The Colorado House followed the state Senate yesterday in passing a civil unions bill, which the governor has said he will sign. An AP photo of lesbian moms Fran and Anna Simon tops the CBS News report on the occasion; and a photo of the Simons and their son is part of this gallery at HuffPo.
Lesbian moms Fran and Anna Simon “have almost become the de facto face of the civil unions debate in Colorado,” according to NPR. NPR’s KUNC interviewed the couple last week, where they spoke about the long fight for civil unions and their hopes for full marriage equality.
The U.S. and 85 other countries backed a United Nations declaration calling for an end to violence and human rights abuses on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also issued a statement in support of ending such persecution and discrimination. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
The Pentagon has revealed its plan for implementing repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. New talks on comprehensive immigration reform legislation could mean a new chance to pass the Uniting American Families Act. A civil union bill in Hawaii could hit the governor’s desk by the end of next week, the Honolulu Star Advertiser opines.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told the audience at the Victory Fund’s Gay & Lesbian Leadership Awards that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell “will be gone by the end of the year.” Will the Obama administration appeal the two federal court rulings that declared part of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional? Good question; and Lee
Another slow summer week, but a few items of note: Eight members of the LGBT activist organization GetEqual were arrested during a sit-in at the U.S. Capitol. They held the event in order to get House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take a vote on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA). The New Jersey Supreme Court declined
Big, huge victories against DOMA lead the news for the week, as already mentioned. The battle against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is getting even more interesting as two groups for LGBT servicemembers issue conflicting advice about whether to complete the Pentagon’s survey about DADT.
A light news week before the U.S. holiday weekend: The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan over Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, among other issues. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued new guidance for LGBT people facing housing discrimination. New York attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo (D) said
New York’s highest court ruled this week in a custody case that gave a non-biological mom the right to seek custody and visitation of the child she and her former partner had created and raised together. Great, right? Yes, for that one mom. But the court said the non-biological mother only had that right because
What happened to the ENDA vote Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said would happen this week? Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) now says she hopes it will happen in the next couple of weeks. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a House committee that Congress should not pass its own repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell before he
