Below is an excerpt from the Facebook page for Councilman Robert Garcia and Councilman Patrick O’Donnell, both supports or bring the waves back to Long Beach!

As you know, we are strong supporters of cleaning our water and bringing waves back to Long Beach by reconfiguring the Breakwater. Wave activity will improve our water quality, stimulate tourism, and boost our local economy by making our beaches a new and exciting destination. We can do all this while protecting our coastal homes and the Port of Long Beach.

If the decision is released as expected, then on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 the City Council will vote on whether to move forward and partner with the Army Corps on an extensive feasibility study. This will be a historic vote, and decide the future of our local beaches.

We encourage you to attend the June 22 City Council meeting and voice your support for a federal feasibility study. The meeting starts at 5pm.

Feel free to call our offices (562) 570-6919 (Councilmember Robert Garcia) or (562) 570-6918 (Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell) if you have any questions.

Also, please help spread the word – feel free to forward this email, Tweet it, or post it on your Facebook wall.

Thank you!

Councilmember Robert Garcia
Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell

For more information on this event please visit the Facebook Event page here.

For a great, informative film by Grant Eads on the history of the Breakwater click here.

***NOTICE: This event is an extension of the already scheduled “Take Back The Night” event. To view details – click here! ***

A member of our community and our family has been attacked and it is time to ACT!

As I am sure you have heard, on April 15, there was a vicious attack at CSU Long Beach. A 27-year-old transgender student was attacked in the men’s restroom near Lecture Hall 151. He was pushed into a stall, had his shirt pulled over his head and had the word “IT” brutally carved into his chest with a knife.

Actions like these continue to go unnoticed and unmentioned. It took nearly 8 days for the University to release ANY NEWS regarding the attack. This silence is deadly and this silence is what our community had grown accustomed to… but no longer!

I hope you will join me in protest of this kind of violence and show CSULB that they cannot forget about our community and they cannot they cannot sweep an attack like this under the rug. I am proud to say that the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club is standing along side several campus organizations to bring visibility to our community and make sure our voice is heard!

******SCHEDULE*****
7pm, Maxson Plaza: Speaker’s Rally
8pm: March through campus
9pm, Soroptimist House: InterACT performance skit: Sexual Assault, followed by Speakout facilitated by YWCA

“The State of the City is the people’s speech and plays an important part of the civic process,” said Mayor Foster. “Last year marked the first time in a decade where the State of the City was available to the general public for free. There was a great response and I’m delighted that we could move to a larger venue to accommodate more people.”

Attendees can reserve their tickets by calling 562-570-5089 or through www.StateofLB.com. Residents are encouraged to reserve their tickets as soon as possible as there are a limited number of seats in the Terrace Theater. Four tickets may be reserved per street address.

WHEN: 7:00 p.m. – State of the City Tuesday, January 12, 2010

WHERE: Terrace Theater at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center 300 East Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, CA 90802

Organizers have planned a night rally for Wednesday, November 4th! The protest in response to Maine’s decision to overturn Same Sex Marriage and other equality unjustices.   A New Orleans-style funeral, full of jazz and charisma, will lead us around the march route until we finish in front of “The Black Cat”/Le BarCito, where WE FOUGHT BACK against police raids even before Stonewall!

SPEAKERS TO INCLUDE:
* Marquita Thomas
* John Perez
* Father Geoff Farrow
* Eugene Hedlund (Truth & Hope)
* John Henning

Voice of God: Rick Watts

SPONSORED BY:
* Equality Network
* Love Honor Cherish
* OUT West
* Courage Campaign
* Allied Women for Equality
* Stonewall Democratic Club

WHERE:  Vermont & Santa Monica Blvd, Red Line Metro Station Plaza, Los Angeles, CA

Day of Decision on Proposition 8
Rally at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, May 26
Meet at the corner of Alamitos/Broadway and
March to Bixby Park Bandshell (Junipero/Second) for rally.

The California Supreme Court will announce its decision on Proposition 8 Tuesday, May 26th. If it follows past practice, the court will make its announcement at about 10 AM Pacific Time (1 PM, Eastern / 12 noon Central).

For more information, click here.

On April 23, at 7pm – 8:30pm, The Center Long Beach and Long Beach Equality will be hosting a townhall meeting at The Art Theater in Long Beach, CA. These townhall meetings are happening through Centers across California. Come and participate in this live webcast townhall where the following will occur:

~ D-Day
~ Meet in the Middle
~ GetToKnowUsFirst.org, John Ireland, Project Organizer
~ Lambda Legal, Jenny Pizer, Esq., Sr. Counsel and Marriage Project Director
~ Tom Crowe and Ján Montoya, LB Equality
~ Q and A. Learn how to get involved. Learn how to contribute to the Statewide LGBT response to Calif. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision.

Please join us for an evening of answers to our many questions regarding Prop 8. Have a question regarding Prop 8 that you’d like answered? You can submit your questions in advance to QUESTIONS@LBEquality.org.

Stay tuned for more details. For more information on other townhall meetings, go to Equality California’s website (http://lbequality.org/).

If you’re unable to attend you can view the event at either: http:// www.ustream.tv/channel/lb-equality-town-hall or www.centerlb.org

The Art Theatre is next door to The Center: 2025 E. 4th St., Long Beach.

The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Each year the event has grown, now with hundreds of thousands of students coming together to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior.  For more information visit the day of silence website.

There will be a rally for Marriage Equality in downtown Los Angeles today from 1:00pm to 5:00pm at L.A. City Hall.  The concept of “Always a bridesmaid and never a bride” will be visually displayed at this rally in an attempt to convey the reality most GLBT people feel as they are consistently participants of other people’s weddings and never the bride or the groom.  The organizers, Always- a -bridesmaid, are requesting that supporters dress as bridesmaids and groomsman.

 Scheduled guest speakers will be Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, original plaintiffs of the California Supreme court lawsuit, Scott Boardman of the “Boardman Blog” and Leticia and Yolanda from 13LoveStories.com.  Thirteen Love Stories is a multi media advocacy project profiling the lives of 13 couples severely affected by the passage of Prop. 8.

Rally will begin at 1:00pm and end at 5:00pm. 

L.A. City Hall 200 N. Spring Street Los Angeles Ca, 90012

For more information please visit always-a-bridesmaid.org .

Tuesday will be yet another day in history for our community.  The Prop 8 decision will be announced by Supreme Court of California and should be shown beginning at 10:00 am on Tuesday on the California Channel, available to cable customers.   ForLong Beach area it appears only Charter subscribers will be able to watch a live television feed on Channel 21.  (DirectTV does not appear on the list at this time)  For a complete list of cable channels in your area visit: TheCaliforniaChannel.   You may also stop by Hot Java to see the broadcast and/or news live from their TV.

Other options include a live internet feed from The California Channel as well.  Let’s hope their site can handle the traffic of all of the interested parties from not only California but around the entire country.     You can also follow the NCL Blog as they will have reporters blogging live from the courtroom.

Tuesday is an important day.    Let’s hope it is indeed a day where civil liberties win.

The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments challenging the legality and passage of Prop. 8 on Thursday, March 5th, 2009.   The hearings will begin at 9am and will be broadcast live.  Check your local listings for times and channels.

California sits on the cusp of history.  Will March 4th, 2009 be an Eve of Justice? Or will it begin the dawn of an age of legalized discrimination?  Let the people of this State see your numbers.   Let the politicians who will be fighting for you see your numbers.  Let the politicians fighting against you see your numbers.  Change will happen and it will happen as it always does with one voice, one person, one city, one state.  Show your support by participating in a vigil in your area on Wednesday March 4th, 2009. 

Long Beach- Candle light vigil at the Long Beach City Hall from 6pm-9pm.  For more information visit www.lbequality.org.

Los Angeles – Gather at Olvera Street in Downtown from 5:30-7:30pm for vigil program,ending with a walk to CA Supreme Court (Ronald Reagan Building 300 South Spring Street Los Angeles, CA 90013) at 8:00pm for moment of silence. [map]  For more information,contact ca-losangeles@marriageequality.org.

Or visit http://www.marriageequality.org/