I’ll start the year on a light note, with a bit of post-season haiku: Spouse is back to work Son is still awash in toys Legos underfoot And reflecting on some of the year-end political news: Oregon waylaid New Hampshire civilized now Trip to Uruguay? Feel free to leave your own contributions in the comments.
Many LGBT residents of New Hampshire are starting the new year off right by uniting under the state’s new civil union law. The Granite State is the first to pass the law without legal challenge, as Seacoast Online notes. That’s progress, much as many of us still hope for full marriage. All of New England
Originally published in Bay Windows, December 20, 2007 (online); December 27, 2007 (print). Was 2007 a good year for LGBT parents and our children? Politically, it was a mixed bag. Here are some highlights. In Massachusetts, we stopped marriage equality from going to the ballot. New Hampshire and Oregon approved relationship-recognition measures to give same-sex
Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) introduced legislation in the Senate to provide federal health benefits, including the Family and Medical Leave program, long term care, insurance, and retirement benefits, to the domestic partners of federal employees. The workers and their partners would then be subject to the same obligations as married employees
Florida is gearing up for a fight over a “Marriage Protection Amendment” that looks likely to be on the November 2008 ballot. Supporters of the amendment say it is needed to “prevent children from being raised in homosexual families.” They might want to note some new statistics: 17% of same-sex couples in Florida are raising
Jamison Green and Donna Rose, former members of HRC’s business advisory council who resigned over the organization’s handling of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), launched the Transgender Employment Partnership “to continue the work they began at HRC.” The Arizona Department of Administration filed a proposal last month, without announcement, to offer health and other benefits
The Family Equality Council (formerly the Family Pride Coalition) is in the midst of their strategic planning process and is looking for feedback from individuals about how they can best support LGBT families and promote family equality. They want your thoughts, regardless of whether you are already familiar with their work. If you have a
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA.) dropped a gay- and transgender-inclusive hate crimes bill, aka the Matthew Shepard Act, from the National Defense Authorization Act, bowing to pressure from House Democratic leaders. House democrats are now asking the Senate to pass a standalone hate-crimes bill. The Scottsdale, Arizona City Council
The LGBT-inclusive Hate Crimes Bill, aka the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, is dead. House Democrats removed it from the Defense Reauthorization bill to which it was attached. According to the Washington Blade, “gay-supportive Democrats who oppose the war would join more than 150 Republicans who oppose the hate crimes bill to defeat the
Sperm, as Helen and I have noted in several of our video blogs, is only the start of the lesbian-parenting journey (and isn’t part of the journey at all for adoptive parents). Choosing sperm is important while you’re doing it, and children may develop a natural curiosity about their donors, but most of us are
