Matt Ortega

May 17 marks the fifty-fourth anniversary of the unanimous 9-0 decision in the Supreme Court on the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that ruled “separate but equal” unconstitutional.

The court case surrounded racial segregation in public schools which was, until that time, legal in the eyes of the law and overturned the decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

We as Americans celebrate this anniversary as one of many steps forward on the road to true justice and equality for all Americans.

Read more about the decision.

In a historic four to three decision, the California State Supreme Court overturned the state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, declaring that domestic partnerships were not sufficient. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

“The California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples,” Chief Justice Ronald George wrote in the majority opinion.

Allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry “will not deprive opposite-sex couples of any rights and will not alter the legal framework of the institution of marriage,” George said.

According to the Chronicle, marriages could commence as quickly as 30 days.

City officials say they’ll probably be unable to marry the same-sex couples for another 30 days when the decision fully goes into effect. But they’re making appointments for those weddings now.

The landmark decision is a huge victory for marriage equality activists and the fight against discrimination of all kinds. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-California) immediately issued a statement vowing that he would uphold the court’s ruling and that he would not support an amendment to overturn it. Conservatives in the state collected over 1.1 million signatures to have the amendment placed on the November ballot. The initiative only needs roughly 694,354 but Secretary of State Debra Bowen has yet to rule.

Brian Leubitz is compiling the reactions of local elected leaders on the ruling.

The case was spurred by the weddings overseen by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on the steps of City Hall in February and March 2004. Those marriages were later voided by the California State Supreme Court in August 2004.

Gay marriage became a hot-button, national issue in the 2004 presidential election between President Bush, then-seeking a second term, and Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts). Soon after Kerry’s defeat in November, some suggested Mayor Newsom’s actions contributed to Bush’s win due to the large mobilization of religious conservatives on the issue.

Legislation for the erection of a national Latino museum advanced through Congress this past week as part of public lands bill.

The legislation, which the White House is expected to approve, creates a 23-member panel to study the viability of a National Museum of the American Latino Community in Washington. Proponents hope the museum will rise above the din of the illegal immigration debate to highlight the contributions to U.S. society by the 45 million-strong Hispanic community.

The bill is not without opposition from the anti-immigrant right and construction will be necessary to house the exhibit in the near-packed Smithsonian.

The museum is not without strong support from Congressional Democrats:

California Democrat Rep. Xavier Becerra, who has been pushing for the commission since 2003, said the Smithsonian museum complex struck him as “phenomenal” when he first visited it as a newly minted lawyer in the mid-1980s.

But it presented “an incomplete picture of what it means to be an American.”

“This is not an issue of trying to portray one type of American or another,” he said. “It’s to try and give everyone a better sense of what it’s like to be an American.”