public service announcement

Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington's public service announcement combating intolerance based on sexual orientation, race, and gender will air Thursday night during back-to-back episodes of the ABC show.

Jose Eduardo Verastegui is tall, dark, and handsome, not to mention rich and famous. This Latino actor and sex symbol was a favorite of gay Mexicans and Mexican-Americans -- until he came out as one of the loudest proponents of California's Proposition 8. On the other side of Prop. 8, cast members from TV's Ugly Betty released a public service announcement Tuesday urging Latinos to stand up for family and vote No on 8.

The hundreds of thousands of people who usually flock to an annual Halloween street party in San Francisco are being warned to stay home or go elsewhere after several episodes of violence in recent years. City officials have advised would-be revelers through fliers, public service announcements, and juvenile probation officers that they won't find many treats in the Castro District, home in past years to the largest Halloween happening in the San Francisco Bay area. What they will find are hundreds of extra police officers, shuttered restaurants, stepped-up sobriety checks, and no bus or train service after 8:30 p.m.

Republicans Against 8 campaign director Scott Schmidt and Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black have paired up for two new public service announcements that are hitting the Web Monday in an effort to persuade Californians to vote no on Proposition 8, the ballot measure aimed at rescinding marriage equality in the state. The videos feature a Vietnam veteran and a Boeing rocket scientist, two people who say they have devoted their careers to protecting the rights and lives of Americans ... and are now asking Californians to return the favor.