While the overturning, and subsequent appeals, surrounding Prop H8 have been the big news in California, the state legislature, on a decidedly, and I must say refreshing, bipartisan roll has unanimously passed a bill to repeal the antiquated language in the California Welfare and Institutions code that tells the California Department of Mental Health to conduct research into the “causes and cures of homosexuality,” implying that gay people are inherently sexual deviants, potential sex offenders and a threat to children.
And can be, or in fact need, a cure.
The State Senate also passed a joint resolution which calls on President Obama and Congress to immediately repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA], which explicitly forbids the federal government or any federal agency from recognizing state-sanctioned marriages between same-sex couples. That resolution also passed by a bipartisan vote of 22-12.
Who says Republicans and Democrats can't work together?
They may not be doing it in Washington, but at least in these two instances, these two gay-friendly instances, their doing it in California.
I'm proud of these accomplishments but I'll really be impressed when my state can pass a bipartisan budget, something that may never happen in my lifetime.
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