This morning, eight current and former members of the U.S. armed services filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and “seeking equal recognition, benefits and family support for equal sacrifice and service in the U.S. Armed Forces.” Three of the plaintiffs are lesbian moms, including lead plaintiff, Major Shannon L. […]
A major new report, “All Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families” (PDF), was released today by the Center for American Progress, the Family Equality Council, and the Movement Advancement Project, in partnership with COLAGE, The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, and the National Association of Social Workers (with a foreword by the Child Welfare League of
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) became a co-sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the anti-LGBT Defense of Marriage Act. Levin was one of the leaders in repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Michigan state Rep. Thomas McMillin (R-Rochester) introduced a bill that would eliminate LGBT people as a protected class under all local
Frank Kameny, one of the founders of the LGBT rights movement, died at the age of 86. The U.S. Senate confirmed Alison Nathan to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, making her the second lesbian federal judge—and (fun Mombian fact!) the second lesbian mom to hold such a position. (Deborah
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
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
