Spring is around the corner and the smell of leather is in the air. No, I don’t mean from chaps or whips…. but softball gloves. (sorry to disappoint) You can also hear the pounding of cleats in the dirt. Ahhh, spring time! As many of you know there is a local LGBT-Straight Ally softball team, the Fresno Skittles. They play on Wednesday nights at the sports complex located at Jensen & West. Their first game is March 3rd at 7:00 pm, please go out and cheer them on!

 
I am now proud to announce the creation of their sister team, the Visalia Skittles. We are set to begin our first season in a few weeks. We will play on Friday nights at Plaza Park. Our first game will be March 19th, we hope to see and hear you out there cheering us on as well!
 
Both teams serve two purposes within our community. They provide a safe outlet and recreation source for sports minded enthusiasts. Plus, they get out there and mingle with mainstream society for some great exposure and interaction. It’s also a good opportunity and perfectly legal, to kick a little heterosexual ass! (in a nice way, of course)
 
We hope to have a fundraiser exhibition game soon to benefit Gay Fresno & Gay Visalia, divisions of Gay Central Valley, who sponsor both teams. Stay tuned for more details in the near future.
 
In closing, whatever town you live in or near, get out there and root for your local team. If you have questions or would like to know more about the Fresno team you can contact Liz at Escalante30@sbcglobal.net or Brooke at Brooke@GayVisalia.com for the Visalia team. If you want to expand our rainbow to your town, contact us and get something going! See you on the field, GO SKITTLES!

Join Gay Central Valley @The Fresno Express on Wednesday, March 17th for our St Patrick's Day Fundraiser. $3 Cover benefits Gay Central Valley and it's website divisions...Beer Pong Competition...Leprechaun Bartender...$4 Tokyo Tea...Doors Open @9pm...Come join the fun...

MORE Entertainment, Specials, Raffle item listing COMING SOON!

Gay Central Valley, which runs GayFresno.com, GayVisalia.com and GayHanford.com needs your help. Our workload has increased since becoming an official nonprofit, and our wonderful volunteers need an extra computer. We have found a computer but we find ourselves in need of a used or new LCD Computer Monitor, at least 14" or larger. If you or anyone you know has such a monitor they no longer need and would like to donate it to Gay Central Valley, please contact Jason Scott at (559) 325-4429 or Chris Jarvis through the ABOUT US page on www.gayfresno.com

Donations are fully tax deductible.

That intense heavy silence like at a wedding when the vows are being read was evident on Valentine's day at the County Court's office. The onlookers leaned in and attuned themselves to the tone and emotional truth as each person declared their love for the other. County officials and policemen bowed their heads respectfully. Some onlookers wiped away tears. The journey of this couples relationships had obviously begun. Their love was real but no marriage licenses was issued by the county clerk, Victor Salazar. Mr. Salazar explained, “Due to the passage of Prop 8, I am not allowed to issue you a marriage license.”

            One couple approached the counter and introduced their betrothed and declared their love before being turned away without a marriage license.

            “What if I marry this woman," Jason Garrigus said, seemingly grabbing a woman from the crowd. “Would you issue a wedding license to us to be married?”

            “Yes, we would,” Mr. Salazar said.

            “Well, I don't love her. I love this man and I want to be married to this man,” Garrigus said.

            Mr. Salazar later said, “When I took this office I took an oath. I  am duty-bound to uphold the constitution...Even if I were to marry someone, it would not be valid.”

            The couples went up one after another like soldiers charging a fortress but in war, you can see the enemy, here it is not visible. It was the law, a concept floating around that has stonewalled the LGBT community from joining in legal matrimony. This proposition keeps one group in and one group out.

            Outside, lesbian, gay, transgender and supporters of same-sex marriage stood hugging and crying and laughing and  regaining their energy and emotion as they supported each other and regrouped in their efforts.

            Garrigus and his fiancée, David Zandt stood surrounded by television cameras and reporters. “It's important that we do this!” Garrigus proclaimed. “Marriage is a symbol to everyone of what we already feel together.”

            Kate Baldridge saw the big picture as she stood beside her legally recognized domestic partner, Elizabeth Chase.  “It hurts,” Baldridge said. “It's obviously painful. It doesn't feel good to walk up and be turned away. It is another thing that has to be done.” The County of Fresno and the state of California have to know that the LGBT community will not fade away or accept a second-class status. Baldridge and Chase had to pay an extra $23.00 for a domestic partner license in comparison to straight couples who file for domestic partnership. This fee funds research on LGBT domestic violence abuse. They begrudgingly paid but they are not satisfied. Domestic partners are not privileged with some 1200 federal rights that married couples are. Baldridge and Chase will play the system to beat the system. They'll be going to Iowa this summer to marry. They know the state of California will honor their marriage. “We want the legitimacy and the recognition to say 'this is my spouse or wife,' ”Baldridge said.

            This 'legitimacy' is not a self-indulgent desire to be loved and accepted by all. This legitimacy is about the law. With this legitimacy comes all the privilege of ownership, inheritance and protection under the law. With this legitimacy, a gay, lesbian or transgender couple can marry and build an estate that their spouse is legally bound to.

            Jason Scott from Marriage Equality USA explained the “The word 'marriage' has legitmacy and 'partnership' doesn't. Partnership means many different things. At a company level, employers from out-of-state companies have the option to offer benefits to partners. They have to give those benefits to spouses.”

            The LGBT's and all the supporters of same-sex marriage in Fresno and in California are not going away. They are only reloading, aligning and preparing because they will return to the ballot box and this time they plan to tear down that wall.

Hello and welcome to my article on current events taking place in our valley. First allow me to introduce myself. I am Jordan Garcia. So I will now get right to the point and cover the issues that we as citizens face and could have an impact on us. 

I assume you have all have heard some talk of a water crisis. Well it is true. California is in a bind with its level of clean water. It is in the Sacramento - San Joaquin river delta where water is pumped from the rivers and then goes through a treatment process. You can find more info here at http://www.waterinfo.org/taxonomy/term/540.

On August 31st 2007 California federal judge Oliver Wanger put a tight hold on the water uses of the delta to protect an endangered fish called the delta smelt. This fish is important because it is low in the food chain and serves as the food source for many other fish and also some birds of prey. So its extinction would have obvious consequences on the wildlife in that area.  Also another huge problem arose. The limited water has had a disastrous effect on our agriculture, which California relies heavily on for jobs and money as well as its reputation as the best supplier of produce in the entire world. Many farmers have had no choice but to give up their profession and dig up what they have tried to grow and make a living off of. More recently, on February 6 of this year the water pumping limits have been temporarily lifted in hopes to meet both environmentalist and struggling farmers half way. Many people still doubt that this temporary lift on the strict water regulations will solve much. The question still remains on the survival of the delta smelt and more importantly the survival of our agricultural system that without would have a horrifying impact on the state of California as many jobs and money would be lost. In this time a loss of jobs is the last thing we need.

In more bizarre and unfortunate news in Los Banos California. A 53 year old man and his dog went hunting for ducks by highway 152. The man set his shotgun down and his black Labrador retriever mix stepped on the gun and shot its master in the back! Luckily doctors were able to treat the wounds and release the man within a few hours. I suppose this ordeal raises the question is a dog truly man's best friend? Perhaps the man went cheap on his dog food or maybe made him sleep outside in the cold? Was it a crime of revenge for mistreatment?  Was it a crime of passion? Of course not. It is obviously a freak accident and a very easy one to make jokes about in bad taste. I'm sure the man and his dog will have many more hunting trips together, and I am certain they will go much more smoothly.

In other news, on valentine's day many same sex couples showed up to the Fresno county office to be married only to be turned down due to Prop 8. A proposition that was pushed by the religious and the right wing and barely passed in November of 2008 . They watched many opposite sex couples tie the knot and become legally married, yet they could not. Some may come to the conclusion that clerk Victor Salazar seems to promote and encourage this biased proposition, but whether he is biased or not we do not know. He is only enforcing a change to our constitution that is very clear that only opposite sex couples can have the basic human right to legally marry the one they love. After all homosexuals can vote, can fight in the military and die and kill for their nation, but only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret. All for a country that does not allow them the same rights as a heterosexual person. Maybe they should settle and be satisfied with having less rights than their heterosexual neighbors? Well I am very certain that we all find that kind of thinking to be foolish and unfair. This nation was founded on the principle that all men are created equally and should share the same rights and no one should be denied those rights! The fact that a proposition such as prop 8 could even make it into our states constitution is sickening and goes against the very principle that all have equal rights!  I was proud to hear of the fact that homosexual couples went and demanded the right to marry, because by all logical means they have every right to marry! The day will come when elections will roll around again. That will be the time where we all as people can correct the mistake that is prop 8 and allow homosexual couples to marry as they should have that right in the first place.

Well that concludes this news column on recent valley events. I hope you all benefit from it and I look forward to bringing you the next column. Good day and stay safe.