The U.S. Senate and House are arguing over the LGBT-inclusive hate-crimes provision attached to the 2008 defense authorization bill. The Senate approved the bill but now House Armed Services Committee leaders are concerned they do not have enough votes to pass the bill with the hate-crimes provision included. At this point, a vote on the bill will be delayed until December.- Openly gay Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.
- If you live in a conservative state, you could be part of “a gay demographic tidal wave” that could have a significant impact on the 2008 elections. UCLA demographer Gary Gates adds “Any notion that the rights of same-sex couples and gay men and lesbians are somehow separate from those of mainstream America looks politically iffy at best. In fact, using the gay and lesbian community as a political wedge might just wedge candidates into a losing corner.”
- San Francisco has tentatively approved a program to provide identification cards to transgender people whose driver’s licenses no longer reflect their appearances, as well as illegal immigrants and other residents who cannot obtain or do not want state-issued driver’s licenses. Final approval is expected next week.
- Lawyers filed final briefs with the California Supreme Court in the case challenging the state ban on same-sex marriage. The Court is expected to set a date for oral arguments soon.
- The city council of Waterloo, Iowa, voted to add “sexual orientation” to its anti-discrimination categories. According to the WCF Courier, “Sexual orientation covers residents who are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender or perceived to be such.” Hmm. Sexual orientation and gender identity are different to me, but if the legislation protects L, G, B, and T, I won’t complain too much. (Thanks, PageOneQ.)
- The county council in Montgomery County, Maryland approved a measure that provides protections for transgender individuals in housing and employment.
- New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, speaking at a private fundraiser, said that when the Democrats control the state senate in 2009, as he expects, he wants the Senate to legalize same-sex marriage as one of its first priorities. Some at the event question whether he said anything about making it a priority.
- The Toledo, Ohio City Council established a domestic partnership registry, which carries no benefits, but “serves to create an official list which employers can use to check on their employees’ relationships when extending benefits to partners.”
- A Pennsylvania state court has declared unconstitutional the expansion of Pennsylvania’s hate crimes protections to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. The ruling was based on the technical argument that the amendment was inserted into a bill about agricultural vandalism, but the legislation “did not retain its original purpose as it moved through the enactment process.” That may be true from a legal perspective (or not; I’m no lawyer), but as the challenge was made by an anti-LGBT conservative group, it’s clear what the real goal was.
- The mayor-elect of Salt Lake City, Utah says he will issue an executive order requiring city contractors to offer domestic-partner benefits, and will ask the City Council to institute a domestic-partnership registry, and add LGBT protections to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance. He will also attempt to change the city’s retirement policy so an employee can name a same-sex partner or another designee as a beneficiary.
Around the world:
- A high ranking Iranian politician made the first public acknowledgement that his country upholds the death penalty for homosexuality.
- The justice committee of the lower house of the Italian parliament approved a new bill to outlaw homophobic crime.
- The Nicaraguan National Assembly adopted a new civil code that quietly dropped the law criminalizing sodomy between members of the same sex. Blabbeando notes “In doing so it removed the last anti-gay sodomy statute – not only in Central America – but in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries.”
- Norway’s state Lutheran church lifted a ban on allowing those in same-sex partnerships to serve in the clergy, but said individual bishops can still make their own decisions on whether to employ them.
- Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London said he supports the Government’s plan to make it a crime to incite hatred on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation.
- Meanwhile, the U.K. Liberal Democrats have chosen out former Metropolitan police chief Brian Paddick as their candidate for London’s mayor.
- The U.K. Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families launched Anti-Bullying Week 2007. The event will run from November 19 to 23, and is managed by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, which includes LGBT-rights organization Stonewall and LGBT education group Schools Out.