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PRIMARIES: Fiorina, Whitman Win CA; Openly Gay Lara to CA Assembly

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina emerged as the winners in the California gubernatorial and Senate Republican primaries. 

The Los Angeles Times:

"The results gave women the Republican nominations for the two most powerful statewide political offices for the first time. Democrats on Tuesday confirmed the obvious, selecting Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown as their nominee to the governor's office he first held in 1975, and Barbara Boxer to seek her fourth term in the U.S. Senate. Both had only nominal competition. Whitman was decisively ahead of state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner from the first returns. Poizner had spent $24 million of his own money on the race, but the former EBay chief buried his donation with at least $71 million of her own, a California record. The results set a November match-up between Brown, 72, a career politician who has been secretary of state, governor and Oakland mayor before his current post, and Whitman, 53, who volunteered in the 2008 presidential campaign but whose previous political involvement before that was so tentative that she rarely voted."

Brown was a vocal foe of Proposition 8, refusing to defend the initiative in court and declared it violated the state and federal Constitution. Whitman supported Prop 8 and still doesn't believe gays are equal under the law.

Karen Ocamb at LGBT POV wraps the LGBT and LGBT-friendly candidates that triumphed in local races, including the election of the second openly gay Latino to the California Assembly.

"As of midnight, with more than half of the precincts reporting, Victoria Kolakowski, a transgender administrative law judge and attorney for over 20 years is leading in her race for Alameda County Superior Court Judge with 46.11% of the vote, compared to her nearest competitor with 31.52% of the vote...In Southern California, openly gay Ricardo Lara, a founding member of HONOR PAC, appears to have won his race in the 50th Assembly District in the East LA area. He becomes the second openly gay Latino in the state Legislature in California history...And in what openly gay Assembly Speaker John A. Perez described as a “huge win,” pro-gay Democrat Matt Gatto beat National Organization for Marriage favorite Sunder Ramani who 'used H8 card with the Armenian community,' which backfired."

California's 50th Assembly District is in Los Angeles County and includes Bell Gardens, Commerce, Lynwood and South Gate. Lara joins Speaker John A. Pérez as the legislature's second openly gay Latino.

The Victory Fund has complete results on openly gay candidates across the nation.

Outgoing California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass won the Democratic primary for California's 33rd congressional seat in Los Angeles, reports the Los Angeles Times. "Bass, termed out of the Assembly and running to succeed Rep. Diane Watson (D- Los Angeles) in one of only two open congressional seats in California this year, trounced political newcomer Felton Newell, a deputy Los Angeles city attorney, and two other Democrats."  Bass has supported LGBT rights and marriage equality and was quite critical at the racial hostility directed at the black community by some gay activists after the passage of Proposition 8.

And in Arkansas, conservative Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln survived a run-off from progressive candidate Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. "Lincoln used a down-home pitch and the clout of the Democratic establishment to turn back Halter, the unions and an anti-incumbent tide that had already claimed two Senate colleagues. She defined herself as a sensible moderate in a polarized capital and leaned heavily on endorsements from President Obama and Bill Clinton."

Lincoln has opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA),  and much of the President's health care reform. The new SEIU president, out lesbian labor activist Mary Kay Henry, warned her union would withhold ALL support (cash and volunteers) from Lincoln if she wins the primary.

WATCH: John Pérez Sworn In, California's 1st Openly Gay Speaker

John A. Pérez is sworn in as the new Speaker of the California Assembly, the first openly gay man to hold the powerful position. During his swearing-in, Pérez refelected on the historical significance of his appointment, reported the Sacramento Bee.

"'As a 16-year-old, I stood in awe on the floor of this great chamber. I was overcome by the history of this place, where our very laws are debated and created. It never occurred to me that I could one day stand here amongst you as a member, much less as a speaker.' When he was a teenager, Pérez said, the Capitol had little history of welcoming Latinos or openly gay legislators. Pérez is both Latino and gay, he noted, and 'now I have have more certainty about what is really possible in California.' "

Pérez replaces Karen Bass, the state's first black female Assembly Speaker,  and was sworn in by California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, whom you may recall was the sole justice to cast a vote against Proposition 8.

Watch the ceremony AFTER THE JUMP ...

California Assembly Selects John Perez as Its 1st Openly Gay Speaker

History is made this afternoon in California as Assembly Democrats chose Assemblyman John A. Pérez as their new speaker, making the first-term Democrat the first openly gay man to hold one of the most powerful posts in state government.

Assembly Dems "settled an internal fight" and "unanimously backed" the freshman Los Angeles legislator who chairs the Assembly Democratic Caucus. Pérez was challenged in the speakership race by Democratic Assemblyman Kevin De Leon, a fellow Hispanic lawmaker. The speaker-elect reportedly had the votes earlier this week and questions were raised as to why De Leon was publicly challenging Perez.

Perez, cousin of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, will replace current Speaker Karen Bass, who became the first black female speaker. Bass will be forced out of the Legislature by term limits next year.

The nomination now goes before the full Assembly, but the candidate with the most Democratic support usually wins because Democrats hold a majority of seats in the 80-member Assembly.

California Speaker Bass: No on 8 "Bypassed Black LGBT Leadership"

If there is one thing you read today, make sure it's this interview with California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass in the Sacramento Bee. The states highest ranking black politician is "appalled" at the racial hostility directed at the black community by gay media and activists after the passage of Proposition 8. Bass slams the No on 8 campaign for failing to engage black voters, neglecting to cast black gays and lesbians in advertising and "bypassing black LGBT leadership" .. you know, the same things we've been saying for two weeks.

Bass, who opposed Proposition 8, said she was "appalled at how quickly some members of the LBGT leadership went there, as opposed to saying, 'what did we or didn't we do in the campaign?'"

The No on 8 campaign, she said, failed to do enough campaigning in the black community "and the LBGT leadership is looking back at that."

"I do think that people have pulled back a way from some of the hostility - I mean it got out of hand," she said.

Bass said she was contacted by some LBGT "leaders who asked me if I would be helpful in terms of negotiating and mediating."

"I declined because I felt that they were bypassing black LBGT leadership," she said. Bass said leaders in the gay community need to do a better job of outreach in the black community.

The reports of No on 8's recent contact with Bass and several prominent black California politicians has infuriated some black LGBT activists. And rightly so.

"Under no circumstances should you think that you can just sideline the Black gay community," Jasmyne Cannick writes. "And go directly to our elected officials or the Black leaders you’ve deemed 'safe' without addressing us, and that means all of us, even the one’s that you don’t like. We’ve already spoken to our electeds on this issue and made it clear that it’s not going down. We may not give them the money that you do, but we live in their districts and actually vote for them ... whereas most of you do not."

Cannick and a number of black activists in California, straight and gay, plan a series of town hall meetings in Los Angeles, Oakland and San Diego to discuss homophobia, gay rights, and to slowly bring the community over the marriage. Cannick has some not-so-subtle advice for the No on 8 activists: Stay sat home and let "the Black community have a discussion about this among themselves without the interference of outsiders, who in my opinion have only made the issue worse and only aided in the invisibility of Black gays."

Look, we have disagreed with Jasmyne on a number of issues, including marriage, but when she's right she is right. The No on 8 campaign sidelined the black community and black gay community. Much of the media and the gay e-telligentsia has blamed us for what was a top-down, focus-grouped, poorly executed campaign. It's time to allow the community to heal.

Proposition 8 Hostility Got Out of Hand [Sac Bee]
Dear No on Prop 8 Leadership [Cannick]

Did You Read ...
Dan Savage Pulls Racist Column Before Appearance on "Colbert" [R20]
Not One Black Gay/Lesbian Couple in "No on Prop 8" Ads. Why? [R20]
N-Word Hurled at Blacks During Prop 8 Protest[R20]
OMG The Gays Are Trying To Get Gangsta With It [Cannick]
N-Bomb Is Dropped on Black Passerby [PHB]
Stop Scapegoating Black Folk on Prop 8 [JJP]
F--k Dan Savage [Ernest Hardy] 
WeHo Marriage Rally Attracts "Noah's Arc" Stars [R20]
"Yes We Can" to "YES on 8": Blacks Overwhelmingly Approve Prop 8 [R20]
Anti-Gay, Black Pastors Use Children for Prop 8 [R20]
Blige, Etheridge Raise $3.9M for No on Prop 8 [R20]
"Noah's Arc" Cast Urges "No" on Proposition 8 [R20]
"Noah's Arc" Actor Doug Spearman, Black Ministers Urge "NO" on Prop 8 [R20]
SCLC Leader Criticizes Anti-Gay, Black Pastors [R20]
NAACP Rejoins CA Marriage Fight, Suit Against 8 [R20]