- Mary Cheney, Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter, spoke to ABC’s Primetime about her family, working on her father’s campaign, and her lesbianism. The interview served to promote her upcoming book, Now It’s my Turn: A Daughter’s Chronicle Of Political Life. Response around the blogosphere has been harsh, to say the least.
- Former Missouri Sen. John Danforth (R), speaking to the Log Cabin Republicans, said a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage is “silly,” and an example of how evangelical Christian influence is hurting the GOP.
- In the Democrat camp, party chair Howard Dean fired Donald Hitchcock, Executive Director of the party’s Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council (GLLC), replacing him with Brian Bond. Less than a week earlier, Hitchcock’s partner Paul Yandura criticized the party for not being active enough in support of LGBT rights. Yandura and Hitchcock claim the firing was retaliatory.
- The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said a gay couple in California had no legal right to challenge the constitutionality of a same-sex marriage ban. The court did not address the constitutionality of the law. Instead, it said the men should wait for California courts to rule on a state ban. The case had not been supported by LGBT-rights groups, who wanted to focus on state-by-state rulings.
Around the states:
- A California Senate committee approved a bill requiring state textbooks to discuss the contributions of LGBT people to the state and nation’s history. The bill will go before the full Senate, and then, if passed, to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Opponents claim the Senate is “sexually indoctrinating our students.” (Much better, then, to live in Alabama, where one middle school’s sex-education booklet informs students that homosexuality is “contrary to the laws of nature.”)
- In Illinois, same-sex marriage opponents may have enough signatures to put the issue in an advisory referendum this November. The results will not have any legal force, but could influence legislators when they consider a potential constitutional amendment.
- The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is deciding the legality of a proposed ballot question defining marriage as one man-one woman. Attorney General Tom Reilly says the proposed amendment would not invalidate existing same-sex marriages, but would prevent additional ones. I can’t even begin to fathom the sense in that.
- Good news from Ohio, where a federal appeals court has ruled that Ohio officials can discipline public employees who discriminate, even if the workers claim religious reasons.
Finally, the U. S. Senate votes on the discriminatory Federal Marriage Amendment on June 5. That’s exactly a month from now. You can easily write to your senators through the HRC Web site and tell them not to support the amendment.