By Lisa Keen on May 30, 2012
Lambda Legal Defense and the ACLU filed separate lawsuits Wednesday (May 30), seeking the right to marry for same-sex couples in Illinois.
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By Lisa Keen on May 24, 2012
The Obama campaign Wednesday (May 23) said it would be making a determined effort to turn out LGBT Americans in November “regardless of their political affiliation.”
Jamie Citron, National LGBT Vote Director for the Obama for America re-election campaign, made the statement Wednesday (May 23) during a telephone press conference with reporters. Citron introduced outgoing Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese as co-chairman of the LGBT arm of the Obama for America campaign.
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By Lisa Keen on May 23, 2012
A New Jersey state judge Monday (May 21) sentenced the Rutgers student convicted of a bias crime in relation to the suicide death of his gay dorm roommate to 30 days in jail, 300 hours of community service, and a $10,000 fine.
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By Lisa Keen on May 8, 2012
The head of the House Judiciary Committee is planning recently released a report, charging that the U.S. Attorney General has repeatedly disregarded the Constitution and the rule of law, and calling for a hearing to question him about decisions regarding the Defense of Marriage Act and other matters.
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By Lisa Keen on May 2, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s openly gay advisor on foreign policy resigned Tuesday (May 1), just two weeks after the campaign announced his role.
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By Lisa Keen on April 18, 2012
A recent poll suggests that most Americans “trust” President Obama over Mitt Romney to “do a better job” at “dealing with social issues such as abortion and gay marriages,” but it’s not a big difference.
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By Lisa Keen on April 10, 2012
Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum was one of the most virulently anti-gay candidates in the large field of Republican presidential wannabes who started out last year. And most political observers said early on and often that Santorum’s harsh positions against gays and same-sex marriage were dooming his chances to carry the GOP mantle into the general election where moderation wins votes.
Santorum stayed in the race, even as more viable Republican candidates dropped out and threw their support to the more moderate former Governor Mitt Romney.
But Santorum announced at a press conference Tuesday in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that he was suspending his campaign. And in doing so, he gave a subtle nod to Romney.
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By Lisa Keen on April 4, 2012
Voters in Anchorage, Alaska, overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure Tuesday that sought to add “sexual orientation” and “transgender identity” to the city’s human rights law.
With 102 of 121 precincts counted late last night, the vote on the measure, Proposition 5, was 58 percent to 42 percent, according to the city elections division.
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By Lisa Keen on March 30, 2012
North Carolina will vote on a proposed marriage ban May 8, when they go to the polls for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. And a recent survey indicates that most are likely to approve a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. But that survey also shows that two-thirds of those people don’t really understand what they’re voting for.
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By Lisa Keen on March 29, 2012
Lesbian attorney Karen Golinski can now get health coverage for her spouse, but no other federal employee can so Lambda Legal’s lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act in the Ninth Circuit continues.
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By Lisa Keen on March 29, 2012
A political ad on the airwaves in Anchorage, Alaska, claims that a day care center would be forced to hire a “transvestite who wants to work with toddlers” if the city approves an amendment to its human rights law to prohibit discrimination based on “sexual orientation” and “transgender identity.”
Another ad claims that a local fitness gym would have to “open the women’s locker room to anyone who claims a female identity.” It depicts that person as a hairy balding man with a ponytail taking off his swimsuit in the locker room while nearby women scream and cover themselves in apparent shock.
Both ads, done in the form of cartoons, depict the beneficiaries of the proposed new law as burly men hiding behind women’s clothing. They are a new twist on old themes for opponents of civil rights protections for transgender people. But they are the weapons unleashed on Anchorage television to defeat Proposition 5, a ballot measure up for vote on Tuesday, April 3.
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By Lisa Keen on March 21, 2012
In a dramatic surprise and major victory for supporters of marriage equality for same-sex couples, the Republican-dominated New Hampshire House voted Wednesday (March 21) not to repeal the state’s two-year-old marriage equality law. The vote was 102 to 133.
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By Lisa Keen on March 19, 2012
Openly gay Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger is celebrating a victory of sorts. He got more votes in the Puerto Rico primary than did Rep. Ron Paul.
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By Lisa Keen on March 16, 2012
A jury in New Jersey has found Rutgers student Dharun Ravi guilty of a hate crime against his gay roommate, Tyler Clementi, for using a web cam to spy on Clementi’s intimate encounters with another man. The jury also found Ravi guilty of a number of other charges, including invasion of privacy and witness tampering. [...]
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By Lisa Keen on March 15, 2012
The U.S. Senate today (March 15) approved the nomination of the first openly gay federal judge for California, Michael Fitzgerald of Los Angeles. The vote was 91 to 6, with three senators not voting, making Fitzgerald the fifth openly gay federal judge currently on the bench in the country.
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By Lisa Keen on March 14, 2012
There was no surprise in Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary results: The field’s most conservative candidate, Rick Santorum, won primaries in two of the nation’s most conservative states. The candidate with the most stated support of Republican gays, Mitt Romney, tied for second with Newt Gingrich in Alabama and was a point behind him in Mississippi.
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By Lisa Keen on March 14, 2012
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is expected to vote today (March 14) on a sort of flea flicker bill aimed at having the legislature repeal marriage equality by asking voters to express support for civil unions.
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By Lisa Keen on March 7, 2012
Their positions on same-sex marriage haven’t changed, and Super Tuesday voting showed that the tightly packed nature of the four-man Republican presidential race has not changed either—except, perhaps, for a surprise comment Tuesday night by former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin that she might be interested in joining the fray.
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By Lisa Keen on March 6, 2012
The National Center for Lesbian Rights joined with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education Tuesday in an agreement with a Minnesota school district to take steps to prevent harassment of students who do not conform to gender stereotypes.
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By Lisa Keen on February 23, 2012
The Maryland Senate on Thursday gave final legislative approval to a marriage equality bill that the governor is expected to soon sign. The vote was 25 to 22.
Meanwhile, the Maine Secretary of State confirmed Thursday that activists have turned in enough valid signatures to put a pro-marriage equality measure on the ballot there in November.
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Ginsburg on Roe: Is it a signal she’d curb a decision on marriage?
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