With same-sex marriage in full effect out in California, the state's prison officials are busy trying to set things straight for gay inmates:

No prisoners so far have sought to arrange weddings with same-sex partners since the state Supreme Court granted same-sex couples the right to wed as of mid-June, according to Michele Kane, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Nonetheless, department lawyers are drafting guidelines to bring the state's 33 adult prisons into compliance with the court's ruling that same-sex couples must be treated the same as opposite-sex couples under the California Constitution, Kane said.

What they have determined so far is that would mean allowing gay inmates to marry someone on the outside, but not a fellow prisoner — the same rules that apply to straight inmates, according to Kane.

One thing this would change, however, is who performs the marriages. Prison chaplains traditionally help couples tie the knot, but the Department's legal team may recommend chaplains leave that business to someone else. That way no one's forced to perform a marriage of which they disapprove and the prison can't get sued. Everybody wins!

Here's some promising news out of California, where a majority of voters say they oppose Proposition 8, a measure that would overturn this year's gay marriage win:

A majority of California voters oppose a ballot initiative to ban gay marriage, though they are evenly split on the practice itself, according to a poll released Wednesday.
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A majority of likely voters, 54 percent, oppose ending gay marriage, compared with 40 percent who support it, the poll said. The result is similar to the findings of a Field Poll in July, which found that 51 percent of likely California voters opposed ending gay marriage, while 42 percent said they supported it.

But when it comes to general attitudes about gay marriage, voters in the Public Policy Institute poll are evenly split, at 47 percent for and against — as they have been for the past three years.

Eh. That's fine by us. Just don't go revoking any hard fought rights…

California's Proposition 8 face-off has been raking in tons of funds:

The sponsors of Proposition 8 announced Tuesday that they have received their largest campaign contribution to date: a $1 million donation from the Knights of Columbus

The money comes on top of $250,000 the New Haven, Conn.-based Catholic fraternal organization gave in January to help qualify the measure for the November election.

Last month, the founder of the WordPerfect software company, Bruce Bastian, pledged $1 million to help defeat the initiative, which would amend the state constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman.

Bastian's gift is the largest single contribution received so far by the amendment's opponents.

This thing's become quite the pissing contest, huh?

Note to California's social conservatives: you need to get over yourselves. For the second time this year, the state's Supreme Court came out for the gays. Who could forget, of course, the monumental marriage decision earlier this year. Well, this week brought another ruling, one which may not be as explosive, but definitely has larger implications.

It all began back in 2004, when lesbian Guadalupe Benitez asked her doctors to artificially inseminate her. Citing their religious beliefs, the medical "professionals" refused, which led to a lengthy lawsuit, various appeals and, finally, a showdown at the state's Supreme Court. And the ruling will not doubt infuriate the religious right:

Doctors in California may not discriminate against gay patients on the basis of their religious beliefs, the state's supreme court ruled on Monday.
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In an unanimous decision the justices ruled that Benitez was entitled to be treated like other patients with the same condition, and that constitutional protections for religious liberty do not excuse unlawful discrimination.

Benitez took the news well, telling reporters, "This isn't just a win for me personally and for other lesbian women. It's a win for everyone." Well, except the doctors who lost…

Mazel Tov to Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi!

The lovely lesbians made honest women of one another when they tied the knot at their Beverly Hills Mansion Saturday:

De Rossi, 35, wore a backless, light pink dress, and her hair in a loose updo. DeGeneres, 50, dressed in pants, button-up shirt and vest — all in white. [Both by Zac Posen.]

Before the intimate ceremony attended by about 20 guests, "Ellen and Portia came out and posed for pictures with Ellen's mom and their two dogs," a witness tells Usmagazine.com.

"They were hugging and kissing, and looked ecstatic," the onlooker adds. "Ellen was helping Portia with the train of her dress, which looked like a Cinderella tutu."

The pair, who "were both laughing," walked "all over the lawn together holding hands and posing," the witness tells Us. "The whole afternoon seemed light-hearted."

No word on where the ladies will be taking their honeymoon, but we suggest the Greek Isles…

Slain gay teen Lawrence King's parents are making it hard to be sympathetic.

The family filed a lawsuit last week against the 15-year old's school district for "failing to enforce a dress code, which allegedly spurred Brandon McInerney to shoot King in the head last February:

The parents and brother of 15-year-old Larry King filed a personal injury claim against the Hueneme school district seeking unspecified damages.
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The claim, filed last week in Ventura County Superior Court, says administrators and teachers failed to enforce the school's dress code when King wore feminine clothing and makeup to school.

At the time of his death, King lived in a nearby youth shelter. He had been removed from his parents' home six months before, but no details have been released on what exactly went down. It seems to us the parents may not be angels in all of this.

Besides, is there a dress code saying boys can't wear makeup?

Conventional wisdom says that blacks will turn out in droves in California — and in every other state — to support Barack Obama come November 4th. Conventional wisdom also says that blacks are a generally homophobic lot who will vote for the anti-gay marriage resolution that will be on the ballot in the Golden State. So we can conclude that on election day, blacks will greatly contribute to the end of gay marriage in California. Right?

Wrong, says Timothy Stewart-Winter in the LA Times. Sure, we all know that blacks will be voting in record numbers this election, but do we really know that blacks are more against gay marriage than anyone else?

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California's voting ballots are almost set to go to print - and the Proposition 8 language will stay the same.

Right wing activists have been fighting for weeks to change wording on the measure, which would overturn this year's gay marriage win. Non-profit collective Yes on 8 claim that Attorney General Jerry Brown's harsh working would encourage a "no" vote, thus leaving same-sex nuptials in place.

Two courts have ruled against their argument and now it seems they're taking defeat gracefully. The coalition's spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns remarked, "We intend to leave the final outcome to the voters."

A recent fund raising tally shows that Proposition 8 supporters have raised about $3.7 million, while progressive parties have about $4.1 million. Approximately 51% of voters said they plan to vote against the prohibitive legislation.

Catholic bishops are getting political in California, where they've endorsed Proposition 8, the amendment some hope will ban gay marriage in the Golden State.

The California Catholic Conference issued a statement Friday strongly encouraging members of the faith "to provide both the financial support and the volunteer efforts needed for the passage of Proposition 8."

In the statement, the bishops say their position is based partly on the presumption that while all people deserve to be treated with dignity, being raised by a married mother and father is "the ideal for the well being of children."

Meanwhile, state attorney general Jerry Brown said yesterday that Proposition 8 should not - and would not - invalidate same-sex marriages that have already gone down.

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Identity politics has a way of sneaking up on you.

Once exceedingly popular among gays and many other movements, the idea that one's "minority" existence challenges higher powers has, in some ways, gone out of style.

Blame it on consumerism, blame it on relatively more inclusion, but for many people "queerness" no longer carries the same sexy, radical thrust. What's more, identity politics can be seen as divisive in this post-global world. Just look at the gendered, racialized debates that have played out during this extended presidential election.

While identity politics doesn't provide the fuel for contemporary gay rights debates - marriage, adoption, finances - it has a curious way of rearing its complex head.

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