Homosexuals

The legacy of Harvey Milk has had a very good year. Three decades after California's first openly gay elected leader was gunned down in San Francisco City Hall, Milk has been celebrated by an Oscar-winning film, named to the state Hall of Fame and lauded by President Obama. But despite those posthumous accolades, a legislative push to create a day of recognition for Milk became one of the most contentious issues in the Capitol this year. The proposal, which passed the Legislature on Thursday, is among more than a dozen gay rights bills offered in the aftermath of Proposition 8, last November's ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California.

Every Easter weekend for the last two decades, gay men have flocked to Palm Springs for Jeffrey Sanker's White Party. Poised to celebrate its 20th anniversary next weekend, it's equal parts dance, pool, costume and networking extravaganza and has grown from a smallish spring bash on the outskirts of acceptability to a mainstream party that attracts nearly 30,000 revelers.

Leaders of the Episcopal Church, gathering in Anaheim for their first national convention in three years, reopened fractious debate this week over whether to authorize marriage rites for same-sex couples and to repeal a de facto ban on the consecration of gay bishops. The issues have caused painful divisions in the 2.1-million-member denomination, which in recent years has seen dozens of parishes and four conservative dioceses, including one in Central California, break away.

Progressives in the Episcopal Church were on the verge of claiming another victory Wednesday as leaders endorsed the creation of blessing liturgies for same-sex unions one day after they ended a de facto ban on the ordination of gay bishops. The action by bishops at the church's General Convention in Anaheim left conservatives with little to celebrate. They said the twin measures would further divide the 2.

A federal judge weighing a constitutional challenge to Proposition 8 said Tuesday that he was not likely to suspend the anti-gay marriage law without a trial. In an order, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said blocking the law before a trial might "inject still further uncertainty in an important area of concern and interest to the state and its citizens." The federal lawsuit was filed shortly before the California Supreme Court in May upheld the state constitutionality of Proposition 8.

In the latest skirmish over Proposition 8, the state's ethics agency and Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown filed briefs in federal court this week challenging an attempt to change campaign finance disclosure laws. Supporters of the November ballot measure that banned gay marriage went to court earlier this month seeking to throw out a decades-old state law that requires the names and personal information of campaign contributors be made public.

Brad Levenson and Tony Sears spent Thursday fielding congratulatory calls from gay rights supporters around the nation for their success in getting a federal judge to call into question the legality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S.

Todd Camp and some friends had just marked the 40th anniversary of the police raid on New York's Stonewall Inn by screening a documentary on the historic gay riots and then heading for drinks at the Rainbow Lounge. Camp remembered looking across the bar, packed with gay and some straight couples, and marveling how much times had changed since Stonewall -- the spark that ignited the gay rights movement. And then the police came.

Echo Park resident Joseph Lee doesn't necessarily look like the leader of a musical movement. Blanketed in thug-like tattoos, a menacing goatee and often photographed in bandanna and Tupac Shakur tee, Lee could easily pass for a long-lost member of Cypress Hill. Yet under the sobriquet Deadlee, Lee is arguably Los Angeles' most prominent gay rapper, having helped organized the first national "homo-hop tour."

At St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach, the Rev. Richard Crocker told parishioners Sunday to await the "good news of a God who's with us," an upbeat message despite a recent legal ruling that could strip the congregation of its property because of its break with the Episcopal Church. At St. John's Cathedral near downtown Los Angeles, whose congregation has remained within the Episcopal fold, the Very Rev. Canon Mark R.