By Lisa Keen on February 8, 2013
President Obama has once again nominated an openly gay man to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The president nominated Department of Justice attorney Todd Hughes to serve on the appeals court. Hughes has worked as deputy director of the DOJ Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch since 2007.
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By Lisa Keen on February 7, 2013
President Obama’s new nominee to serve as Secretary of Interior was a staunch supporter of marriage equality in Washington State last year.
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By Lisa Keen on January 19, 2013
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has invited a moderate Methodist minister to deliver the sermon and the inaugural’s National Prayer Service Tuesday, January 22.
The Committee announced Friday (January 18) that it has invited Rev. Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, to deliver the sermon, which will be attended by President Obama and many of the nation’s leaders at Washington’s National Cathedral.
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By Lisa Keen on January 17, 2013
The Presidential Inauguration Committee announced Thursday (January 17) that an openly gay veteran of the Air Force will be among the eight “Citizen Co-Chairs” for President Obama’s second inaugural ceremony.
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By Lisa Keen on January 17, 2013
It was almost déjà vu all over again.
To deliver the benediction at his second inauguration January 21, President Obama chose a pastor who had called homosexuality “probably the greatest addiction” and said marriage between same-sex partners is “absolutely undermining the whole order of our society.”
But this time around –unlike in 2009, when President-elect Obama chose California evangelist Rick Warren to deliver the benediction—the pastor with such hostile views of LGBT people withdrew his participation in the high-profile national event.
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By Lisa Keen on January 8, 2013
The U.S. Supreme Court today (January 7) scheduled the dates for oral arguments in the two high-profile marriage equality cases before it this session. The Proposition 8 case will be heard on March 26; the Defense of Marriage Act case will be heard March 27.
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By Lisa Keen on January 4, 2013
The Republican leaders in the U.S. House started off the 2013-14 session giving unusual prominence to their legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
As part of a routine package of “rules” by which the House is to govern itself during the 113th Congress, Republican leaders included language authorizing the continued legal defense of DOMA.
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By Lisa Keen on January 4, 2013
LGBT service groups and others who depend on federal funding for a portion of their work can breathe a sigh of relief –for about two months. Congress sent President Obama a bill January 1 to satisfy part of its mandate to address the nation’s growing debt.
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By Lisa Keen on December 21, 2012
It’s just a rumor at this point, but it’s one that makes a lot of sense and one that could require a careful adjustment to the LGBT history books.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is reportedly considering U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to step into a U.S. Senate vacancy that is expected to be created when the Senate confirms current U.S. Senator John Kerry as Secretary of State.
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By Lisa Keen on December 21, 2012
In a development illustrating one measure of the LGBT political lobby’s influence on the Obama administration, a Republican figure said to be a top-runner to become the next Secretary of Defense apologized for his remarks 14 years ago, casting aspersions on an openly gay nominee to be ambassador.
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By Lisa Keen on November 30, 2012
In a two-pronged attack against reparative therapy, U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco) announced Wednesday, Nov. 28, the introduction of a resolution aimed at stopping its use on young gay people, and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit that says a group that administers such therapy is committing fraud.
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By Lisa Keen on November 18, 2012
CNN commentator on Supreme Court news Jeff Toobin said Sunday he believes the high court will take the Massachusetts case challenging the Defense of Marriage Act but that it will decline to consider Proposition 8.
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By Lisa Keen on November 13, 2012
The U.S. Supreme Court indicated Tuesday that it was bumping back by 10 days the date it has scheduled for its conference on 10 cases regarding same-sex marriage.
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By Lisa Keen on November 7, 2012
Even the most jaded political pundits were stunned by the four stunning victories for marriage equality on the ballot Tuesday.
In an unprecedented vote, Minnesota became the first state to reject a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Maine became the first state to approve a pro-active measure to allow same-sex marriage. And voters in Washington State and Maryland became the first to approve bills passed in their respective legislatures to provide for marriage equality.
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By Lisa Keen on November 6, 2012
The last polls taken before today’s voting looked mostly promising –maybe even history-making– for LGBT related issues and candidates.
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By Lisa Keen on November 4, 2012
It’s a close race for the White House, a close race for Tammy Baldwin’s bid to the U.S. Senate, five unpredictable outcomes on marriage related votes, and an openly gay caucus in Congress that could total either three or six by the end of the evening.
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By Lisa Keen on October 4, 2012
A CNN poll of 430 people who watched the first presidential debate Wednesday night found that 47 percent said the debate would not likely affect their vote. But 35 percent said the debate made them more likely to vote for Republican Mitt Romney and only 18 percent said it would make them more likely to vote for President Obama.
There was relatively little to change the minds of LGBT voters in the debate. No questions concerning LGBT issues were posed but President Obama made a direct reference to one.
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By Lisa Keen on July 3, 2012
It’s not a surprise, but it is news: House Speaker John Boehner and his colleagues in the Republican leadership have given the go-ahead for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes of preserving the Defense of Marriage Act –DOMA.
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By Lisa Keen on June 14, 2012
Opposition to ENDA –the Employment Non-Discrimination Act– was all about the bathrooms in the last Congressional session. This time around, it’s about religion.
National Religious Broadcasters Association spokesman Craig Parshall told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Tuesday (June 12) that ENDA would impose a “chilling effect” on religious organizations that would be monumental. He said ENDA poses a “substantial unconstitutional burden” on religious organizations that would “interfere with their ability to pursue their missions.”
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By Lisa Keen on June 7, 2012
For the second time in a week, a federal court has declared the core section of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional.
Judge Barbara Jones of the U.S. District Court for Southern New York, which includes Manhattan, issued a ruling Wednesday (June 6), saying DOMA violates the constitution’s guarantee of equal protection when it requires a same-sex spouse to pay a federal estate tax that heterosexual spouses are exempt from.
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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