- The United States signed on with a number of other Western countries to a U.N. proposal that would condemn discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The measure failed because many countries in Africa and the Middle East, as well as China opposed the proposal.
- President Obama appointed campaign fundraiser Jeremy Bernard, who is openly gay, as White House liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities.
- The Colorado House Judiciary Committee passed a domestic partner bill giving medical decision-making and inheritance rights to unmarried same- and opposite-sex couples
- Openly gay U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado) says he hopes his first term sees passage of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and domestic partner benefits for federal employees.
- Florida’s Sen. Eleanor Sobel (Hallandale Beach) introduced a statewide Domestic Partnership bill that would ensure basic legal rights for committed, unmarried same-or opposite-sex couples. Elsewhere in the Sunshine State, North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns, the city’s first openly gay mayor, has announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
- Indiana’s Senate Republican Caucus voted not to consider a proposal to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
- The New Mexico Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send the Domestic Partnership bill to the floor with no recommendation.
- The North Dakota Senate passed a bill banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing, credit, insurance and public accommodations. It now moves to the House. The puzzling part? The bill states, “Sexual orientation means actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality, or gender or expression.” I was with them until “sexual orientation = gender identity or expression.” Back to LGBT 101, folks. The question is, if it helps the bill pass, will Ma Vie En Rose by any other name smell as sweet?
- Not exactly LGBT news, but related to family creation: North Dakota’s House of Representatives passed a bill declaring that a fertilized egg has all the rights of any person. This effectively outlaws abortion.
- On February 26, the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee will hear testimony on two bills, one banning marriage of same-sex couples and the other permitting it.
- Nick Shalosky credits Facebook with helping him to become the first openly-gay elected official in South Carolina, and, at 21, the youngest member of the Charleston County Constituent School Board.
- The Utah legislature killed a number of bills that would have given certain rights to same-sex couples. One win in the Beaver State, though: The Salt Lake County Council voted to allow same- and opposite-sex unmarried county employees, to enter into domestic partnerships and receive medical and dental coverage, and shared health and life insurance benefits.
- The Salt Lake Tribune reminds us that domestic partnership registries can benefit opposite-sex pairs of unmarried, cohabiting adults, including nonromantic pairs like mother and son. (See about French PACS below.)
- The Family Policy Council of West Virginia, which is seeking a state constitutional ban on the marriage of same-sex couples, has been airing an ad that shows the image of a sniper’s scope superimposed on the picture of a husband, wife, and their small children.
- Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle proposed the first Domestic Partnership protections of any Midwestern U.S. state. They would include hospital visitation and Family Medical Leave rights for same-sex domestic partners.
Around the world:
- Burundi’s Senate rejected a draft law that proposed a sentence of three months to two years in prison for homosexual conduct.
- Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood has announced she will not attend the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature in Dubai after organizers banned the launch of Geraldine Bedell’s The Gulf Between Us, a book in which a minor character is a gay sheikh.
- The Washington Post notes the number of opposite-sex French couples who are opting to unite via a Civil Solidarity Pact (PACS), an insitution originally introduced for same-sex couples. “It has the air of social independence associated with the time-honored arrangement that the French call the “free union” but with major financial and other advantages. It is also far easier to get out of than marriage.”
- U.K. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has been ordered by the High Court to have a gay asylum seeker, removed from the UK, brought back to Britain.