- A high school in Indiana banned a gay student from his prom when he arrived wearing a dress. Classmates came to his defense, and now, so has Lambda Legal.
- In Maine, the Bangor Daily News profiles the first same-sex couple in Penobscot County to do a second-parent adoption since they became legal in the state last year.
- The Washington Post describes how LGBT advocates in Maryland are pursuing not only marriage equality but also a range of bills for specific rights now denied to same-sex couples. The Baltimore Sun adds that a legislative committee has now approved regulations defining domestic partnerships, although Republicans and conservative groups worry about the “far-reaching cultural and legal implications” of such a move.
- The New Hampshire primary wasn’t exclusively LGBT news, but was influenced by LGBT gains in the state, argues Laura Kiritsy of Bay Windows.
- Republican legislators in Tennessee may take up a bill this session to ban gay men and lesbians from adopting or being foster parents. A similar attempt failed in 2005. 365gay.com reports “Supporters of the measure said the children would be better off remaining in orphanages than being with a gay parent.”
- The first official act of Ralph Becker, the new mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, was to propose a citywide registry of same- and opposite-sex domestic partners.
- Conservative groups in Vermont have set up their own commission to “set the record straight” on same-sex marriage.
Around the world:
- 70 people gathered in a small town outside of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to protest a judge’s ruling to remove an adopted baby from the care of a transgender woman and her partner. The judge says he is not discriminating, but argues “this child has the right to a conventional family, with a mother that is a woman and a father that is a man. Pinknews.co.uk reports “he didn’t want to feel ‘guilty’ if the child didn’t like his parents in the future.” Hmm. Don’t all children go through a phase of not liking their parents? Judges can’t change that.
- Bertrand Delanoe, the gay, Socialist mayor of Paris has received increased police protection after Internet threats indicated he might be an Al-Qaeda target.
- Gibraltar Gay Rights is hoping to pressure the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe into requiring their country to change its discriminatory legislation for sexual offences.
- Break out the Guinness! When the Republic of Ireland legalizes same-sex unions later this year, it will also recognize same-sex marriages, civil unions, and civil partnerships from other countries.
- A lesbian couple in Israel is asking the Interior Ministry to register them jointly as the child’s biological parents, rather than having to go through an adoption process. They used one partner’s eggs, fertilized with sperm from an anonymous donor, and carried by the other partner. (My partner Helen and I did the same thing, as it happens, and New Jersey granted us a similar petition, before NJ did this as a matter of course for lesbian couples.)
- Tel Aviv became the third city in Israel to recognize same-sex couples by accepting partnership cards issued by the New Family organization. The group represents same-sex couples or those of different religious backgrounds who cannot marry in Israel.