U.S. attorney general Eric Holder yesterday asked a Senate committee to support the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a bill that would expand current laws to protect victims targeted because of real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, among other things. Bil at Bilerico reports, however, that according to a phone […]
On Monday, I posted happy news of changes to the Uniform Probate Code that would allow for greater recognition of non-bio moms. Lawyer Nancy Polikoff, who was the source of the news, now lets us know of a custody case involving a non-bio mom that has me spitting nails in anger. Leslea and Michelle White,
“Public officials aren’t supposed to change their minds,” said Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT). He has written a great piece, however, on how having young daughters has helped him turn towards marriage equality. This is a welcome breath of fresh air after all of the right-wing nonsense about how marriage equality will harm children. Dodd posted
This week Reps. Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, and Jared Polis introduced an LGBT-inclusive version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing on the LGBT-inclusive Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Within a week or so, the Supreme Court should file a response to the case
As many of you know, most LGBT legal experts recommend that every non-bio mom do a second-parent adoption even if she lives in a state that will put her name on the birth certificate of a child born to her partner. (Briefly: adoptions must be recognized by other states; the non-bio mom’s right to be
(Originally published in Bay Windows, May 28, 2009.) We’ve been on a Disney movie kick around our house, spurred by a recent visit to the Magic Kingdom. As fate would have it, the day the Prop 8 decision was announced, we had chosen to watch Mary Poppins. I was looking forward to some Julie Andrews,
We’ve all heard that visibility matters. Here’s proof—scientific proof—as reported in Scientific American. According to Harvard University psychologist Yoel Inbar and his colleagues in a recent issue of the journal Emotion, even people who say they are fine with displays of affection by gay male couples may harbor subconscious negative attitudes. Jesse Bering, the openly
The big news this week is the LGBT community’s reaction to President Obama’s grant of limited benefits to partners of federal employees. Here’s my take on it. The Washington Blade has more analysis. The news comes on the heels of Obama’s decision to defend a Department of Justice filing that supports DOMA. On that case,
What a day. My son is out of school for the summer, so I spent most of my time at the playground with him and a friend, watching them go up and down on the swings. Recent national LGBT political news has been rather like that, too. It has gone something like this: President Obama
On the first anniversary of the legalization of marriage for same-sex couples in California—or at least for the 18,000 that managed to get hitched before November 5th of last year—Equality California has released a new ad featuring a pair of gay dads and their five kids. In November, I criticized the No On 8 campaign
