BREAKING NEWS ON PROP 8
Posted on November 20, 2008
Filed Under Gay/Lesbian, Justice | Comments Off on BREAKING NEWS ON PROP 8
The California Supreme Court just announced that it will review the Prop 8 challenge brought by Lambda Legal, NCLR, ACLU and others. This is exciting news!
In an order issued today, the Court agreed to hear the case and set an expedited briefing schedule. The Court also denied an immediate stay.
On November 5, 2008, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of Proposition 8 in the California Supreme Court on behalf of six individuals and Equality California. The City of San Francisco, joined by the City of Los Angeles and Santa Clara County, filed a similar challenge, as did a private attorney in Los Angeles.
On May of 2008, the California Supreme Court held that barring same-sex couples from marriage violates the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and violates the fundamental right to marry. Proposition 8 would completely eliminate the right to marry only for same-sex couples. No other initiative has ever successfully changed the California Constitution to take away a right only from a targeted minority group.
Over the past 100 years, the California Supreme Court has heard nine cases challenging either legislative enactments or initiatives as invalid revisions of the California Constitution. In three of those cases, the Court invalidated those measures.
Lambda Legal will provide more information as this case proceeds.
We’ve turned our disappointment over the passage of Prop 8 and other antigay initiatives in Florida, Arizona and Arkansas into resolve.
Prop 8 is wrong. Help us make it right!
Women Sue Victoria’s Secret Over Bra Allergies
Posted on November 12, 2008
Filed Under Fashion, Health, Justice, lingerie, Shopping, Women | Comments Off on Women Sue Victoria’s Secret Over Bra Allergies
Several women have claimed that underwear from the Victoria Secret have made them ill.
One woman even claims to have been left permanently scarred after wearing the Angels Secret Embrace bra.
Roberta Ritter, 37, claims:
“I had the welts that were very red, hot to the touch, extremely inflamed, blistery.”It itched profusely.
I couldn’t sleep and was waking up itching.”
Miss Ritter, from Ohio, has filed a lawsuit against Victoria’s Secret in May and claims she has been contacted by dozens of women suffering similar symptoms who are now seeking permission to join her in a class action.
Her lawyers said they purchased the same bra types that Miss Ritter had bought and had them laboratory tested. They claim the tests revealed that the bras showed traces of formaldehyde, which is used in the textile industry to make fabrics crease-resistant. The lawyers believe Miss Ritter may be allergic to formaldehyde.
A US medical Web site was flooded with complaints against the underwear company. However, a spokesman for Victoria’s Secret has denied that formaldehyde is used to produce its bras.
“We have strict quality controls around our products, and we do not use formaldehyde in our bras,”
the company said in a statement. “We are sorry that a small number of people have had an issue,’ he added.
“Customer safety and satisfaction are always our primary concerns and we take seriously any issues that
our customers may have with our products.”
Ritter, and others who seek to join her in a class action, are demanding compensation.
A judge will decide next year if a class action can proceed.
Miriam Makeba Singer/Activist Dies After Performance
Posted on November 10, 2008
Filed Under Arts/Culture, Entertainment, Music, Women | Comments Off on Miriam Makeba Singer/Activist Dies After Performance
Miriam Makeba, a South African singer whose voice stirred hopes of freedom among millions in her own country though her music was formally banned by the apartheid authorities she struggled against, died overnight after performing at a concert in Italy on Sunday. She was 76.
Ms. Makeba collapsed as she was leaving the stage, the South African authorities said. She had been singing at a concert in support of Roberto Saviano, an author who has received death threats after writing about organized crime.
Although Ms. Makeba had been weakened by osteoarthritis, her death stunned many in South Africa, where she stood as an enduring emblem of the travails of black people under the apartheid system of racial segregation that ended with the release from prison of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and the country’s first fully democratic elections in 1994. [via NYT]
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