A federal judge today declined to temporarily block enforcement of Proposition 8, but placed the federal legal challenge over California's anti-gay marriage Constitutional amendment on the court’s fastest track to trial.

All sides in the battle seek to take the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court; the judge told a packed courtroom that his job is to establish as full a record as possible on the issue of gay marriage because his will not be the final word in the case.

"What happens here is only a prelude to what is going to happen later,''... [full story]

Although he considered pulling Michael Jackson’s belongings from the auction of celebrity memorabilia he had scheduled for Friday and Saturday, West Hollywood’s Julien’s Auction House owner Darren Julien said the resulting revenue “showed the love in Michael Jackson’s fans’ hearts.”

The 21 Michael Jackson items he had to auction, part of an offering numbering in the hundreds, pulled in $205,000, or 50 times the original estimates of $10,000 to $12,000.

“We scheduled this in December,” he said, “and it was pure coincidence that Michael, who we knew well, died the day before the auction.”... [full story]

The Planning Commission found out in mid-June that two new double-sided and over-sized (as much as 30 feet tall) billboards stand on the Sunset Strip anchoring a new city operated 39-space parking lot.

The billboards, which stand 10 feet taller than any West Hollywood would ordinarily allow, came as part of the deal made with landowner Regency Outdoor Advertising, Inc. that adds the stalls to the parking-plagued WeHo entertainment district as a result of the settlement of “several lawsuits…”

Jeanne Dobrin declaimed the tradeoff of billboard blight for 39 parking spots by saying that “Regency has us by the short hairs.”... [full story]

In a series of videos and press releases, West Hollywood’s most infamous citizen, blogger Perez Hilton, defended his use of hate speech that led to an alleged assault on him in Toronto earlier this week.

In an emotional and profanity-laden video released on Tuesday, Mr. Hilton claimed he called Black Eyed Peas band member will.i.am a "fag" and a "faggot" because “it was the worst thing that thug would ever want to hear.”

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation responded by pointing out that hate speech underlies most anti-gay violence and that his use of those anti-gay slurs legitimizes it.... [full story]

Facing trial for murder after allegedly beating and running a man over with his SUV, Wehoan rapper David Jassey has filed a motion with the court claiming he acted in self defense.

The Swedish-born rapper, age 35, claims that he feared for his life after his SUV rolled into the crosswalk almost hitting Mr. Osnes, himself a piano player.

Mr. Osnes reacted to that by slapping the SUV’s hood and shouting something, witnesses said, to which Mr. Jassy responded by jumping out of his truck and punching and kicking Mr. Osnes. Mr. Jassey then allegedly ran him over with his truck.... [full story]

The God Hates Fags folks swung by Fairfax High School last week to protest the election of a gay man as prom queen.

The group, a congregation from Topeka, Kansas recently grown infamous for picketing soldiers’ funerals (celebrating their deaths and praying for more because they defend America’s homosexuals), descended on West Hollywood not because they hate gays, but because God hates homosexuals and they find it their Christian duty to communicate God’s word.... [full story]

Buffeted by recent attempts to stop redevelopment from demolishing the West Hollywood’s considerable historic housing stock, the council decided before Sal Guarriello’s death to make it more difficult for preservationists to nominate properties for cultural heritage protections.

The amendments to existing law would lengthen the time between possible nominations from five to ten years, as well as shorten the time for appeals of the council’s denial of historic status to 12 months... [full story]

In an exclusive interview with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom while he was in West Hollywood for the CSW LA Gay Pride Parade, he revealed an intertwined social agenda and economic agenda for solving California’s ills if he were to become Governor in 2010.

Saying that, “San Francisco, West Hollywood, Berkeley and Santa Monica… all have a thread that reflects a similar set of values; economically, they are among the most economically vibrant in the state – in the world,” he asserted that, as governor, he would seek to replicate those cities’ progressive social policies statewide.... [full story]