I recently received an invitation to submit an “Idea for Change in America” at Change.org, a social network for social change. The concept behind this campaign is to collect “Top 10 Ideas for America” that Change.org will present to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day. They then plan to build a national campaign with their […]
Gen. Colin Powell told CNN “We definitely should reevaluate [Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell],” in his strongest statement yet against the policy. In related news, a federal appeals court refused to reconsider a ruling that raised doubts about the constitutionality of DADT. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied the Air Force’s
It’s time for another collection of news and fun stuff for LGBT parents: Put on your flak jackets. “It is same-sex parenting that is heating up as the next skirmish in the nation’s culture wars,” asserts the Chicago Tribune. Nancy Polikoff points out just how scary are the proposed Bush rules that would allow healthcare
In my latest article for 365gay.com, I discuss the Florida adoption ruling and the sometimes fuzzy connections between parental rights and marriage rights. If you’re following the Florida case, you might also be interested in the video that the ACLU made about the plaintiff family. After the jump:
All Children – All Families, a program of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Family Project, yesterday launched a new awareness campaign aimed at increasing LGBT foster parenting and adoption. Nice timing, considering the ruling yesterday that struck down the ban on LGBT people adopting in Florida. HRC also informs us: “All Children — All Families,
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman today declared Florida’s 30-year-old ban on adoption by gay men and lesbians unconstitutional, saying, “It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person’s ability to parent.” ‘Bout time they realized that. State lawyers have already said they will challenge the decision. At the moment, however, it
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), the New England LGBT legal organization, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a series of podcasts on their landmark cases. The case for October tells the story of Don Babets and David Jean, a gay couple who began fostering two brothers in 1985 through the state’s foster care
Hot off the presses: The good news keeps rolling in this week: The Arkansas Blog (from the Arkansas Times) reports that the state Department of Human Services will drop its rule that prohibits placement of foster children in homes with unmarried couples (and by definition, same-sex couples). “Instead, it will decide placement on a case
Because the financial bailout isn’t the only thing happening this week: Ten-year-old Kira Findling of Sebastopol, California, wrote “Please Let My Moms Be Married,” a moving plea to vote no on Prop. 8, for the Press Democrat newspaper. A new report by the nonpartisan Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in New York concludes that gay
The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled this week that adoptions by stepparents are allowed only when the stepparent is married to the child’s biological parent. In a catch-22, same-sex stepparents cannot therefore adopt because Kentucky has a constitutional amendment banning marriage of same-sex couples. The ruling holds regardless of whether the person was involved in
