By Ramy Eletreby

Schwarzenegger Will Veto Marriage Bill

On Feb 15, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a youth conference that he will veto the marriage equality bill San Francisco Assemblymember Mark Leno reintroduced last December “because the people of California have voted on that issue," The Associated Press reported.

“In suggesting that the majority of voters should decide the rights of a minority, the governor is demonstrating a lack of respect for the Constitution,” Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors told IN. “How would the governor feel if the voters were allowed to determine who he could marry or whether his family had the same rights as other people’s families?”- Karen Ocamb

Fundraiser for Liberty Hill’s LGBT Community Fund

LGBT advocates mingled Feb. 11 at the Beverly Hills home of entertainment attorney Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard, director of government relations for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, who hosted a fundraising bash to benefit the Lesbian and Gay Community Fund, a program of the Liberty Hill Foundation. Last year the fund gave $230,000 in grants to LGBT organizations such as Bienestar Human Services and Asian Pacific Islander Equality/Los Angeles. Liberty Hill’s motto is “Change, not Charity.” For more see www.libertyhill.org.– Tsai Yi Chan-Beal

Don Norman Honored by Van Ness Recovery House

To drug addicts and alcoholics desperate for comfort, guidance and spiritual sustenance on the road from addiction to recovery, Don Norman is like manna from heaven. For his years of volunteer service to the LGBT recovering community, the Van Ness Recovery House honored him on Feb. 17 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

The honor was “very important,” Norman told IN, because Van Ness “started me on the road to having a real life.”

Norman “exemplifies the word ‘service,’ Van Ness Executive Director Kathy Watt said. “His every hug means the word ‘love.’” - Karen Ocamb

CSW Calls for Honoree Nominations

Christopher Street West (CSW) wants the community to participate in the honoree nomination and selection process for the 2007 LGBT Pride Festival and Parade happening in West Hollywood June 8-10. Nominations are being accepted until Thursday, March 1.

To nominate someone to be honored this year, visit www.lapride.org to download the honorees nomination form. The completed form can be e-mailed to honorees@lapride.org, faxed to (323) 969-0761, or mailed to Christopher Street West, 7551 W. Sunset Blvd. Ste. 201, L.A. 90046.

This year’s theme is “Our Agenda: Love. Equality. Pride.”

New Study: Medical Marijuana Might Reduce Nerve Pain

According to a new University of California San Francisco study published in the Feb. 13 edition of Neurology, smoking medical marijuana might reduce the pain of peripheral neuropathy among people living with HIV/AIDS.

"The pain used to be so bad that I sometimes couldn't walk or even stand for more than a few minutes, and other drugs they gave me didn't help much or made me too dizzy," HIV patient Eric Billings, who uses medical marijuana for neuropathy, said in a Marijuana Policy Project statement. "Medical marijuana relieves my pain and gives me my mobility back when nothing else really helped."

"This study directly contradicts the federal government's assertion that marijuana is not a safe and effective medicine," said MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia. "Even though this clinical trial had to be conducted using government-supplied marijuana that's of notoriously poor quality, marijuana was shown to be safe and effective in treating a condition for which there are literally no FDA-approved treatments. It's time for our government to wake up, smell the science, and change the law to allow suffering patients legal access to medical marijuana."

For more information, go to www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

ACLU/SC to Honor Chad Allen and here! TV Founders

On March 1, gay attorneys John J. Duran and Alan L. Friel will host their annual spectacular fundraiser to benefit the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. Since 1995, the legal duo has raised at least $500,000 to fund the important position of attorney for the non-profit organization’s Lesbian and Gay Rights & AIDS Projects.

The event will honor Stephen Jarchow and Paul Colichman, founders of the here! TV Network, and openly gay actor Chad Allen, who has been unsparing in his service to the LGBT and mental health communities.

"The ACLU's commitment to preserving civil liberties and extending individual rights for all Americans is unparalleled. Their specific initiatives demanding equal protection under the law for all LGBT Americans make this honor truly special to us," Colichman and Jarchow said in a press release.

This event will mark West Hollywood City Councilmember Duran and entertainment attorney Friel’s last year serving as event hosts and on the ACLU board of directors.

The event will be held from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Colichman’s Bel Air estate. Contact John Applegate at (310) 284-8566 or johna@applegateconsulting.com for more information. – Karen Ocamb

Frontiers News Editor Aslan Brooke Remembered

On Feb 10, an intimate group of friends and co-workers gathered to remember Aslan Brooke, the longtime news editor for Frontiers magazine, who died Feb. 3 from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. She was 67.

Hired by Frontiers Publisher Bob Craig, Brooke’s experiences as a U.S. Army medic in the early 1960s served the LGBT community well when AIDS hit in the 1980s and few understood the “alphabet soup” of HIV/AIDS medical jargon. Occasionally, Brooke, a strict adherent to The Associated Press Stylebook, junked journalism for activism, getting arrested with Craig during a huge AIDS protest at the federal building and protesting the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, for example.

Brooke was also infamous among intimates for her loving obsession with forlorn cats. She left behind seven feline family members, all of whom have a new home, friend Lisa Flaglore assured the crowd.– Karen Ocamb

Attorney Gloria Allred Plays Legal Cupid on Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day, surrounded by the accoutrement of wedding cheer—balloons and a chocolate wedding cake—Robin Tyler and Diane Olson appeared at the Beverly Hills courthouse to apply for a marriage license, one of many LGBT couples nationwide participating in Freedom to Marry week.

It was their "fifth or sixth" attempt to marry, Tyler told IN. As expected, they were denied again, but the couple beamed when their attorney, Gloria Allred, presented them with a Valentine's Day present.

"This morning I filed our opening brief in the California Supreme Court in which we argue that the ban on same-gender marriage is unconstitutional," Allred told reporters, presenting Tyler and Olson the brief wrapped in pink hearts. Allred called this lawsuit "the Valentine's Day gift that will keep on giving" by making same-sex marriage legal.

Of the six marriage cases now before the California Supreme Court, their lawsuit was the first filed. All six cases—four of which are affirmative and two that seek to prohibit marriage equality—will be heard at the same time, Lambda Legal’s Jon Davidson told IN, with opening briefs due on March 19.

Meanwhile, in the build-up to Freedom to Marry week, several county clerks throughout California protested the ban by issuing letters of support for same-sex marriage. Beverly Hills courthouse clerk Letricia Sakihara was not among them.

"We are only allowed to hand them this," Sakihara told IN, referring to a paper entitled "Notice to All Interested Parties." It reads, "California State Law permits the county clerk to issue a marriage license only to an unmarried male and unmarried female. Changes to this law can only be approved by the state legislature and the governor. Please contact your state representative."

On the steps outside the courthouse, heterosexual couple Kary Perelmutter and Jodie Meyers lingered to observe the same-sex festivity. Fresh marriage license in hand, the couple joined a building chorus of straight voices throughout the country when they told IN, "We support same-sex marriage."– Tsai Yi Chan-Beal

Trevor Project Co-Founder Randy Stone Dies

Randy Stone, co-founder of The Trevor Project, died unexpectedly of heart failure at his Beverly Hills home on Feb. 12. He was 48.

At 17, Stone became a casting director, eventually casting more than 50 TV movies and winning several industry accolades, including an Emmy Award. As senior vice president for 20th Century Fox Television, he was responsible for the original casting and development of The X-Files, Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope and The Practice. Later he became a television and feature film producer.

In 1995, Stone won an Oscar for producing the short film Trevor, about a young boy’s attempted suicide. In 1998, he and Trevor partners Peggy Rajski and James Lecesne produced Ellen Degeneres Presents Trevor as a special for HBO. Realizing that questioning teens might need someone to talk to after the film, they created The Trevor Project (866-4U-TREVOR), the first 24/7 suicide prevention helpline for LGBT teens. The nonprofit organizations’ annual Cracked Xmas benefit draws celebrities and laughter.

Stone is survived by his friends, family and two dogs. A funeral service was held at Forest Lawn on Feb. 16. Donations may be sent to The Trevor Project, 9056 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 100, West Hollywood Calif., 90069. For more information about the Trevor Project, go to www.thetrevorproject.org.- Karen Ocamb