By Lisa Keen on May 8, 2013
As expected, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy introduced amendments Tuesday (May 7) to enable gay citizens to sponsor their “permanent” same-sex partners for immigration, under the proposed comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
Posted in Congress, Immigration, National Politics
By Lisa Keen on May 7, 2013
Just minutes before the Delaware Senate was set to vote on its marriage equality bill, a Democrat senator who had been quiet about how she would vote announced on her Facebook page that she would vote yes.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, State Politics
By Lisa Keen on May 2, 2013
Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee signed a marriage equality bill into law this evening, just an hour after the state House gave the measure its final procedural approval. Two more states could approve marriage for same-sex couples next week.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, State Politics
By Lisa Keen on April 24, 2013
After a moving speech by a senator who described herself as a lifelong, devout Catholic and said she would support marriage equality, the Rhode Island Senate Wednesday afternoon voted to approve a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in the state.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, State Politics
By Lisa Keen on April 10, 2013
The race to become the tenth state to provide for marriage equality just got more interesting, as both Illinois and Rhode Island legislatures are on track to take final votes this month.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, State Politics
By Lisa Keen on March 27, 2013
Today’s argument in the U.S. Supreme Court over the Defense of Marriage Act sounded at times as if President Obama was on trial for enforcing the law even though he considers it unconstitutional. At other times, it sounded like Congress was on trial.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on March 26, 2013
The U.S. Supreme Court took the marriage equality issue on a roller coaster ride Tuesday as it heard almost 90 minutes of argument in the case testing the constitutionality of California’s ban on same-sex marriage.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Supreme Court
By Dana Rudolph on March 6, 2013
As many as six million adults and children in the United States have an LGBT parent, and an estimated three million LGBT Americans have had a child at some point in their lives, according to an analysis released February 27 by the Williams Institute of UCLA.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on February 28, 2013
In a major victory for Democrats, the U.S. House voted Thursday to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.
Posted in Congress, Health, National Politics
By Lisa Keen on February 21, 2013
One month away from the most historic and, perhaps, influential U.S. Supreme Court cases in LGBT history, a surprising number of facts are still unknown.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on January 8, 2013
The race to become the tenth state to provide marriage equality for same-sex couples is underway, with Rhode Island and Illinois running neck-and-neck. Marriage equality bills were launched in both states’ legislatures last week.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, State Politics
By Lisa Keen on December 7, 2012
In a surprise development, the U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will review both the Proposition 8 case concerning a statewide ban on same-sex marriage and a DOMA case concerning a ban on federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on October 30, 2012
A new revelation surfaced about Mitt Romney October 25, revealing yet another step he took as Massachusetts governor to thwart equal treatment of gays in the state.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on October 18, 2012
The ruling by a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel was not a big surprise. But the panel’s related ruling—that laws should be held to a heightened standard of review when they treat people differently because of their sexual orientation—was news.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Circuit Courts
By Lisa Keen on October 1, 2012
On its first official day of the 2012-13 session, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday did not include the Proposition 8 case on the list of cases it would or would not review.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on June 5, 2012
A glimmer of politics showed through Tuesday (June 5) when the full 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals declined a request from supporters of California’s ban on same-sex marriage to review a circuit panel’s decision that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Circuit Courts
By Lisa Keen on May 31, 2012
A unanimous three-judge panel of the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled today (Thursday, May 31) that the core part of the Defense of Marriage Act, barring federal recognition of marriages of same-sex couples, is unconstitutional.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Circuit Courts
By Lisa Keen on May 22, 2012
Saying that the NAACP has “always stood against laws that demean, dehumanize, and discriminate against people,” NAACP Board Chairman Roslyn Brock formally announced Monday (May 21) the board’s vote in favor of a resolution supporting marriage equality.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on May 9, 2012
President Obama said in a White House-arranged interview Wednesday afternoon that “same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, Presidential 2012, White House
By Lisa Keen on May 9, 2012
For those in the LGBT community who have watched state after state pass constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage, the results in North Carolina were expected: Voters approved the ban by a margin of roughly 61 percent to 39 percent, as of late Tuesday night.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships
Ginsburg on Roe: Is it a signal she’d curb a decision on marriage?