Lisa Keen
By Lisa Keen on March 12, 2010
Rep. Eric Massa, a first-term member of the House, told reporters March 3 that, because of health reasons, he would not seek re-election this November. But in just a few hours, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer revealed that his staff learned February 8 of allegations that Massa was being accused of misconduct and had ordered him to report himself to the House ethics committee.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on March 11, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court continues its unpredictable foray into LGBT-related legal conflicts—this week announcing that it will decide whether a protester has a First Amendment right to use a private funeral service as a staging ground for their hate speech against gays.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on March 9, 2010
Google “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and you’ll get more than 2 million links. Add the word “repeal” to the search, and you’ll get about half a million. Add the words “this year,” and you’re down to 135,000.
That’s probably a good illustration of how the actual repeal process is going these days: Lots of people are talking about it, but the chances for success this year rely on a lot more things converging just so, and not too much.
Posted in A closer look, Campaigns, Don't Ask Don't Tell, House, Issues, News, Politics, Senate
By Lisa Keen on March 5, 2010
Legislation can be like a train: It runs on a track, makes certain stops along the way, and is often attached to other trains. But, in Congress, the train doesn’t run on time.
Last October, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would likely get a House committee vote in September and a floor vote that fall. Didn’t happen.
Posted in A closer look, Congress, News, Politics
By Lisa Keen on March 3, 2010
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday evening denied a request to stop Washington, D.C.’s new marriage equality law from going into effect Wednesday, March 3.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on March 1, 2010
At least one senator has put a secret hold on the confirmation of openly gay law professor Chai Feldblum and four others to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Posted in Congress, News, Politics
By Lisa Keen on February 25, 2010
Just days before Washington, D.C.’s new marriage equality law is set to go into effect, the attorney general of neighboring Maryland issued a long-awaited opinion on whether same-sex marriages validated in other jurisdictions “may be recognized” under Maryland state law.
Posted in Issues, Marriage/Relationships, News, Politics, State Politics
By Lisa Keen on February 24, 2010
The battle over equal rights to marriage has dominated much of the news concerning the LGBT civil rights movement for the past 17 years, but there have been gains recently in the battle over gay family rights in general. And in just the past week, there were important developments in two significant courts.
Posted in A closer look, Cases, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, News, State Courts, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on February 23, 2010
A family court judge in Vermont Tuesday issued a warrant for the arrest of former lesbian Lisa Miller who disappeared with the child she once shared with her former civil union partner, Janet Jenkins.
Posted in Law, News, State Courts
By Lisa Keen on February 22, 2010
President Obama released a new health care reform bill that he says incorporates work done in the House and Senate and adds ideas from Republican members of Congress. But there’s no inclusion in this new proposed measure of any of the gay-related provisions in the original House bill.
Posted in Health, Issues, News, Politics, White House
By Lisa Keen on February 15, 2010
In just a couple of months, speculation concerning the retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens will once again rev up. He’ll turn 90 in April and, last fall when justices typically do, he did not hire a full complement of clerks for the 2010-11 session.
Posted in A closer look, Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on February 14, 2010
Of 678 federal district court judges in the country, only one has voluntarily identified as being gay?
It is for that reason that there is cause for excitement that President Obama may be on the verge of nominating another.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, News, Nominees
By Lisa Keen on February 10, 2010
With no named sources and a “no comment” from the judge, the San Francisco Chronicle this week reported that it is an “open secret” in San Francisco that the federal judge presiding over the Proposition 8 trial “is himself gay.”
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits, News
By Lisa Keen on February 4, 2010
President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 isn’t anywhere near as much as gay and AIDS groups had sought, but the consensus seems to be that modest increases—and in some places no increases, are laudable in the current economy.
Posted in News, Politics, White House
By Lisa Keen on January 31, 2010
The fact that Therese Stewart didn’t get much publicity during the landmark federal court trial challenging Proposition 8 isn’t really a surprise: Lesbians do tend to be invisible.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 29, 2010
President Obama side-stepped a question Thursday about what he’s doing “now” to ensure that gay couples “are treated as equal citizens,” but there was a signal from the Pentagon that same day that movement may be coming on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Issues, Marriage/Relationships, National Politics, News, Politics, White House
By Lisa Keen on January 28, 2010
Gay leaders offered only a lukewarm reception Wednesday night for President Obama’s statement, in his State of the Union address, that he would work for the repeal of the military’s discriminatory policy against gays.
Posted in Don't Ask Don't Tell, Issues, National Politics, News, Politics, White House
By Lisa Keen on January 27, 2010
There is nothing like turning an opponent’s own words against him to both rile his emotions and destroy his position, and that was the work of attorney David Boies Wednesday morning.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 27, 2010
In the waning hours of the historic trial challenging the constitutionality of a state ban on same-sex marriage, the federal courtroom in San Francisco felt a little like a boxing arena.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 26, 2010
Except for one very brief outburst in the courtroom by a man who has been ranting on the streets of downtown San Francisco, the predominance of drama in the Proposition 8 trial Tuesday morning has been coming from the intense cross-examination delivered by David Boies.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
White House threatens veto as House omits LGBTs in two bills
House GOP shoot down effort to insert LGBT protections in VAWA
NC approves constitutional ban: 61 to 39
Iowa justices explain why they didn’t campaign to retain seats