Cali Gay Laws Passed

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the beloved governor of California, is a bill signing machine! Though he vetoed a law that would put more anti-bully protections in place for gay students, he did approve two other gay friendly laws.

The first came in the form of the not so cleverly titled “Civil Rights Housing Act of 2006,” which makes it illegal for landlords and the rest to deny people housing because they’re gay.

Meanwhile, “The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act” seeks to end so-called “gay panic” defense: the use of surprise over someone’s gayness as defense for killing them, as nearly happened with the killers of trannie teen, Gwen Araujo.

365 Gay reports:

The bill also requires the Judicial Council to adopt a jury instruction that tells jurors not to consider bias against people because of sexual orientation, gender identity or other characteristics in rendering a verdict.

Um, that’s nice, but isn’t that the point of a jury, anyway?