Politics and Law The U.S. Supreme Court denied Lambda Legal’s petition to have them hear the case of a two gay dads seeking a new birth certificate for their adopted son. The boy was born in Louisiana but adopted in New York, and the men wanted a birth certificate listing them both as parents—not least […]
Paula Ettelbrick, a long-time LGBT activist, died today at the age of 56 after battling ovarian cancer. Etteblrick was most recently Executive Director of the Stonewall Community Foundation in New York, but her former positions included executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, legal director at Lambda Legal, family policy director
The military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) ban on openly lesbian and gay servicemembers is now gone. In a piece for Keen News Service, I took a look at how repeal of DADT will impact the children of these servicemembers. I’m not the only one to explore this issue, however. Stars and Stripes magazine, a Department of
San Francisco mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty, a gay dad, has a new ad out featuring him and his daughter. The wonderful thing about the ad is that they could be any candidate and child—the fact that he’s a gay dad is completely incidental. The ad is very sweet—and that’s not an adjective I often use
Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) and his partner Marlon Reis welcomed their son Caspian Julius into the world today, making Polis the first openly LGBT parent in Congress. Congratulations to the family. Thanks to Family Equality for the heads up. (Click their link for a photo.)
How many same-sex couples in the U.S. are raising children? According to the Williams Institute of UCLA, a new analysis of Census 2010 data shows that “nearly 132,000 (20%) of the nearly 650,000 same-sex couples in the U.S. identified as spouses. Data further show that 31% of couples who identified as spouses and 14% of
A few items of interest to start your week: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the first Republican member of Congress to cosponsor the Respect for Marriage Act, has had her viewpoint on LGBT equality shaped by her experience as the mother of a transgender child (now grown), reports the Miami Herald. Can a same-sex couple who
The military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is no more—but the Department of Justice argued in court this week that servicemembers who had been dismissed under the policy should receive only half of normal severance pay, as per the regulations that existed at the time of their dismissal. The audience at the Republican presidential debate
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the law banning gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military, is no more. The stories will be pouring in all day, but here are a few good reads to start you out: The latest issue of OutServe magazine, full of amazing stories. The very sweet story of Navy Lt. Gary
The Michigan House voted to ban benefits for domestic partners of all public employees in the state. The bill now goes to the Senate. North Carolina’s legislature approved a ballot measure to ask voters whether to ban marriage for same-sex couples under the state constitution. It is already banned by statute. I covered the story
