The biggest news this week? Don’t ask. No, really. President Obama has certified that the requirements for repealing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ban on openly lesbian and gay servicemembers have been met. The ban will end September 20. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held the first-ever hearing on repeal of the Defense of Marriage […]
Here’s more from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), showing how central arguments about children’s well being have been. First, Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) takes Focus on the Family’s Thomas Minnery to task for sloppy interpretation of research about children, then Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of
Here’s Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) getting Focus on the Family’s Thomas Minnery to admit, at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that children of same-sex couples are at a disadvantage because their parents don’t have the same financial benefits as children of married couples. (Thanks to Think Progress.)
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) delivered a stirring speech today at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on proposals to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Lewis is a lion of the civil rights movement; if you don’t know anything about him, it’s worth reading his bio to get a sense of the importance of having
A 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued an order that the Defense Department stop enforcing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). The order lifts an injunction against an earlier ruling to halt DADT. The U.S. Department of Justice made the first legal filing in the country in which they have fully argued to a court
The law firm hired to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has withdrawn from its contract to do so, but the lawyer who was to take the case has left the firm and plans to defend it from elsewhere. On the other hand, the Senate committee considering a bill to repeal DOMA may just
A U.S. House panel ordered the House general counsel to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court, even though President Obama recently said his administration would no longer defend it. Members of the U.S. Congress introduced a passel of bills this week designed to protect students from bullying, and including explicit protections on
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-gay hate group, had a first amendment right to protest near the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq. U.S. House Speaker John Boehner announced he will convene a bipartisan meeting to determine how Congress can defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in
A few little things happened in LGBT-related politics this week, hmm? The Department of Justice announced that it has concluded that the part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) preventing the federal government from recognizing legal marriages of same-sex couples is unconstitutional. The DOJ will therefore not defend it in two pending cases in
What’s going on with the ban on openly gay servicemembers? Don’t ask. On Thursday, results from the upcoming Pentagon report on the impact of a repeal leaked to the Washington Post. The good news is that the ban could be repealed “with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts.” Then
