Officials from Imperial County  California filed an emergency motion yesterday to join with ProtectMarriage.com to defend Proposition 8 in the upcoming court case led by Ted Olson and David Boies. Located at the southeastern tip of the state, the largely conservative county supported Proposition 8 by an overwhelming 69 percent of the vote in 2008. From SFGate:

The Imperial County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of an emergency motion Tuesday to intervene in the case. Supervisors say the county’s participation is needed because Attorney General Jerry Brown supports overturning the voter-approved measure, while Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken a neutral position on it.

The board approved the motion by a 3-2 margin.

Imperial County also voted for the Briggs Initiative back in 1978 by the same margin, 69 percent. The measure which would have barred gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools, ultimately went down to defeat thanks to gay rights pioneer and icon Harvey Milk.

It’s interesting that the supervisors felt it necessary to file an “emergency” motion to intervene in the case. Did they also take similar dramatic action when they found out Imperial County has the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the state?

The more things change… the more they stay the same.

Paul Haggis, who directed 2006’s Oscar winner “Crash” has quit Scientology after 35 years over the church’s position on gays and lesbians and Proposition 8. In a letter to Tom Davis, who is spokesman for Scientology’s head David Miscavige, Haggis gives his reasons for leaving the often maligned and ridiculed church.

As you know, for ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego. Their public sponsorship of Proposition 8, a hate-filled legislation that succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California – rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state – shames us.

I called and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of the church, to condemn their actions. I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated.

In that first conversation, back at the end of October of last year, you told me you were horrified, that you would get to the bottom of it and “heads would roll.” You promised action. Ten months passed. No action was forthcoming. The best you offered was a weak and carefully worded press release, which praised the church’s human rights record and took no responsibility. Even that, you decided not to publish.

The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.

I joined the Church of Scientology thirty-five years ago. During my twenties and early thirties I studied and received a great deal of counseling. While I have not been an active member for many years, I found much of what I learned to be very helpful, and I still apply it in my daily life. I have never pretended to be the best Scientologist, but I openly and vigorously defended the church whenever it was criticized, as I railed against the kind of intolerance that I believed was directed against it. I had my disagreements, but I dealt with them internally. I saw the organization – with all its warts, growing pains and problems – as an underdog. And I have always had a thing for underdogs.

But I reached a point several weeks ago where I no longer knew what to think. You had allowed our name to be allied with the worst elements of the Christian Right. In order to contain a potential “PR flap” you allowed our sponsorship of Proposition 8 to stand. Despite all the church’s words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry and intolerance, homophobia and fear.

Tom Davis also appeared on ABC’s Nightine last week, where he stormed out of an interview with Martin Bashir when questioned about Xenu the galactic overlord and souls living in volcanos. Clip below:

And you thought the Mormon church was cooky.

In an interview with the CBS affiliate in San Francisco, former CEO of eBay and California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman insisted her support for Prop 8 was not a “slap in the face” to the gay and lesbian community, citing her support for civil unions. Watch:

David Hyde Pierce who starred on the popular television series Frasier and in multiple shows on Broadway, discussed Prop 8 on the View yesterday, telling the California Supreme Court that his marriage to his partner of 25 years was none of their business. Watch:

It’s nice to see a celebrity with fire in the belly as to the injustices of the Prop 8, instead of the sugar-coating we so often see.