- The House Education and Labor Committee heard testimony on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA). Openly gay Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) were among those who testified, as did Vandy Beth Glenn, who had been fired from her Georgia state legislative job when she announce she was transitioning.
- A coalition of grassroots groups seeking to repeal Prop 8 in California next year filed an initiative with the state Attorney General, but at least one group opposed to Prop 8 did not, citing differences in strategy.
- San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty declared his candidacy for mayor in the 2011 elections. He would be the first openly gay mayor. (Harvey Milk, you will recall, was a city supervisor, and was shot along with Mayor George Moscone.)
- Openly gay Colorado Rep. Jared Polis (D) says the federal government should repeal DOMA, but let states determine whether they would allow same-sex couples to marry in their jurisdictions.
- Former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, who plans to run in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in February, has stated he supports marriage equality.
- A new poll in Iowa found that voters in that state are almost evenly divided in their opinions about a constitutional amendment to end marriage for same-sex couples.
- New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg says a state marriage equality bill has no chance of passing this fall, but insists he will win support for the measure from key Republican state senators.
Around the world:
- The new head of the United Nations General Assembly, Ali Abdussalam Treki, who is also the who is the Libyan secretary of African Union Affairs, has said homosexuality is “not really acceptable”.
- A bill to permit legally binding civil union ceremonies. for same-sex couples looks set to pass the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Legislative Assembly. Same-sex couples can already register their relationship as a civil union, but cannot hold a legally binding ceremony. (WTF? Apparently, holding a ceremony makes it too close to a “marriage.”)
- If this Sunday’s elections in Germany go as expected, openly gay Guido Westerwelle, the leader of the Free Democrat Party, may become the country’s foreign minister.
- Just weeks after approving a bill granting same-sex parents the right to adopt, Uruguayan lawmakers are considering a bill to give expanded rights to transgender people. The measure includes guidelines for those wishing legal recognition as the gender opposite to that of their birth anatomy, regardless of whether they choose sex reassignment surgery.
