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Lisa Leff

Personal ties can change gay marriage attitudes

Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 7:51am

SAN FRANCISCO -- In revealing his support for same-sex marriage, President Barack Obama attributed his change in thinking to a series of key conversations and experiences. Talking to members of his staff and gay service members in committed relationships made it more difficult to justify why they should not have the right to marry, he said.

Just as influential in his thinking, according to Obama, were dinnertime conversations with his 13- and 10-year-old daughters, who have friends with two mothers or two fathers.

Gay Marriage, National Read more Comments

From left, Teresa Rowe, foreground, Kristin Orbin, facing, John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney react with other supporters of gay marriage outside the James R. Browning United States Courthouse on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 in San Francisco. A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for likely consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle, Lea Suzuki)

Calif. gay marriage ban ruled unconstitutional

Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - 2:22pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for likely consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Appeals Court, Federal Court, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gays, Proposition 8, Unconsitutional, National Read more Comments

(ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS/The Associated Press) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during her speech on human rights issues in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Dec 6, 2011. Making an unusually strong statement in defense of gay rights, Clinton says they are equal to women’s rights and racial equality and should be universal human rights. She criticized nations that criminalize gay behavior or tolerate abuse of gay, bisexual or transgendered people, though she did not identify those nations by name.

Obama, Clinton to world: Stop gay discrimination

Anne Gearan, Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - 8:30am

SAN FRANCISCO — The Obama administration’s declaration that it plans to use foreign assistance, international diplomacy and political asylum to promote gay rights abroad is a momentous step that could dangerously backfire if not pursued with delicacy and an appreciation of how the challenges faced by gays and lesbians vary by nation, human rights activists said.

Gay Rights, Hillary Clinton, Human Rights Campaign, President Barack Obama, International, National Read more Comments

(MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/The Associated Press) Demonstrators raise their hands as they vote on petitions at Sproul Plaza on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011 in Berkeley, Calif. Protesters have descended upon the campus after ReFund California, a coalition of student groups and university employee unions, called for a campus strike to protest banks and budget cuts to higher education.

Former US Labor head Reich addresses Occupy crowd

Lisa Leff, Terence Chea The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - 8:34am

BERKELEY, Calif. — Anti-Wall Street activists began rebuilding their tent encampment on the steps of the University of California, Berkeley student plaza Tuesday and cheered wildly when former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich implored them to take a moral stand against the very rich owning so much of America’s wealth.

Department of Labor, Occupy Wall Street, Protest, National Read more Comments

Occupy Oakland Calif., protesters cheer as they climb on tractor trailers loaded with shipping containers at the Port of Oakland, Wednesday Nov. 2, 2011, effectively shutting down the United States' fifth busiest port during a day of non-stop protesting in Oakland. (AP Photo, Kent Porter, Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

Emotions run high after Occupy protests in Oakland

Jason Dearen, Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, November 4, 2011 - 9:41am

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Emotions ran high as Occupy Wall Street supporters and public officials dealt with the aftermath of protests that shut down the nation's fifth-busiest port before spiraling into chaos near the movement's downtown encampment.

Occupy Wall Street, Police, Protests, National Read more Comments

(BEN MARGOT/The Associated Press) A sign is seen posted between tents at the Occupy Oakland encampment Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. Oakland is bracing for Wednesday’s citywide general strike, a hastily planned and ambitious action called by Occupy protesters a day after police forcibly removed their City Hall encampment last week. The union representing Oakland’s police officers, who had a violent clash with Occupy Wall Street protesters last week, has written an open letter to residents, pointing out that the officers are also part of “the 99 percent.” The letter also questions the mayor’s decision to give city workers the day off to participate in a Wednesday strike that seeks to shut down the Port of Oakland.

Oakland prepares to be Occupy movement epicenter

Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, November 2, 2011 - 9:29am

OAKLAND, Calif. — Oakland prepared Wednesday to again become the epicenter of Occupy Wall Street movement as local organizers aided by labor unions and advocacy groups finalized plans for a broad-based call to action that was expected to include marches, pickets outside banks, school shutdowns and an attempt to close the nation’s fifth-busiest port.

Occupy Wall Street, Police, Protests, National Read more Comments

Calif. gay marriage ban faces next legal hurdle

Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - 7:39am

SAN FRANCISCO — California's same-sex marriage ban faces its next legal test Tuesday when the state's highest court attempts to shed light on whether the voter-approved measure's backers have legal authority to appeal the federal ruling that overturned Proposition 8.

California, Courts, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, National Read more Comments

Court orders immediate halt to gay military ban

Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, July 6, 2011 - 2:25pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court ordered the U.S. government on Wednesday to immediately cease enforcing the longstanding ban on openly gay members of the military.

In a brief two-page order, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the "don't ask, don't tell" policy must be lifted now that the Obama administration has concluded it's unconstitutional to treat gay Americans differently under the law.

Courts, Gays military, National Read more Comments

Televised gay marriage hearing draws wide audience

Lisa Leff, The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, December 6, 2010 - 3:06pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- The legal fight over California's same-sex marriage ban went before a federal appeals court Monday in a televised hearing that reached a nationwide TV audience anxious for a final decision on whether the measure violates the U.S. Constitution.

The hearing before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also focused on whether supporters of voter-approved Proposition 8 have legal standing to challenge a lower court ruling that the ban was unconstitutional.

Gay Marriage, National Read more Comments

(ERIC RISBERG/The Associated Press) Stuart Gaffney holds up a sign while celebrating the decision in the U.S. District Court proceedings challenging Proposition 8 outside of the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco on Wednesday. A federal judge has overturned California's same-sex marriage ban in a landmark case that could eventually land before the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker made his ruling Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by two gay couples who claimed the voter-approved ban violated their civil rights.

Source: Judge overturns Calif. gay-marriage ban

Lisa Leff, The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, August 5, 2010 - 12:24am

SLIDESHOW: Gay-marriage trial reaction

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge overturned California's same-sex marriage ban Wednesday in a landmark case that could eventually land before the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if gays have a constitutional right to marry in America, according to a person close to the case.

Courts, Gay Rights, LDS Church Read more Comments

Gay man says 'reversal' therapy did not change him

Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - 1:04pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Colorado gay man is testifying in a federal same-sex marriage trial about his experience undergoing so-called "reversal therapy" that attempted to change his sexual orientation.

National Read more Comments

Witness testifies kids do fine with gay parents

Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, January 15, 2010 - 5:59pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- Children raised by same-sex parents are as well-adjusted and safe from abuse as kids who grow up with a mother and father, a Cambridge University psychologist testified Friday in a federal lawsuit challenging California's same-sex marriage ban.

National Read more Comments

Prop. 8 backer questioned about child sex comment

Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 4:35pm

SAN FRANCISCO â€” A proponent of Californiaâ€™s same-sex marriage ban warned voters during the 2008 campaign that gay rights activists would try to legalize sex with children if same-sex couples had the right to wed, according to evidence presented Wednesday in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the measure.

National Read more Comments

Historian: Marriage about more than procreation

Lisa Leff, Paul Elias The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 2:46pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Harvard professor testifying in a case challenging California's gay marriage ban said Tuesday that procreation is historically not the only function of marriage.

National Read more Comments

High-stakes gay marriage trial to begin in Calif.

Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, January 7, 2010 - 10:21pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- The national debate over same-sex marriage will take center stage in a California courtroom next week at a closely watched federal trial that could ultimately become the landmark case that determines whether gay Americans have a right to marry.