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Miss California Joins Fight Against Storm of Gay Marriage

1:09 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · California| Controversia| GLBT| Women · 1 Comment

30 Apr 2009

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Who does marriage need protecting from? Yes, haters you can say mujeres like me, pero I’m really talking about the scary gays who now have to fight off California beauty queens.

You have to love how Prejean says it’s all about respect. Hmm. Now mira I do not think it’s cool in any way to call Prejean a bitch or to make jokes about killing her. That’s not acceptable y punto. Pero, that said, where Prejean does need to be attack is in her defense of “marriage” while excluding others. Where is the respect there?

Perez Hilton on Miss California: “She lost because of that answer”

2:30 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Blogs| California| Celebrities| Controversia| GLBT · 5 Comments

21 Apr 2009

Latino blogger Perez Hilton joined Larry King last night to break down the reason why he asked Miss USA contestant, Miss California, the “fatal question”. In this clip, Perez says he didn’t mean for the question to be a “bomb” and that he could tell by the look on Miss Cali’s face that she knew she was going to lose her shot at the title because of her answer.

Hilton also alleges that television had a hand at editing out the “loud boos” that Miss California received upon stating her opposition to gay marriage.

What do you think about Perez’s stance? Is his analysis fair? Does he defend his point well?

Via / YouTube

San Francisco Saves 185 Youths from Deportation, Critics Rage

3 Apr 2009

480676564_918c063f8c The effects, both good and bad, of San Francisco’s policy of being a “sanctuary city” for undocumented immigrants are emerging, one year to date after it was instated. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

As many as 185 undocumented youths held on felony criminal charges in San Francisco were shielded from deportation between 2005 and last summer, when the controversial policy came to light, according to juvenile probation statistics obtained by The Chronicle.

City officials had previously said they had no way of telling how many youths had benefited from the policy. But a new preliminary report prepared by the Juvenile Probation Department at the request of Supervisor David Campos shows the number is much higher than previously suspected.

The report shows that between Jan. 1, 2005, and Feb. 28 of this year, 252 undocumented youths had cases in the juvenile probation system.

As you might expect, this data is not making some of the mayor’s enemies happy, and his opponents maintain that in its attempt to protect undocumented immigrants, San Francisco is instead harbouring drug dealers and other criminals. The Chronicle reports that 88% of the 180 were from Honduras and 83% were arrested on drug-related offenses, leading some to suspect a link to Honduran drug-related organizations.
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Quote of the Day: Obama on Immigration Reform

5:29 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · California| Immigration · 20 Comments

19 Mar 2009

President Obama was in Costa Mesa, California, yesterday to hold a “town hall” meeting and he finally brought up the hot-button topic of immigration, and more specifically, immigration reform. The speech was vague and lacking content, as was to be expected, but here’s the most salient part:

“You’ve got to say to the undocumented workers… ‘Look, you’ve broken the law. You didn’t come here the way you were supposed to. So this is not going to be a free ride … What’s going to happen is you’re going to pay a significant fine.’

“‘You are going to learn english. You are going to… go to the back of the line so you don’t get ahead of somebody who was in Mexico City applying legally.’”

“‘But after you’ve done these things over a certain period of time, you can earn your citizenship. So that it’s not — it’s not something that is guaranteed or automatic. You’ve got to earn it.’ But over time, you get people an opportunity.”

How do you interpret this? How will this rhetoric translate into real policy?

Via / SGGP

Prop 8 Vigils Across California

5 Mar 2009

ba-samesex05_0499868478 “When all else fails, pray!” is what comes to mind upon reading about the multiple candlelight vigils that were held throughout my state on the eve of the hearing that will make or break California’s most discriminatory law against LGBT citizens. Last night San Franciscans, like Californians in other cities big and small, held vigils and marched. What else can you do at this point? The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The crowd, bundled against the chill, carried signs reading, “We All Deserve the Freedom To Marry,” and “Down with Prop. 8!” as they marched along Market Street. The peaceful protest stretched for two city blocks past stopped Muni street cars while police held back traffic at the intersections.

The group made their way to City Hall, where a pianist and singer entertained the crowd with love songs. Some of the participants planned to camp out in the Civic Center Plaza to be there for the hearing.

It will be shown on a JumboTron for those who don’t have access to viewing rooms set up in the San Francisco Public Library.

Will the great State of California overturn what has been called “the will of the people”? Or will it let thousands of gay families remain together? I am pessimistic, but we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is reportedly all booked up…the media is just clamoring to get his take. Check out an interview with Mayor Newsom and hear his thoughts after the jump.
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Another Anti-Latino Hate Crime Hits the News Two Months After It Happened

7:01 am By Maegan La Mala · California| Immigration| Justice · 1 Comment

16 Jan 2009

On November 19th of last year, a 19 year old Latino male was was knocked unconscious and then repeatedly stomped and kicked in the head by individuals who allegedly have ties to a white supremacist gang. The unidentified young man has permanent brain damage and is now in a long term care facility. In other words, his life will never be the same. The attack, which was clearly attempted murder, happened in Hemet, California, an area that has had a growing white white supremacist activity.

Crystal Lee McCann, 22, Derek Shane O’Brien, 22 and Darrin Peter Thibault, 24, were arrested between Dec. 19 and Thursday in connection with the Nov. 14 beating of a 19-year-old Latino whose name has not been released.

Thibault, arrested Dec. 19, has been arraigned on charges of attempted murder, membership in a criminal gang and assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, with gang, serious felony and great bodily injury allegations, according to court records.

McCann, arrested Dec. 26, has pleaded not guilty to attempting to dissuade a witness and gang allegations. She is to be arraigned Tuesday.

O’Brien was arrested Thursday on suspicion of attempted murder, violation of probation and membership in a criminal street gang. He is also to be arraigned Tuesday.

The first person arrested, Justin Tyme Hayes, 21, has been charged with attempted murder and participating in a criminal street gang, with serious felony, great bodily injury and gang activity allegations. He has pleaded not guilty.

East L.A. Might be on its Way to Becoming a City

10:40 am By Maegan La Mala · California| Cities| Los Angeles| Politics| society · 1 Comment

11 Jan 2009

Latino neighborhoods in the U.S. — New York’s El Barrio, San Francisco’s Mission District, and East Los Angeles – often seem to visitors like cities unto themselves because of their uniqueness, culture and community feel. “East Los” wants to turn that “feel” into something tangible by becoming an city independent from Los Angeles, and this week they have taken the first steps towards accomplishing this goal. Reports The Los Angeles Times:

…on Friday, the community took a major step toward gaining independence. County officials announced that backers had gathered enough signatures for the cityhood process to formally begin. Boosters hope residents will cast ballots on the question in 2010.

First, a major study has to confirm what a much smaller, earlier study asserted: that the neighborhood of 140,000 can sustain itself economically as what would be L.A. County’s 10th-largest city.

On Friday, supporters who were gathered along Whittier Boulevard said they were confident of victory, even as they prepared to go door to door to raise $100,000 to pay for the study.

11,000 people signed the petition for East L.A.’s cityhood, getting the cause past its first big hurdle.

The last time cityhood for East L.A. was attempted was back in 1974. Supporters say it’s necessary that East Los become a city because it has no local governance (and therefore no government accountability) and its 127,000 residents live under the auspices of a county official which represents over 2 million constituents.

Via / L.A. Times and Cityhood for East L.A.

Image via ikkoskinen on Flickr

Responses to the Oscar Grant Shooting

8:21 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism| California · Comments Off

9 Jan 2009

Reactions to the shooting death of unarmed Oscar Grant by BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle have ranged from sad “not again”, to anger in the streets of Oakland.

Mayor Ron Dellums stood before a fuming crowd on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday night trying to restore calm after angry protesters rampaged through the streets of downtown Oakland creating a surreal near-riot that lasted several hours. ‘Number one let s deal with each other with respect ‘ Dellums told the crowd over a bullhorn.

Mala’s Sabado Morning Reading

20 Dec 2008

Grab your cup of coffee this snow covered morning and read these links with me.

One couple and their 18 children and no, they are not Latino.

One attorney (and I know many more), thinks Cali’s Prop. 8 is unconstitutional and should be overturned.

Workers who took over their closing factory in Chicago finally got their settlement checks.

Wanna smell like carne?

Have a beautiful sabado!

Prop 8 is Winning, Gay Couples Losing in California

5 Nov 2008

It’s 11 a.m. in Barcelona, and 2 a.m. in San Francisco, my home city. And after waking up to the news of the Obama win, celebrating it with people here, feeling overjoyed at the fact that 8 years of Republican reign is finally over and the impact that will have on the world, and that a person of color is in the White House…I got a sinking feeling. I climbed down off my cloud and back to reality to have a look at the voting returns on California’s Proposition 8.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Prop 8, it is a state ballot measure which would amend the California constitution to limit marriage to unions between a man and a woman, effectively making gay marriage illegal. You might remember that a few months back the California Supreme Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to marry was unconstitutional. Marriages followed, among them that of TV star Ellen DeGeneres and her partner actress Portia De Rossi.

With 80% of precincts reporting, it looks like my fellow Californians have spoken, and their words are not what I expected. Prop 8 is winning by 4 percent, and the trend is likely to remain the same once all the votes are counted.

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