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, […]
Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA) introduced the Reuniting Families Act, an immigration bill that includes allowing Americans to sponsor same-sex partners for residency. The Senate version does not include that provision, but the Senate Judiciary Committee this week held hearings on a separate immigration bill, the Uniting American Families Act, that would end discrimination against LGBT
The California Supreme Court has announced they will make the Prop 8 ruling this coming Tuesday, May 26. HRC Backstory has a good analogy about the legal issues under consideration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has promised equal benefits to same-sex partners of U.S. diplomatic corps employees stationed overseas, according to Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA),
(I wrote this back in February for 365gay.com, but it seemed timely to repost it here (with slight updates) in light of the Army National Guard’s recent dismissal of West Point graduate and Arabic linguist Lt. Dan Choi under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” (He was on the Rachel Maddow Show last week.) Although the timetable
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted 15-12 to advance the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913), aka the Matthew Shepard Act. The bill now goes up for a full House floor vote, which could happen next week. John Berry was officially sworn in as director of the Office of Personnel
(Parenting-related news gets its own roundup around here.) Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s campaign manager, said, “There is a sound conservative argument to be made for same-sex marriage.” (I leave it as a matter of discussion as to whether there is a sound argument for conservatism.) A new poll also shows Republican insiders are almost evenly
Was there any news this week? Things seemed kind of slow . . . . Lots of good news on the marriage front, of course. First, some other national news: President Barack Obama asked former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy to be part of his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Dungy has
Bay Windows has more on GLAD’s DOMA challenge, the likely response from the Obama administration, and reactions from the LGBT community around the country. In two separate rulings, the federal appeals court in California said that employees of their court were entitled to health benefits for their same-sex partners under the benefits program for federal
Lots of stuff on the Prop 8 hearing this week, of course. Even U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has weighed in, saying, “This attempt to undo good that has been done is unacceptable.” The New York Times called it “a bruising hearing.” Both the L.A. Times and the San Francisco Chronicle think the Court is
It’s a big week for LGBT rights. Yesterday, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) announced that she will introduce a bill to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces. Today, GLAD announced it is filing suit in the Federal District Court of Massachusetts, challenging provisions
