January 2011
You are browsing the archive for January 2011.
By Dana Rudolph on January 31, 2011
Two New Hampshire legislators have introduced bills to repeal the state’s marriage equality law, even though Republican leaders said such a repeal is not a party priority in 2011. And several other states saw legislative moves toward or away from equality in the past week.
Posted in Issues, Marriage/Relationships, News, Politics, State Politics
By Lisa Keen on January 30, 2011
Reaction has been mixed to the Pentagon’s status report Friday, January 28, saying training to prepare for implementation of the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell could begin as early as next month.
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Federal Courts, Issues, Law
By Lisa Keen on January 28, 2011
The Pentagon on Friday, January 28, said training to prepare for implementation of the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell could begin as early as next month.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on January 28, 2011
U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) announced January 27 that he will not be a candidate for president in 2012. He came out on top of a straw poll conducted at an ultra-conservative Values Voters Summit last September.
Posted in Campaigns, Politics, Presidential 2012
By Lisa Keen on January 28, 2011
The head of a caucus of conservative Republicans in the House told The Hill newspaper that he will very likely introduce a bill seeking to overturn Washington, D.C.’s marriage equality law.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on January 26, 2011
President Obama on January 26 appointed two prominent gays to important positions in his administration and nominated an openly gay attorney to a judgeship for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Posted in Appointees, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, News, Politics, White House
By Dana Rudolph on January 26, 2011
A federal circuit court heard arguments January 19 in a case that asks whether states must recognize adoptions by same-sex parents from other states–and the outcome could have “frightening” implications for the rights of adoptive parents.
Posted in Adoption, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, News, U.S. Circuit Courts
By Lisa Keen on January 25, 2011
Tuesday 10:15pm EDT edition – President Obama once again brought up the issue of gays in the military during his annual State of the Union address.
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Issues, National Politics, News, Politics, White House
By Lisa Keen on January 24, 2011
The state of any union, including the union of LGBT people within the United States, is relative.
First, it depends on to whom you are comparing the union. Comparing the United States to China would favor China if you’re looking at budget surpluses, but if you’re examining the environment for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, the United States is far and away the better state in which to live.
Posted in A closer look
By Dana Rudolph on January 20, 2011
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced proposed new regulations intended to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in its core housing programs–programs that impact 4.4 million units of housing in the country.
Posted in Congress, Issues, Misc, National Politics, News, Politics
By Dana Rudolph on January 18, 2011
After a 2010 with few marriage equality measures contested outside the courtroom, 2011 will likely see a number of battles state by state across the country.
Three states are facing the prospect of losing marriage equality, an additional seven states could start the process of amending their state constitutions to ban marriage equality, and five could gain marriage equality. Here are the key states to watch.
Posted in A closer look
By Lisa Keen on January 18, 2011
The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday refused to hear the appeal of a group of clergy in Washington, D.C., who want to put the city’s new marriage equality law on the ballot.
Posted in Issues, Law, Marriage/Relationships, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on January 14, 2011
The U.S. Department of Justice filed its brief January 13 with a federal appeals court that will hear the government’s appeal of two district court decisions that found the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Circuit Courts
By Lisa Keen on January 13, 2011
Daniel Hernandez Jr., the openly gay intern who ran to the rescue of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords during last Saturday’s shooting in Tucson, was seated next to President Obama Wednesday during a memorial for the victims of that shooting.
President Obama and others repeated referred to Hernandez as a “hero,” but Hernandez himself urged that the title belongs, not to him but, to Giffords and other public servants.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on January 11, 2011
The 112th Congress went barreling into all-out partisan warfare, as expected, in its opening week, and then the unexpected took over. A man gunned down a member of Congress in broad daylight.
Posted in Congress, News, Politics
By Lisa Keen on January 11, 2011
The young Congressional intern who provided critical first aid to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot in the head Saturday is a gay man, Daniel Hernandez Jr.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on January 5, 2011
The Navy on Tuesday, January 4, relieved from command permanently its new commanding officer of the USS Enterprise, the Navy’s best-known aircraft carrier, after widespread media attention for training videos he created that used an anti-gay slur and depicted both same-sex and heterosexual couples having intimate moments in the shower together. Except for use of the term “fag,” the videos depict a rather blasé acceptance of gays in the military, not one suggesting hostility. But they show women crew members being used as objects of entertainment.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on January 4, 2011
A 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel surprised many Proposition 8 observers Tuesday when it suddenly issued five documents relating to the case. But there was no decision Tuesday in Perry v. Schwarzenegger.
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News, U.S. Circuit Courts
By Lisa Keen on January 4, 2011
A 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel surprised many Proposition 8 observers Tuesday when it suddenly issued five documents relating to the case.
Posted in News Briefs
By Chuck Colbert on January 3, 2011
In an important win for LGBT people and U.S. international diplomacy, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to restore a reference to “sexual orientation” in a resolution against the killing of vulnerable minority groups—a reference that had been removed only a month earlier.
Posted in International, News, Politics
Ginsburg on Roe: Is it a signal she’d curb a decision on marriage?
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
Rhode Island marriage bill clears final hurdle with all Republicans