Servicemembers Legal Defense Network released a legal guide for “LGBT service members, veterans, future recruits, and their families,” with an overview of laws and policies related to military service following the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It includes quite a bit of information related to benefits for children of servicemembers, as well as benefits […]
Forgive me one more story of same-sex couples in New York, but I like the perspective of this one from the New York Daily News, by a man who grew up in New York in the 1980s and 90s with a lesbian mother. Author Matt Borden writes, “Everyone knew that gay people didn’t have children. They
One more nice story of same-sex parents getting married in New York: Jo-Ann Shain and Mary Jo Kennedy were among the plaintiffs in the 2004-5 marriage equality case Hernandez v. Robles. They won in a lower court before the ruling was overturned by the state Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. They finally married last
The United Church of Christ approved two resolutions recently in support of LGBT equality, including the first-ever one by a major Christian denomination affirming the right of LGBT parents to adopt and raise children. A second resolution was in support of international human rights for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. I
Lesbian moms and grandmoms Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd were among the first same-sex couples to marry in New York on Sunday, the first day they could legally do so. While there is some debate over which same-sex couple was actually the first to marry, it’s rather an irrelevant question destined for the trivia books. The
The biggest news this week? Don’t ask. No, really. President Obama has certified that the requirements for repealing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ban on openly lesbian and gay servicemembers have been met. The ban will end September 20. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held the first-ever hearing on repeal of the Defense of Marriage
Here’s more from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), showing how central arguments about children’s well being have been. First, Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) takes Focus on the Family’s Thomas Minnery to task for sloppy interpretation of research about children, then Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of
Here’s Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) getting Focus on the Family’s Thomas Minnery to admit, at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that children of same-sex couples are at a disadvantage because their parents don’t have the same financial benefits as children of married couples. (Thanks to Think Progress.)
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) delivered a stirring speech today at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on proposals to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Lewis is a lion of the civil rights movement; if you don’t know anything about him, it’s worth reading his bio to get a sense of the importance of having
My eight-year-old son is on a secret agent kick right now. He runs around the backyard talking into an old, bulky, non-working digital watch I gave him, and plots the overthrow of evil villains. I’m pleased to say our backyard is villain-free. (Unless you count the mosquitoes, but I think they’re the henchbugs of a distant insect overlord.)
