheLiberalOC blogged and tweeted from a LGBT Leadership Summit in San Bernardino aimed at repealing Prop 8 and restoring marriage equality for all Californians. The gathering revealed a schism within the movement between activists who want to get a Prop 8 counter measure on the 2010 ballot and a leadership that, staring down the political realities, sees 2012 as a more likely year such a measure would pass.

The meeting itself was a disaster. The agenda was not distributed in advance and the 2010 activists in particular wanted the agenda to include a decision regarding whether the repeal of Prop 8 should be sought in 2010 or 2012. They were not at all interested in hearing about the results of the "Get Engaged" tours or the opinions of experts. They simply wanted an up or down vote, since they focused considerable effort on turning out supporters of 2010 to the summit.

Sorry for the late notice, but you can hear Army Lt. Dan Choi, who's recently made headlines for challenging the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy," today at 4:20 p.m. on KPFK-FM 90.7, online at www.kpfk.org. It's a pre-recorded segment, and one where you immediately get the warmth of the man and the idiocy of the miltary policy (although Choi says the armed forces' top brass don't give a damn). Also tune in to hear Choi trash my alma mater, Anaheim High School, versus his beloved Tillers and talk about O.C.'s unique contribution to civil rights history!

Dave Barton

Thousands rallied on 5/30 in Fresno for Meet in the Middle 4 Marriage Equality event, which included a 14-mile march. Protest organizers chose the city of Fresno--instead of marching to the capitol or in so-called "gay ghettos"--because they city had voted 65%-70% for the passing of Prop 8.

Weekly contributor Dave Barton was on hand, and sends us this travelogue:

When I step out of the air-conditioned comfort of our rented Mercury Grand Marquis and walk into the dry heat, Martin Sheen's opening voice-over in Apocalypse Now immediately comes to mind.

Fresno.

Shit.

It's 11:45 in the afternoon and I've just arrived with my partner of 15 years, Peter, and our friends, Frank, Russ and David. We've just driven 3 ½ hours from Orange County to participate in the Meet in the Middle 4 Equality demonstration protesting Prop 8. Scott and Erika send us a text that they've just finished eating in town and are heading our way. Alexander and Chris are already at the end point of the rally, along with Heather and her husband, Eric, their weeks-old new baby, as well as their other two kids.

****

We're standing at Van Ness and Railroad Avenues, a large metal archway high overhead stating "Fresno. The Best Little City in the U.S.A." At noon, we're to accompany a group of marchers, led by Fresno-based gay and lesbian couples who were able to become legally married in the window between the two California Supreme Court decisions. They'll lead the charge into the rally at Fresno City Hall--another 2 ½ miles from where we're standing--with us following and cheering them on.

It's after twelve and they're not there yet.

Looking at the small numbers assembled around me, I say out loud, "There's less here now then there was at the shitty OC rally at the Santa Ana courthouse on Tuesday."

I'm beginning to think we may have wasted our time.

Got to the big rally late yesterday, but did my bit of karmic good and promoted the event on my KPFK-FM 90.7 show. Moxley pretty much nailed it, so all I can add is the identity of the few bigots that tried to disrupt the 500 or so folks who peacefully, happily denounced the California State Supreme Court's gay marriage decision. They are the Official Street Preachers, and they are loco.

Or maybe repressed is the word. It's run by one Ruben Israel, and his bio has a lurid testimonial in which he claims a protester "ejaculate[d] on my leg, not once but twice as they mocked God." Most of his crew seems to be men. And the praise music featured all over his website is...ah, see for yourself:

Photo by Christopher Victorio

Rich Cook leads Men Alive at gay marriage rally

Happier times: Alfonso and Manuel on the eve of their wedding last year.

Today's state Supreme Court ruling on Prop. 8, which upholds a ban on same-sex marriage, was bittersweet (but mostly bitter) news for Alfonso Guerrero and Manuel "Bibys" Chavez, the loving duo we profiled last year, and the first Latino couple to legally marry in the county on the morning of June 17, 2008.

They and 18,000 other couples will get to stay married (a move the couple sees as progress for the overall cause, despite the upsetting ruling), but thousands of others have now been stripped of their right to realize legal marriages with the court's decision.

"It truly frustrates me to hear those who attack us constantly talking about God, and what the bible does or doesn't allow," says Guerrero, who is the director of Latino LGBT programs at The Center in Garden Grove. "We are not asking anything from God. We are asking for our legal rights here on the earth. He'll decide up there what we do or don't get."

Last year the couple cried, exchanged vows and rings, and sealed their nuptials with a kiss in the snug, flower-filled chapel at the Old County Courthouse in Santa Ana. Like thousands of other couples across the state, they were euphoric and a sight to see: glowing and merry, they celebrated a real, legal marriage -- something that had seemed like a distant fantasy during most of their 27-year relationship.

When I caught up with the pair last year, on the eve of their wedding ceremony, they were eager but also guarded. In all their years together they'd learned to be hopeful but also to not get too comfortable when it came to matters of same-sex relationships and equality in the state. They'd ridden the decade-old roller coaster of California's shifting yes-no policy on gay marriage and had resolved to keep fighting and hoping for the same rights as their heterosexual friends, but to also continue with their lives as a committed couple regardless of what the law said. Still, when the court finally ruled that they could legally marry, they felt like their dutiful and unwavering commitment to one another would finally receive the legal merit it deserved.

They had anticipated their marriage would be overturned today, and although they were relieved to find out it would remain legal, the message the court sent is mixed, says Guerrero. "Although we get to stay married, we're not reveling in the decision," Guerrero says. "We see it as discrimination against those people who were not yet able to marry to not now give them that right...We're not going to sit here with our arms crossed because we already got what we wanted. We will continue to fight so that all of us receive the same, equal treatment under the law."

The California Supreme Court has announced its ruling on the challenge to the state's gay marriage ban: The voter-approved ban shall remain in place, but the 18,000 gay couples who were married before it took effect will not have their marriages invalidated.

The decision was made by a 6-1 majority of the justices.

More coverage to come. There's a protest planned for tonight in Santa Ana at the Old Orange County Courthouse (Sycamore and Civic Center), 6 p.m.

Thanks to Paul Cook-Giles for pointing out that I missed the real OC-connected news with regards to the upcoming California Supreme Court decision on a challenge to Proposition 8. While Gloria Allred's press conference is cool and all, you might be better served by going to OC Equality Coalition's "Day of Decision" event at the Old Orange Courthouse in Santa Ana at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

Cook-Giles writes:

Depending on what the court decides, we will either PROTEST or CELEBRATE.

We will PROTEST if:

-- The court upholds Prop 8, and invalidates the 18,000 same-sex marriage licenses that California already issued;

or,

-- The court upholds Prop 8, but upholds the 18,000 same-sex marriages already performed, which would be a cruel, but phyrric victory for equality.

We will CELEBRATE if:

-- The court rejects Proposition 8 and says that same-sex couples are entitled to the marriage rights that heterosexual couples already have.

More info here. The Liberal OC says that The Center Orange County, Elections Committee of the County of Orange, Harvey Milk Stonewall Democrats - OC and the Democratic Party of Orange County  are co-organizing the event with the OC Equality Coalition. OCEC is also planning events in the days and weeks following the decision. The details are at their website.

This morning, media-master attorney Gloria Allred sent out a press release that scooped my RSS reader to the news that the California Supreme Court would be announcing its decision on the challenge to Proposition 8 next Tuesday.

As if you need a refresher, Allred's the lawyer whose dipped her toes into OC-related cases like Octomom and Donna Jou, and she also was somehow involved in OJ Simpson, Paula Jones and Borat. I somehow had missed the unsurprising fact that she also represented the two gay couples who forced the gay marriage issue to the state's highest court.

Anyways, yeah, in case you missed it: The same-sex marriage verdict comes out Tuesday. It's important for you to know that Allred will give a press conference about it at 10 a.m. in Los Angeles. That is all.

So Purpose Driven® Rick Warren is blaming his no-show on the ABC news program This Week because he sniffed too many fumes at the pulpit? Is this the beginning to a bad Catholic joke? And Warren is still insisting that every culture in human history has defined marriage as between a man and a woman, despite the big, glaring local example? Too funny. Hey, Purpose Driven® Rick: your short tenure as America's Pastor has produced nothing but hilarity, one that makes Bill Graham's anti-Semitic ravings seem positively Catholic Worker in progressive comparison. Make like my pal Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr. and don't say anything else other than comments on Navel Gazing!

Here's Rick being foolish on Larry King last week:

When the Clockwork Scooter pulled out the Weekly parking lot Friday evening, there were just over 50 comments to the post that went up shortly after authorities revealed Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart died in a Fullerton car crash. At last check today, there were 112 comments.

That means, according to the little comment tracker on the Navel Gazing page, that the Adenhart post has passed 9-11 Truther Wackiness Now Most Commented OC Weekly Post Ever! (110) and with a good push could top the post at the top sport, Local Armenian Genocide Deniers Trying to Influence Congressional Race (153).

Now, it's going to be tough coming up with another 40 comments because Jenn, the "wetback"-spewing commenter who started it all, has apparently left to infect the TMZ.com version of the Adenhart story. So, we're making a call to all illogical, laptopped, Mexican bashers (you know who you are), to add more nonsensical rants to the original post so we may take the top spot. Folks who want to rip into those rants are also invited to continue commenting, of course. 

Meanwhile, Howard Ahmanson Jr. Only the Second Biggest Hater, a Feb. 3 post the top funders of same-sex marriage denying Prop 8, received an interesting comment over the weekend. The typist claims to be one of the contributors on the list, and if it is truly him, he's got the best reason ever for cutting a $10,000 check to the Yes on 8 campaign:

His wife made him do it.

hi, i'm anthony ridd a "so-called" hater. just so you know, I am not really anti-gay...in fact the donation was made w/o my consent or approval. I only did it because of all the shit I would have caught from my wife and others had I opposed. god loves everyone!!

Without his consent or approval, but he feared catching the wrath of wifey if he didn't do it? This commenter is making about as much sense as the Adenhart racists.

The Iowa Supreme Court's overturning of the law banning same-sex marriage in that state either bolsters the arguments of those pushing for gay marriage in California or has nothing to do with the issue here. It depends on who you ask.

National Center for Lesbian Rights legal director Shannon Minter:

"The fact that two state supreme courts--including now a court in the heartland of our country--have now followed the California Supreme Court's holding on that issue underscores very powerfully that the Court cannot back away from that holding . . . without undermining its credibility and stature."

Yes on Proposition 8 general counsel Andy Pugno:

"It's obviously not relevant to the current California case. The decision in Iowa looks almost identical, really, to California's split decision of the Supreme Court a year ago--they were examining a regular statute only under their state constitution just as the California court did. There's no comparison to the present case, where the people have now changed our California Constitution and the court is now deciding whether they could validly do so."

Eastman

I appeared on KOCE-TV Channel 50's Inside OC with Rick Reiff a couple of weeks ago to debate Chapman Law School Dean John Eastman on Proposition 8 and other topics on which we mostly agreed. Eastman is one of the legal minds behind the Yes on 8 arguments that will be argued tomorrow before the California Supreme Court. Obviously we don't agree on gay marriage, but that's fine. What's not fine, however, is Eastman's insistence that same-sex marriages have never occurred in California. It's a point he made on Inside OC, and one he repeated ad nauseum yesterday on Patt Morrison's KPCC-FM 89.3 program.

Sigh. As I wrote back in October, not only has gay marriage occurred in California, it happened here in O.C., amongst the Juaneños, and I'm sure other tribes practice same-sex marriage in California. Eastman and his ideological ilk need to drop the absolutist arguments once and for all and just admit they're scared shitless about the gays being just like breeders. Oh, and John? For you to say that gays do have the right to marry--they just gotta marry someone else of the opposite sex? CLASSY.

Okay, Prop. 8, supporters, be honest: Would you rather attend a party thrown by gays or straights? If you answered the latter, well, then, you haven't been to a party thrown by gays, have you? Think of all the collected knowledge of Martha Stewart, the Queer Eye guys and Chelsea Handler funneled into a single event, and you get an idea of what kind of fab do you'd be in for. 

So, perhaps you should put away your hateful signs and come on out to Eve of Justice, which refers to the evening before the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments in San Francisco on the validity of Prop. 8, the initiative voters passed in November to maintain the outlaw on same-sex marriage. Everyone is welcome to gather from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Fairview Community Church, 2525 Fairveiw Road, Costa Mesa. A vigil also begins at 6 p.m. in front of Long Beach City Hall on West Ocean Boulevard between Chestnut and Pacific avenues.

"That evening, we'll stand together and send a unified message to our fellow Californians, including the Supreme Court Justices, that individual liberties like the right to marry are guaranteed by the Constitution to everyone and cannot be stripped away at the ballot box by a bare majority," say Eve O. Justice. "Just as important, we will give our love and support to all the families headed by same-sex couples who are threatened by the recent electoral outcome, as well as same-sex couples whose hopes and dreams of marriage and family have been frustrated by enactment of Prop. 8."

Local and statewide proponents of Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban approved by voters last November, have a message for local and statewide politicians: stop trying to overturn the election results and get back to work fixing your cities and/or California.

State senators and Assembly members "are authoring meaningless nonbinding resolutions that take up the time of legislators and legislative staff who should be focused on appropriate legislative priorities such as solving the state deficit," claims ProtectMarriage.com--Yes on 8 Campaign.

"Proposition 8 was adopted with over a 600,000 vote margin, gaining approximately the same vote percentage as Barack Obama did nationally," said Ron Prentice, chairman of the group that takes credit for the measure's success, in a press statement. "It passed in 42 out of California's 58 counties, including the five largest counties in California. It is wrong for legislators to disrespect the vote of the people and attempt to substitute their values for the decision of over 7 million voters."

Tomorrow, same-sex couples throughout the country will go to their local county clerk counters and request marriage licenses as part of National Freedom to Marry Day. That won't happen in Orange County, however. The Old County Courthouse is closed due to Abraham Lincoln's birthday. This is ironic, given that everyone knows Lincoln was gay.

And so, Orange County's participation in National Freedom to Marry Day moves to Friday, Feb. 13. The same Friday the 13th that sees the opening of the new Friday the 13th horror flick. Same-sex marriage proponents and opponents can insert their own jokes here, I don't more letters.

Our little slice of National Freedom to Marry Day runs from 12:30-2 p.m. at the Old County Courthouse, 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana.

"Whether we are married, domestic partnered, civil unioned or legal strangers under our particular state law, all same-sex couples are denied the 1,138 federal rights of marriage," explains Jennifer Simpson, a Marriage Equality USA organizer, who goes on to say her group is hopeful the Obama administration and renewed interest in overturning the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act (NAMBLA) represent a "growing sea change towards supporting protections for same-sex couples."

"There are aleady 18,000 same-sex couples married in California," says Mike Hein, Marriage Equality USA's Orange County Chapter leader. "We want to honor those marriages and encourage the California Supreme Court to extend this opportunity to others who wish to marry, but will once again be turned away until Proposition 8 is repealed."

Every year since 2001, Marraige Equality advocates have been going up to county clerk counters in vain. You can email Hein here for more information about doing the same (straight allies, supportive clergy and married same-sex couples are invited to lend support), or call (949) 861-1231.

Ho-hum, supporters of marriage equality are planning a big rally outside yet another Orange County church. Tell it to Rick Warren. Or Ted Haggard. Or Mormony McMormon. Maybe they'll get all fired up by signs stating, "No on Hate--No on Prop 8," "I Want to See My Daddies MARRIED!" and "Jesus Loves Everyone." The rest of us need naps.

Well, as it turns out, the March 5 rally at Church of the Foothills in Santa Ana is church-sanctioned, as opposed to those outside Warren's Saddleback Church and elsewhere these past couple months that disrupted entry to Sunday services.

"In the midst of conservative Orange County, which was not only a major source of funding for the proposition, but also voted overwhelmingly in support of it, Church of the Foothills has long championed progressive Christian values," states the Marriage Equality Rally announcement. "By showing opposition to Prop 8, this protest will affirm the love that Jesus showed to all, and continue his message of peace, justice and equality for all mankind."

Gays, straights, kids and LGBT couples are invited from 4 to 6 p.m. on March 5, a Thursday, at the church, 19211 Dodge Ave. (at Newport Boulevard), Santa Ana. The timing is critical due to the Prop. 8 case that the California Supreme Court will soon consider. Their decision could potentially invalidate the first gay wedding ceremony performed in an Orange County church. Now were would that have been? Let Kergan Edwards-Stout at (714) 552-2348 tell you when you call for more Marriage Equality Rally details. You can also send an email here.

Ha, our South-County U.S. Rep (and, apparently, fledgling beardo) gets a shout out on last night's Colbert Report. For some reason, he's labeled "Jim Campbell," but nope, that's John.

Around the 2:20 mark:

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has today's best assessment of the Rick Warren-Barack Obama invocation dust up: "Not only is it getting worse, it's getting weirder."

Yesterday, there was Pastor Wiley Drake of First Baptist Church in Buena Park demonizing Warren's participation in the Jan. 20 inauguration of our "evil illegal alien" president-elect, saying God will punish Drake's fellow Southern Baptist preacher Warren.

Wacky fundies who have been critical of Warren's social agendizing Christianity for years have the invocation spat to thank for giving them forums for their twisted views. For instance, we have this from Internet evangelist Pastor Bill Keller:

"For Pastor Rick Warren to bless and give the invocation at the upcoming inauguration for a man who will help ensure millions of babies around the world are slaughtered--and force U.S. taxpayers to fund this legalized infanticide--is no different than if Adolf Hitler had asked Warren to give the blessing and invocation when he became Chancellor of Germany."

Remember the good old days, when it was lefties comparing George W. Bush to Hitler?

Maddow believes the controversy would have subsided before such silliness could take root had Saddleback Church pastor Warren simply kept his own mouth shut. Instead, Warren-- while attempting to deny he ever equated gay partnerships with incest and pedophilia--fueled more fire by accusing his critics of spreading "false accusations, attacks, outright lies, and hateful slander, and really a lot of hate speech," and of suffering from an ailment he called "Christophobia." These would be "people who are afraid of any Christian."

Ironically, the same sort of Christian conservatives who have been critical of Warren are now joining him in playing the victim card.

"It's open season on conservatives and people of faith," argues an Augusta (GA) Chronicle editorial lumping the invocation controversy in with a fire that was set to Sarah Palin's church in Wasilla, Alaska.

"What's being revealed in this process is that the intolerance of the radical left is coming out," declares black conservative preacher Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. of the Maryland-based High Impact Leadership Coalition. 

Perhaps in a bid to get someone with a camera or notepad to interview him, the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, who is giving the benediction at Obama's inauguration, says he, too, opposes gay marriage.

In still more weirdness, a columnist in the Black Chronicle of Oklahoma City, OK, contends Obama is trying to make Warren his Booker T. Washington.

Better than making him his bitch, one supposes.

Try as we may, we don't get every important story in Orange County. Thankfully, there are many (okay, just a couple) great bloggers and community papers focusing on specific issues, and Fullerton is well-served by two: the longtime newspaper Fullerton Observer, and the awesomely named blog Get Lost With Easy-Writer. Each have great scoops as of recent--Observer contributor Ahmad Zahra wrote about Fullerton staff allowing illegally placed "Yes on Prop. 8" signs to remain standing, while the Easy-Writer herself, Kanani Fong, had a disturbing dispatch about Fullerton politicians trying to get cheap political points by forcing their way into pictures with grieving families on Veteran's Day. Be a good Orange Countian and read both publications again and again.

This past Tuesday night at the Edwards South Coast Village in Santa Ana, and an Orange County Film Society-sponsored advance screening of the new Gus Van Zant-directed, Sean Penn-starring Harvey Milk biopic, simply titled Milk.

Go ahead and Google the name if you must -- it's not like Harvey's story is getting taught in public schools -- but some background info is in order here. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to win an elected office in the United States, a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in 1978. Months after his election, he and then SF mayor George Moscone were shot and killed by Dan White, a troubled fellow supervisor who got elected on a family values platform.

Yeah, I'll just say it -- if White were still around today (he suicided in 1985; don't rest in peace), he would've voted Yes on Prop 8.

But back to the movie. I wondered going into this how Van Zant was going to present the then-raging controversy that surrounded Proposition 6, a statewide ballot initiative in 1978 that was chiefly sponsored by then-Fullerton state senator John Briggs. Lest you think the recently-passed Proposition 8 is extreme, Briggs' Prop 6 would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools. Not only that, but it also called for the firing of all straight teachers who dared voice any support for their gay colleagues. Briggs' amendment was defeated---but not by much.

(See, this is why I've always thought it's a batshit-crazy idea to let the public make laws through the initiative process.)

OK, OK, back to the the movie for sure this time. So the theater is packed, and Denis O'Hare, the actor playing Briggs, is playing the part of Stereotypically Orange County Republican Conservative Christian Right-Wing Asshole to the hilt. There's a scene in which Penn (as Harvey) and his staff are hearing about Prop 6 for the first time, and they're about to decide what to do about it. What followed got the biggest laugh of the evening. Here's the exchange, lifted from the Milk script, which you can download yourself right here.

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ANNE KRONENBERG: Not great. State Senator John Briggs is Anita Bryant's go-to guy in California for sure. He's filed his petition for a statewide referendum to fire all gay teachers and anyone who supports them.

[A pall falls over the room. This is worse than expected.]

HARVEY MILK: How many signatures will he need to qualify for the ballot?

CLEVE JONES: Whatever. He can get them in two Sundays at church in Orange County.
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Cleve Jones, a longtime friend of Harvey's, is played by Emile Hirsch, but when Hirsch delivers the line in the film, he says "Orange Fucking County."

Later, there's a scene in which Briggs and Harvey are debating Prop 6, and the word FULLERTON flashes on the bottom the screen. I never knew there were Briggs/Harvey debates over Prop 6, much less one that happened here, on Briggs' home turf. (Wonder where the actual debate took place; I'm guessing Cal State Fullerton.)

The whole movie? Pretty great -- one I'll buy for sure, instead of just ripping a copy from my Netflix queue. Look for a full review in this Wednesday's Weekly (that's right -- we're out a day early on account of Thanksgiving), same day the film opens.