In the United Kingdom, along with help from people from the state of California, a Christian charity which sponsored a conference promoting the idea that gay people can be converted to heterosexuality has funded interns for an estimated 20 Members of Parliament (MPs), including some who are now ministers in the coalition government. The conference featured a keynote by Joseph Nicolosi, a Californian psychologist and founder of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality in the United States. No statement has been issued by Queen Elizabeth II nor her representatives.

Equality California the nations largest equality organization is beginning to close. “Right now a lot of nonprofits are having problems,” Equality California said in a statement.

If last month’s ruling overturning Proposition 8 survives, same-sex marriage should be available only to the two homosexual couples who challenged the ballot measure and should remain barred for the rest of the state’s gay and lesbian population, sponsors of the measure told a federal appeals court.

The legal battle over same-sex marriage is far from over. Last year, the leaders of major gay rights organizations issued a plea urging people not to make Prop 8 a federal issue. The national and state leaders of these organizations listed their reasons for issuing the plea — the battle must we waged within the states.

A federal judge declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional Wednesday, saying that no legitimate state interest justified treating gay and lesbian couples differently from others and that “moral disapproval” was not enough to save the voter-passed Proposition 8. The California Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 that gays and lesbians were entitled to marry under the state Constitution in a historic ruling in May 2008. Voters passed Proposition 8 six months later, amending the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

California gay marriage decision announced today. The decision will be posted online between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Pacific time, and will be written by Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker. Walker, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, heard myriad witnesses testify about the history of marriage, the nature of homosexuality and the degree of power gays and lesbians possess in the political system.

Although a majority of California voters say they support same-sex marriage, that endorsement is as tenuous as it was two years ago when voters told pollsters that they approved of the idea but still voted to ban the marriages.

The Mormon Church has agreed to pay a $5,539.00 fine to the state of California for failing to file the proper paperwork during an anti-gay fight two years ago. Prop. 8, which restricted the definition of marriage couples to straight couples, effectively overturned the California Supreme Court’s ruling that gay couples should be allowed to marry.

A gay group challenging California’s gay marriage ban failed yesterday to qualify for the 2010 ballot, leaving gay activists mulling a 2012 push and hoping a federal court will overturn the measure before then. Restore Equality 2010 says it fell short of the 695,000 signatures needed by today’s deadline to put the measure on the ballot.

Gordon Dennis Fox has the distention of being the first openly gay speaker of a state lower house, although Assemblyman John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) was elected to the speakership of the California Assembly several weeks before Fox (Pérez, however, will not be sworn in as speaker until March 1).
Members of the State of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations House of Representatives elected Fox to succeed William J. Murphy in a day of pomp and speechifying, capping months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering.