Retired Brigadier Gen. Keith Kerr surprised candidates at the Republican CNN/YouTube debate by revealing he is gay and asking “I want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.” He later said he felt he did not get an answer from the candidates. Kerr is a member of the LGBT steering committee for the Clinton campaign, although the campaign says he acted on his own. CNN omitted this segment in their rebroadcast of the event, and said they would not have included his question if they had known he had ties to Clinton. In a separate move to mark the 14th anniversary of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, 28 retired generals and admirals released a letter urging Congress to repeal the law.- Two transgender members of the Human Rights Campaign Business Council quit, saying HRC’s support of a version of ENDA without protections for gender identity and expression put them “in an untenable position.”
- HRC claims House and Senate leaders may detach the Matthew Shepard Act, which includes hate-crimes protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, from the Department of Defense bill to which it is attached. This could jeopardize the Act’s passage.
- A new poll found Hillary Clinton has 63 percent of the votes among LGB likely voters. (No trans voters were counted; no reason was given.) The Bilerico Project, however, has a series of posts with contributors explaining why they support other candidates, as well as Clinton.
- Presidential candidate Mitt Romney sent out a direct mail piece claiming he is the only candidate to support a federal ban on same-sex marriage. (He’s not; Mike Huckabee does, too.) Yup. Even those of us married in Massachusetts would be downgraded to some other form of recognition if one of these candidates gets elected.
- A study by UCLA’s Williams Institute shows that 20% of the more than 594,391 same-sex couples in the U.S. (PDF link) are raising approximately 270,313 children. An estimated 65,500 of the U.S.’s adopted children live with a lesbian or gay parent. The median household income of same-sex couples with children is $46,200, versus $59,600 for married parents. The average household income of same-sex couples with children is $59,270, versus $74,777 for married parents. While 51% of same-sex couples with children own their home, versus 77% of married ones.
- A gay Iranian business owner who has been living in Rockville, Maryland for 17 years has been jailed and faces deportation back to his native country, where he was earlier beaten by government agents wanting to know about his relationship with a member of the Revolutionary Guard. The U.S. government tried to deport him in 2001, after he had been duped by a fake lawyer claiming to help him gain asylum. He was instead placed on probation when the Iranian government refused him travel documents. His lawyer claims he as always complied with the terms of his probation.
- The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce called for full marriage equality in California.
- The City Council in Riverdale, Georgia voted to move forward with a runoff election despite a pending lawsuit in which one candidate claims another misled voters by falsely claiming to be a woman. The accused candidate, Michelle Bruce, says she was born transgender and has identified as a woman for 46 years, as reflected by her voting records and driver’s license. On a more positive note, Brian Bates won election to Doraville City Council, the first gay Republican to win office in the Deep South. (Thanks to PageOneQ for the links.)
- Support for a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Indiana is in decline. 49 percent now support the amendment, down from 56 percent in March 2005.
- The Jefferson County, Kentucky School Board will extend employment, discrimination and harassment protections to LGB workers. The Fairness Campaign of Louisville and others had asked for transgender employees to be protected, too, but the committee reviewing the proposal said “the definition remains too uncertain.” (WTF?) (Thanks to PageOneQ for the link.)
- A study by UCLA’s Williams Institute estimated that extending marriage rights to same-sex couples would result in a net gain of approximately $3.2 million each year. Spending on same-sex weddings in Maryland (PDF link) could top $280 million and generate $14 million in tax revenue in the first three years. Whether marriage equality will come before the state legislature this year remains an open question.
- Same-sex couples in New Hampshire will be able to apply for civil union licenses as of December 10, which will go into effect January 1.
- A national campaign against marriage equality began airing radio ads in New Jersey and flooding the Assembly Speaker’s office with calls.
- Parents in Lower Macungie, Pennsylvania are up in arms about the inclusion of the children’s book King & King
in their local public library. The usual nonsense. The library director has countered that “censoring books based on subject matter is the duty of parents, not the library. She said the library strives to provide material representing a spectrum of views and ways of life.”
- Frank Ferri, Chair of Marriage Equality Rhode Island, will become the state’s second out legislator in the state Assembly. He will be the first to be legally married, however (though his state won’t recognize it): he and his partner wed in Canada.
- A study by UCLA’s Williams Institute estimated that 8% of the more than 3,678 same-sex couples in Washington, D.C. (PDF link) are raising approximately 441 children. The median income of same-sex coupled households there is $107,000, versus $78,000 for married couples; the average is $143,245, versus $119,908 for married couples. The average household income of same-sex couples with children, however, is $99,285, versus $115,408 for married parents, and the median is $81,000, versus $71,000 for married parents. Only 51% of same-sex parents own their own home, versus 59% for married parents.
- A Wisconsin circuit judge threw out a motion by the state to dismiss a challenge to the state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions. The case will thus proceed. The plaintiff, a “Christian, straight, married” father of nine and grandfather of seven, argued through his lawyer that the proposed amendment was unconstitutional because voters could not separate their support for civil unions and marriages, but had to endorse both or neither.
Around the world:
- The attorney general of the Australian Capitol Territory is planning to reintroduce a bill that would give legal recognition to unions between same-sex couples. The outgoing Howard Government blocked a similar bill last year, but the incoming Labor government says it is unlikely to do so.
- The Bahrain government will pay for an intersex citizen to travel to Thailand for medical procedures to transition to a male body.
- The Times of India ran an article on same-sex parenting around the world. No new news, but heartening to see such coverage from a part of the world not known for its support of LGBT rights.
- The city council in Vilnius, Lithuania passed new laws to ban public events where riots might occur, effectively outlawing pride marches, according to LGBT-rights advocates.
- Uruguay will legalize civil unions for same- and opposite-sex couples next month. They will be able to form civil unions after living together for at least five years, and will gain rights related to social security payments, pensions, inheritance and parenting. Marriage for same-sex couples will remain illegal.
- Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, the worldwide leader of the Anglican Church conducted a secret mass for gay clergy and their partners in London, and then responded to their questions. Anglican conservatives condemned the act. Pinknews.co.uk has more on the content of the meeting.