Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Monday, October 27, 2008

Apple, Gays, Google, And Religion

From Apple gives $100,000 to fight California gay marriage ban by Prince McLean:

Apple has joined Google in publicly opposing California's Proposition 8, a measure intended to ban the rights of gay Californians to legally marry, and has contributed $100,000 to defeat the measure.

Both companies have a history of remaining politically neutral, but have chosen to take sides on this issue because it relates directly to the civil rights and opportunities of their employees.
The No on 8 campaign notes that "Virtually every major paper in California is against Prop 8. The L.A. Times says it is 'a drastic step to strip people of rights.' La Opinión called Prop 8 'an unnecessary initiative.' The San Diego Union Tribune wrote that Prop 8 'offends many Californians' sense of fairness.'"

Apple's $100,000 contribution to the No on 8 campaign is significant because the effort to stop the proposition has been systematically outgunned by out-of-state religious groups, who have poured cash into TV advertisements that threaten dire consequences if gays' right to marry continue in the state. Among other claims, the ads state that if the proposition isn't passed, California schools will force children to study gay marriage.

That claim prompted California Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell to announce that the proposition "has nothing to do with schools or kids. Our schools aren't required to teach anything about marriage, and using kids to lie about that is shameful."
A thank you to Irate Weirdos.

Friday, May 9, 2008

California And Stem Cell Research

From A big standing ovation to California! by Skepdude:

Now California may have a Republican governor, but it is leading the pack when it comes to stem cell research. California has been able to push aside the dogmatic, religious arguments against stem cell research that our dear president seems to be so fond of and has awarded another $271 million in grants to build 12 stem cell research centers, as part of its stem cell program which is set to spend up to $3 billion over a decade.