Jesse Jackson Endorses Marriage Equality!

Reverend Jesse Jackson endorse marriage equality for same-sex couples in a fiery speech on Monday morning before the assembled crowd to hear the oral arguments in Perry v Schwarzenegger.

Here is the text of the former presidential candidate's speech:

Many years ago in the late 1970s’, I visited South Africa, then deep in the throes of apartheid.  I was asked by the media what I thought of the situation, and I said,  “I believe in human rights for all human beings.   We must measure human rights by one yardstick.”  That principle – our moral center - still applies.  Everything flows from this perspective.

We stand together today as equal members of the human family…. as consistent principled advocates for human rights for all people.  We stand together today to uphold the principles of due process, of equal protection under the law, of fighting against discrimination against any and all people based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

We stand with you today to support Marriage Equality, and to declare that Proposition 8 must be struck down as unconstitutional.  Peoples’ right to self-expression, self-determination be respected and affirmed.  It’s time to challenge ignorance, a time to break the silence and the chains of hatred, of divisive and discriminatory bigotry.   Marriage is based on love and commitment – not on sexual orientation.  I support the right for any person to marry the person of their choosing.

If Dr. King and our civil rights movement has taught us anything, it’s the fundamental principle of that all people deserve Equal protection under the law.   LGBT people deserve equal rights – including marriage equality – and equal protection under the law. Discrimination against one group of people is discrimination against all of us.   The State – and the Courts - should not sanction discrimination.

To those that believe in and fought for civil rights, that marched to end discrimination and win equality, you must not become that which you hated. It’s past time to exist in hypocrisy and ignorance, and time to come out of the shadows and darkness to support unequivocally, equality for all people. Those that support civil and human rights cannot, must not, become perpetrators of discrimination against others based upon race, religion, culture, sexual orientation.

African Americans know too well the sting of legal, state sanctioned, constitutionally driven “second class” citizenship – from centuries of legal slavery and Jim Crow segregation, to classified as 3/5 of a human being in the U.S. Constitution, to facing anti-miscegenation laws that prevented Blacks from marrying whites. 

We cannot not sit idly by while Prop. 8 seeks to target gays and lesbians for a disfavored legal status, as America’s newest “second-class citizens.”  Our legal scholars have cited fourteen times where the Supreme Court has stated that marriage is a fundamental right of all individuals.   That principle must be upheld today – for Blacks and Whites, for straight and gay, for ALL Americans.  No group of people should be denied their fundamental constitutional liberties, like equal protection under the law, simply because of who they are.

So today, we do not stand alone.  It’s time to go forward by hope and not backward by fear, to stand up with courage, hope and strength and send a shout out for equality.  Stiff winds of resistance seek a return to intolerance, bigotry and state sanctioned discrimination – whether against immigrants in New Mexico or against marriage equality in California.   It should only strengthen our resolve to defend equal protection under the law, equality for all Americans, and the forging of a One Big Tent America.

Keep Hope Alive

CA-AG: Harris Has Insurmountable Lead of 43,050!

Kamala Harris now leads Steve Cooley by 43,050 votes (4,291,854 or 46.0% to 4,248,804 or 45.5%). According to the Secretary of State's office (pdf) there are are now 629,634 unprocessed ballots, with 361,588 provisional ballots and 228,854 vote-by-mail ballots. Los Angeles County has the most number of outstanding ballots, left to be counted 93,590 (73,928 of which are provisional). 82% of provisional ballots are usually counted. The thing to note is that Harris won on election day (when provisional ballots are turned in by approximate 3 percentage points and she lost vote-by-mail ballots by 8 percentage points. Of the ballots left to count, Cooley should be expected to have a net gain of 10K-20K votes at most.
(He wins VBM ballots netting approximately 20K votes but loses provisional ballots by 8K votes.)

Basically, we are where we were on election night when Harris had a slim lead but today there are far less votes to be counted, dramatically reducing Cooley's chances of retaking the lead. I'm still slightly worried that the percentage of votes left to be counted consists of less than 20% from Los Angeles County, but Harris won other relatively large counties by good margins as well. Also, there are some indications that the unprocessed ballot number is too high, making things even tougher for Cooley.

It is mathematically possible for Cooley to win but the probabilities are in the 1-2% range (he would have to win the outstanding ballots at net rates of 7-8% which the rest of the sample simply does not reflect). Los Angeles County Council President Eric Garcetti (and former Occidental College professor) called the race for Harris yesterday and urged media outlets to do the math to show how slim the possibility of Cooley winning actually is. Garcetti actually estimates that there are far LESS uncounted votes than in the unprocessed ballot status page since some of the counties have not updated their numbers in over two weeks and the total vote count is approaching 9.6 million. We'll probably hit 10 million votes cast statewide by the time everything is counted and certified next month.

San Francisco Files Brief Opposing Prop 8

San Francisco's Brief Opposing Prop 8

In San Francisco For The Weekend

Slow blogging, in San Francisco for the weekend, visiting family.

Celebrity Friday: Nancy Pelosi

Today, Friday March 26th is the 70th birthday of Speaker of the U.S. House Nancy Pelosi. On Sunday night, she presided over the final passage of the most sweeping social justice legislation in over 40 years, Obama's national health care reform bill. Let's hope she has a good celebration of her 70th birthday!

Pssst, Nancy! We still expect ENDA and DPBO to pass before November. Don't let us down.

SF CHRONICLE Outs Prop 8 Federal Judge

The San Francisco Chronicle has published a story revealing to the general public an open secret that many of us have already known: Vaughn Walker, the federal judge conducting the federal trial into the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8 known as Perry v. Schwarznegger, is gay:

The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself gay.

Many gay politicians in San Francisco and lawyers who have had dealings with Walker say the 65-year-old jurist, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never taken pains to disguise - or advertise - his orientation.

They also don't believe it will influence how he rules on the case he's now hearing - whether Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure approved by state voters to ban same-sex marriage, unconstitutionally discriminates against gays and lesbians.

[...]

Many San Francisco gays still hold Walker in contempt for a case he took when he was a private attorney, when he represented the U.S. Olympic Committee in a successful bid to keep San Francisco's Gay Olympics from infringing on its name.

"Life is full of irony," the judge replied when we reminded him about that episode.

And did he have any concerns about being characterized as gay?

"No comment."

Shortly after our conversation, we heard from a federal judge who counts himself as a friend and confidant of Walker's. He said he had spoken with Walker and was concerned that "people will come to the conclusion that (Walker) wants to conceal his sexuality."

"He has a private life and he doesn't conceal it, but doesn't think it is relevant to his decisions in any case, and he doesn't bring it to bear in any decisions," said the judge, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the Prop. 8 trial.

"Is it newsworthy?" he said of Walker's orientation, and laughed. "Yes."

He said it was hard to ignore the irony that "in the beginning, when (Walker) sought to be a judge, a major obstacle he had to overcome was the perception that he was anti-gay."

In short, the friend said, Walker's background is relevant in the same way people would want to know that a judge hearing a discrimination case involving Latinos was Latino or a Jewish judge was ruling in a case involving the Anti-Defamation League.

Walker, by the way, didn't seek out the Prop. 8 case - it was assigned to him at random.

I am actually glad that this story is being published. It is newsworthy that the judge is gay, and if reporters can come up with enough sources to be confident of printing that fact, they should write a story about it. Being gay is not something to be ashamed about.

Now, being appointed to the federal bench by a Republican President, that is not something I would want very many people to know about!

VIDEO: Life and Times of Harvey Milk

Although last year's Milk was widely celebrated (and was one of my favorite movies of 2008), years ago the documentary The Life and Times of Harvey Milk is an even more extraordinary documentation of the life of the openly gay civil rights leader who was assassinated. Now YouTube has the entire documentary available for viewing. Check it out!

CA-GOV: Text of Newsom Speech to CDP

The full text of Gavin Newsom's prepared remarks to the California Democratic Party convention:

Let me get to the most important business first... Art: every single Democrat owes you a debt of gratitude. Thank you is hardly sufficient. But let's start there. Thank you for being a champion for our health, for our kids, for our environment, for California.


I also want to express my appreciation to Art for something else - for that very kind introduction. I certainly enjoyed it a whole lot more than the introduction I got in a few of those TV ads last fall!


Well, whether they like it or not - my name's Gavin Newsom, and I'm here to get things started. I'm here to start taking on the big problems the Republicans want to ignore.


Because I'm with you - I've had enough of politicians who say they care about liberty and then fight to take our freedoms away. I'm done with the excuses. I'm over the finger pointing. I've seen enough of the blame game. I'm tired of California leaders promising the future and delivering the past.


This state is ready for a new direction. And this party is ready to show the way.


Let me ask you - how many times do we need to hear our leaders talk about quality health care - and then spend four years explaining why they can't get it done? How many times? Not this time!


Too many politicians are substituting words for action - confusing motion for progress. We need to stop talking about universal health care and start providing it!


How many "Years of Education" - "Decades of Education" - “Millenniums of Education" are we going to declare and then stand by while our teachers are attacked and our students ignored? It's time to stop declaring our commitment to teachers and schools and start demonstrating it!


How many times are we going to listen to politicians promise to deliver jobs and then wake up and realize all they've delivered is just another tired speech? Millions of unemployed Californians can tell you right now that the old ways of doing business just don't cut it in this tough new world.


They want our leaders to stop bickering with each other and start fighting to put people back to work.


How many times are we going to allow politicians to over promise on the environment and then under deliver when they get in office? It's time to stop testing the waters and start swimming in them!


I've seen what can happen when we stop looking back – and start looking for solutions.


In San Francisco - we're not just talking about quality health care - we're delivering it. We're the only city in America daring to offer quality health care to every single uninsured resident - regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. How can we afford it? We're proving what you already know - it's less expensive to keep people well, and to invest in their health, than it is to treat their sickness. I know what it takes to pass health care reform - because, working with many of you who are here today, we did it.


School districts throughout California are laying-off tens of thousands of teachers. But we're giving our teachers a raise, raising test scores, and protecting teachers from layoffs. How did we do it? We stopped fighting over who was going to be in charge and started working together to find solutions. We refused to blame teachers and we started supporting them.


The State of California is nearly bankrupt and our state bond rating is now the worst in the nation. We have a Governor who promised to "terminate" the state's credit cards - then went on the biggest borrowing binge of any governor of any state in history. But in San Francisco - our bond rating just went up because of our Rainy Day Reserve and sound fiscal policies. And it's because of this rainy day reserve that we were able to rescind teacher layoffs.


What's the difference? We figured out that sound fiscal policy isn't a conservative value or a progressive value … it's just plain smart for everyone.


Our economy is in trouble.


But in San Francisco, our economy is stronger because we made basic investments - in new fields like biotech and life sciences, in green technology, in digital media – in industries that pay more than a minimum wage – they pay a living wage.


We figured it out - the greatest asset we have in this state is HUMAN capital. It's people. It's time to start investing in people again. I know a thing or two about this because I've built a number of small businesses from the ground up, creating nearly one thousand jobs. And I know we can't be pro-jobs and anti-business. But we also can't be pro-jobs without investing in our workforce - our schools, our community colleges, our universities and in life-long learning. In San Francisco, we didn't blame Washington for our economic problems - we got to work solving them with exactly these kinds of smart investments.


Nearly every politician on the planet is talking about the environment. I don't think any city in America is doing more to protect it than San Francisco. We have the most aggressive local solar incentives in America. The highest recycling rates. Pioneering green building standards. Aggressive energy efficiency programs to help wean our city from carbon fuels. We've already rolled back our greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below 1990 levels. And we're putting San Franciscans, those who used to be locked out of the old industrial economy, back to work as part of this new green economy.


How do we get it done - even in tough economic times? We understand that policies that may have been cutting-edge in the past just won't cut it in the future.


We took many smart steps - like becoming the only city in California with a local Earned Income Tax credit - that allows working families to keep more of what they earn and brings in tens millions of dollars in federal tax refunds, that used to go uncollected.


And we're taking big leaps like San Francisco Promise - a pioneering new program that guarantees an opportunity for a college education for every public school child. This is going to open doors and change lives. And we got it done because we opened our minds to a new way of looking at problems.


These are difficult times. And we need bold solutions to get California out of this mess. I haven't been afraid to tackle big problems. I haven't been afraid to offer bold ideas. Because California can't afford to keep returning to the same old, tired ideas and expect a different result.


Many of you know me - you know where I stand on important issues like universal health care, fighting for our schools, creating green jobs, protecting equal rights for every person and fighting for marriage equality for every Californian. I’m not the kind of person who says one thing in private and does another in public. You will know where I stand.


If there's one thing this past year has proven - the old ways of doing business just don't work so well any more. So what are we going to do next year - will we offer the voters of California a stroll down memory lane, or a sprint into the future? Will we nominate candidates who know Sacramento - or leaders who know how to change it? Will we choose the past - or will we embrace the future?


So I am asking you to join us - on GavinNewsom.com, on Facebook, on Twitter, or at one of the many events we're holding up and down California. I hope you'll give your ideas. Share your insights. And help us shape a campaign that can do more than win an election. I hope you'll join a campaign that has set out to change California.


California has always been a land of dreamers and doers. Of entrepreneurs and innovators. We're not a state of memories. We're a state of dreams. We're Californians. We're not content to re-live history. We're going to keep making it. So let's start making a better future for California. And let's do it together.


Thank you.

Hat/tip to Karen Ocamb.

CA-GOV: Newsom Announces Gubernatorial Candidacy

Lesbian Pioneer Del Martin Dies at Age 87

Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin (r)

87-year-old Del Martin, legally married wife of Phyllis Lyon died today less than three months after becoming the first same-sex couple to be married legally in California's history on June 16, 2008. Lyon and Martin had lived together for more than 55 years.

Equality California has an official obituary webpage for Del Martin which has many details of her activism and life and the National Center for Lesbian Rights is asking that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to their No on Prop 8 fund.

NO ON PROP 8 Gets $1m Donation from Gay Mormon

Joe.My.God has the scoop on openly gay Wordperfect co-founder Bruce Bastian's one million dollar donation to the No on Proposition 8 campaign announced at HRC's San Francisco gala (boycotted by Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, State Senator-elect Mark Leno, State Senator Carole Migden and Assemblymember-elect Tom Ammiano) this past weekend.

The Bay Area Reporter has some useful details:

Bastian, a member of the Human Rights Campaign Board of Directors, announced his gift at the group's annual gala fundraiser in San Francisco Saturday, July 26. It is the largest personal contribution toward the campaign against Prop 8 to date, according to HRC officials.

Although Bastian is single, does not live in the state, and does not have any close gay friends who are Californians planning to marry, he said he sees the marriage fight in the state as a "battle line." And with the Mormon Church already raising funds to pass Prop 8, Bastian said it was imperative that he become involved in the fight.

"As a Mormon I know it costs a lot of money to preach. The Mormons will raise a lot of money in support of Prop 8 in November," said Bastian, who divorced his wife in 1994 and is the father of four sons. "It upsets me deeply. I want to tell the Mormon Church to stay out of my business."

[...]

A graduate of Brigham Young University, Bastian excelled at computer programming and co-founded the WordPerfect Software Company with Alan Ashton in 1978. Forbes magazine estimated his wealth to be $1.1 billion at one time, and Bastian has funneled his money to gay causes and numerous arts groups in Utah.

L.A. Mayor Joins Boycott of HRC's SF Gala

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declined to attend Saturday's HRC Gala in San Francisco depite being listed as the Headliner Speaker. The mayor explained his last-minute withdrawal by issuing a brief statement:

"As Mayor of the largest city in California, I am committed to creating a world in which no member or group in society is denied full and equal rights. It is my hope that this time next year will find us all united by victory in the fight against Proposition 8 and ever more determined to establish equal rights, with no exceptions, for every one of us."

The Mayor had intended to attend the gala when the controversy was just about ENDA but when the Sam Francisco Labor Coucil joined the boycott of the HRC event his decision was made for him. Villaraigosa has the 2009 re-election campaign approaching as well as the 2010 gubernatorial primary a year later. Clearly he made a decision to shore up both his LGBT support and labor support. His other main pro-gay rival for the Governor's office, Gavin Newsom, was unavailable because he was getting married himself last weekend. (Hat tip to Joe.My.God)

SF Mayor Explores 2010 CA Governor's Race

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that he has filed paperwork to explore a run for Governor of California in 2010.

The good-looking Mayor of San Francisco was re-elected in 2007 with ony token opposition and has used the marriage equality issue to raise his national profile among progressives and Democrats.

The record of mayors becoming Governor is not a good one.

Interestingly, both of Newsom's most talked-about rivals for the governorship are current or former mayors. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles shares extremely vocal gay rights support and marital infidelity with Newsom.

Current California Attorney General Jerry Brown served two terms as California's youngest ever Governor from 1975-1983 and was elected to his current position after being Mayor of Oakland from 1998-2006. Since term limits were enacted after Brown served as Governor, he could (theoretically) be elected for two more terms. However, he was born in 1938 and will be 72 years old on election day in 2010.

Other 2010 gubernatorial contenders are Supeintendent of Instruction Jack O'Connell, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi and State Controller (and former Attorney General) Bill Lockyer.

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon To Marry Legally Mon June 16

Del Martin and Phyllyis Lyon are a lesbian couple who have been together for over 55 years, will become the first same-sex couple to be married legally in San Francisco's historic City Hall on Mon June 16th at 5pm.

They were also one of the first couples to be married by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in March 2004 and were plaintiffs in one of the cases combined during the In Re Marriage Cases litigation which resulted in California's marriage laws being declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

Lyon, 83, said it was "heartwarming" that the city wants her and Martin, 87, to be the first couple to marry, but she said they are just a small part of what will happen as same-sex marriage begins in California.

"Hundreds of thousands of couples will be getting married this time, and that's the important thing," Lyon said. "It's something that has been due for a long time, and thank god, it's here."

Lyon and Martin first met in Seattle in 1950 and moved in together in a Castro Street apartment on Valentine's Day 1953. Two years later, Lyon and Martin, and three other lesbian couples founded the Daughters of Bilitis, which historians call the first lesbian organization in the United States. Lyon and Martin have been leaders of the lesbian community ever since.

Congratulations, Phyllis and Del!

LA and SF Strongly Support Marriage Equality

The San Francisco Chronicle has even more interesting tidbits on the Field Poll which, for the first time, showed a majority of Californians (or even more importantly, registered voters!) support marriage equality 51% to 42%.

The heavily Democratic urban areas strongly support same-sex marriage; 55 percent of Los Angeles County and an overwhelming 68 percent of the Bay Area are in favor. By contrast, only 38 percent of the Central Valley and 41 percent of Southern California outside of Los Angeles are in favor.

Same-sex marriage also digs a chasm between California's heavily populated coast and its inland areas; 55 percent of coastal voters back same-sex marriage compared with 40 percent in support inland.

The issue divides along liberal-conservative lines; 85 percent of strong liberals are in favor, and 85 percent of strong conservatives are opposed.

Protestants, who make up a third of the state's voters, oppose same-sex marriage 34 percent to 57 percent, while Catholics are split almost equally, 45 percent in favor to 48 percent opposed. Those with no religious preference back same-sex marriage 81 percent to 12 percent.

America will be watching the fall campaign over same-sex marriage, which will have national implications, said Kors of Equality California.

"It's going to be an intense and enormous undertaking, but we're confident we'll win," he said. "But we also know that the other side is out there working just as hard and feeling just as confident."

The poll is based on a telephone survey of 1,052 registered voters taken May 17-26. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points

Note the California Supreme Court ruling was announced on May 15, 2008 so the poll was conducted immediately after it was being publicized. Winning 55% in Los Angeles County is not good enough. Equality for All needs to get that up to 60% in order to win statewide.

It will be interesting to see what the polling will look like once the discriminatory constitutional amendment qualifies for the ballot sometime soon.

However, it will also be interesting to see what happens to the poll numbers when literally thousands of same-sex couples flock to California to get married starting June 14 June 17.

Mark Leno Proposes Harvey Milk State Holiday May 22

Joe.My.God alerted me to the news that openly gay Assemblyman Mark Leno is proposing legislation to make May 22 a non-fiscal state holiday in honor of slain San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights hero Harvey Milk. The bill would declare May 22 "Harvey Milk Day" in California. There are currently not one but two Hollywood bio-pics planned on the life story of Harvey Milk, the first starring Sean Penn and Matt Damon and directed by openly gay director Gus Van Sant, and the second based on the best-selling book The Mayor of Castro Street and directed by openly gay director Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, The Usual Suspects) and produced by openly gay producing team of Meron&Zadan (Chicago, Hairspray).

Mark Leno is currently locked in a tight primary race with openly lesbian State Senator Carole Migden, to be decided on Tuesday February 5th.

Migden-Leno Primary Race Gets Even Uglier

The Los Angeles Times and other political circles are buzzing about reports that openly gay Assembymam Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) has filed a Fair Political Practices Commission complaint against openly lesbian State Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) who are both vying for the same legislative post in the June 2008 statewide primary.

State officials are trying to determine if Migden used credit cards to charge $397,000 in expenses without disclosing who was initially paid and for what, according to the newspaper. If Migden is found to be in violation with campaign finance laws, she could face up to $60,000 in administrative fines.

"We're working with the FPPC to address some issues, to resolve some errors that were self-reported," Migden told the newspaper, adding that the lack of itemization of credit card expenses "would be part and parcel of that."

[...]

She had previously been charged with violations and fined a total of $110,600 for failing to disclose donations by deadlines set in state law, including twice last year.

[...]

State officials launched the investigations of Migden's expenses after they received a formal complaint from Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who is running against Migden in the upcoming election.

[...]

"It goes right to the heart of the cynicism voters have about the political process," he said.

Umm, yeah, right Mark. Does this really help you make the case that you're the most qualified candidate to repesent the people of the 3rd Senatorial District of California?

Mad Professah has been following this race for quite awhile and has family members living in the district. I intend to make an endorsement in the race before the June primary. Let's hope that the race can be fought on the issues of importance to the voters of San Francisco and not turn into an internecine personality fight.

In San Francisco

Mad Professah is off to San Francisco for the weekend. Back Monday. Light blogging until then.

Migden Faces Political Fallout

The blog Calitics has posted the results of a poll conducted by Survey USA of 500 residents in the 3rd State Senate district of California which asked the question "Based on what you know right now, do you think State Senator Carole Migden should remain in office? Or do you think she should resign?" 43 percent replied "resign," 30 per cent said "stay in office" and 26 per cent said they were unsure. Yipes!

Previously MadProfessah has blogged about the Senator's recent driving mishaps.
The poll was taken in light of the recent revelations that Senator Migden, who has been one of the most powerful openly lesbian elected officials in the state for the past decade, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1997 and at the time was given 3-5 years to live. (Talk about term limits! She was in her first State Assembly term at the time.) Senator Migden recently sent a letter to 100, 000 of her constituents explaining her reasons for not revealing her illness before. SFist was not impressed.

Harrumph. A note on the envelope makes it clear that this missive was not paid for out of taxpayer dollars or whatnot -- there's nothing out of bounds here, except perhaps the bounds of good sense. Anybody that gives a hoot is keeping up with this in the news. Anybody that cares already knows you've pledged to the DMV that you won't drive anymore, Senator. We're not sure we buy your excuse -- and we're certainly willing to keep our ears open as definitive news comes out -- but we found this letter extremely patronizing. We're not so easily manipulated.

We'll offer some unsolicited advice: when you're in a hole, stop digging.

All keeping your name in the news cycle does is help to dredge up weird stories about what a kook you are.

In light of the controversies, Migden has picked up a new challenger for her seat, in addition to openly gay Mark Leno, it was announced that straight (and married) San Francisco Police Commissioner Joseph Alioto Veronese will also run for the Democratic nomination for the 3rd Senatorial District of California. The name Alioto is a potent one in San Francisco politics, with one elected mayor, a mayoral challenger and multiple supervisors carrying the name over the years. Veronese had made tongues wag in "The City" when he cast the deciding vote to elect openly transgendered Teresa Sparks as the first openly transgendered head of a big city Police Commission in the country--against the wishes of Mayor Gavin Newsom who appointed him!

And we thought Los Angeles politics was harsh!

Antonio Wants A Bigger One Than Gavin

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, fresh off his short-lived but much-noticed post-Grammy Award summit with Paris Hilton, yesterday announced plans to create a citywide free wireless internet service by 2009, called the L.A. WiFi Initiative.

"By giving every resident high-speed access, we will transform Los Angeles into a cutting-edge city across every neighborhood and every economic sector.

[...]

"LA WiFi will help us meet the technology needs of our world-class media and creative industries, give a leg up to small businesses, plug every neighborhood directly into the knowledge-based global economy and make computer training programs for students an after-school reality."

The plan, which the Los Angeles Times estimates would generally cost $125,000 per square mile per year to cover the 498 square miles of our fair city (for a grand total of $62 million annually), would be paid for by a public-private partnership between the City of Los Angeles and the network operators.

Of course, the part that Antonio likes is that his (city's wireless network) will be bigger than Mayor Gavin Newsom's (proposed wireless network, the implementation of which was delayed yesterday by a vote the San Francisco Board of Supervisors). So there!