2011
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By Dana Rudolph on December 29, 2011
One leading advocate called 2011 an “epic” year for marriage equality. Was it? While only one state — New York — enacted full marriage rights for same-sex couples, it was the most populous state to do so. Five other states also moved closer to marriage equality than ever before.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on December 28, 2011
Few in the GOP field could rival President Obama with their records on LGBT issues, and yet, the outcome of the Republican presidential race riveted the attention of LGBT people in 2012. Many of the contenders were notoriously anti-gay. They were often asked about, or were inclined to share, their positions on gay-related issues. And, historically, no matter how much better the Democratic candidate has been than the Republican one, about 25 to 30 percent of LGBT voters vote for the Republican presidential candidate.
Posted in A closer look
By Lisa Keen on December 20, 2011
The television ad of Republican presidential long-shot Rick Perry, that pits gays in the military as the ideological foil to children celebrating Christmas, earned the candidate some tense moments on the campaign trail last week, from both gays and straights alike.
The ad, entitled “Strong,” began airing on Iowa television stations in early December and showed a casually dressed Perry walking along a rural setting, saying, “I’m not ashamed that a I’m a Christian.”
Posted in Track notes
By Lisa Keen on December 19, 2011
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled this month that a university could require a student seeking a degree in counseling, as part of her curriculum, to take courses on how to work with LGBT populations. The student had objected, saying such courses violated her religious beliefs.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on December 16, 2011
The Department of Justice sent its top civil rights attorney, Tony West, to argue against the Defense of Marriage Act in a federal district court in San Francisco Friday.
Posted in News Briefs
By Dana Rudolph on December 15, 2011
Karen Golinski never meant to become one of the headline names in the fight to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). All she wanted to do was to secure health care coverage for her legal spouse.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. District Courts
By Lisa Keen on December 8, 2011
There was some drama in the courtroom as attorneys litigating Proposition 8 in a San Francisco federal appeals court Thursday took their last swings.
The normally staid somewhat flustered Charles Cooper, lead attorney for the Yes on 8 team, delivered an unusually passionate plea in his final minutes before the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel.
Cooper was trying to convince the panel to vacate the landmark ruling by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker –a ruling in which Walker declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage to be in violation of the federal constitution. According to Cooper, Walker should have revealed to attorneys and the public that he had been in a relationship with a man for ten years and given attorneys a chance to challenge his fitness to preside over the case.
Posted in A closer look
By Lisa Keen on December 7, 2011
Republican presidential long-shot Rick Perry was one of the first to criticize the Obama administration’s newly announced initiative to push for the human rights of LGBT people around the world. But there were some cautionary notes from the LGBT international community, too.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on December 6, 2011
Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Obama, met Tuesday, December 6, with pop icon Lady Gaga to discuss Gaga’s new Born This Way Foundation.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on December 6, 2011
How well the LGBT groups are doing financially may well depend on whether one sees a glass as “half empty” or “half full,” but a new report, released Tuesday (December 6) by an independent think tank, certainly provides some facts to ponder.
Posted in Politics
By Lisa Keen on December 6, 2011
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today (Tuesday, December 6) called on the governments of all nations to ensure that their LGBT citizens are treated with respect and dignity. In doing so, she also announced that President Obama was issuing a memorandum directing the State Department to lead an interagency group to provide a “swift and meaningful response” by the U.S. government to “serious incidents that threaten the human rights of LGBT persons abroad.”
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on December 4, 2011
It was one week after Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain told The Hill newspaper, “I think marriage should be protected at the federal level,” that allegations began emerging to suggest Cain himself had not been protecting marriage at the personal level.
Cain “suspended” his presidential campaign Saturday (December 4), following the latest allegation of sexual improprieties with women other than his wife. His support had dropped precipitously in the polls–from frontrunner with 25 percent or more to back-of-the-pack with only 8 percent in the latest Iowa polling.
Posted in Track notes
By Lisa Keen on December 2, 2011
The U.S. Senate passed a defense spending bill on Thursday (December 1) with only a much watered-down amendment seeking to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act against same-sex marriages.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on November 30, 2011
Something changed for U.S. Rep. Barney Frank between February and November of this year. In February, he announced he would seek re-election in 2012, to a 17th term in office. And on Monday, November 28, he announced this current term would be his last.
Posted in A closer look
By Dana Rudolph on November 28, 2011
U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan became the first United States cabinet secretary to address a transgender event when he gave the keynote speech at the eighth anniversary celebration of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE).
Posted in National Politics
By Lisa Keen on November 19, 2011
Newt Gingrich, the current Republican presidential frontrunner, used a right-wing Christian forum Saturday afternoon to claim “the left” is trying to “drive out the existence of traditional religions…and use the government to repress the American people against their own values.”
Posted in Campaigns, Election 2012, Presidential 2012
By Dana Rudolph on November 18, 2011
Gay-straight alliance clubs in middle schools and high schools help youth not only while they are in school, but also later in life, according to a new study.
Posted in Schools/youth
By Lisa Keen on November 17, 2011
In what amounts to a bump in the road for opponents of Proposition 8, a unanimous California Supreme Court told a federal appeals court November 17 that California law “authorizes” the proponents of the initiative to defend it in federal court even though state elected officials decided not to.
Posted in Issues, Marriage/Relationships, News, State Supreme Courts
By Dana Rudolph on November 16, 2011
LGBT activists in the neighboring states of Oregon and Washington have reached two different conclusions in the past week about strategies for marriage equality. Those in Washington State will attempt to gain it in 2012, but those in Oregon will use 2012 to continue to build support.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Issues, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on November 11, 2011
The White House sent out notice Thursday night that it was withdrawing the nomination of openly gay attorney Edward DuMont to serve on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee blocked DuMont’s nomination from the start, when President Obama nominated him in April 2010.
In DuMont’s place, President Obama has nominated an attorney with strong Republican ties.
Posted in News Briefs
Minnesota: Where the push for a marriage license began
Immigration bill advances without provisions for same-sex couples
Leahy submits language to help bi-national same-sex couples
Delaware votes for marriage equality; becomes 11th state to make it the law
Rhode Island marriage law signed; Two more states could vote next week
President praises pro athlete Jason Collins for courage to come out