By Lisa Keen on November 4, 2012
Karl Rove’s conservative super PAC Crossroads has poured more than $7 million into opposing U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s bid to become the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate.
Posted in Campaigns, Senate
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 3, 2012
After trailing a popular former governor for weeks, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin has now edged into the lead for the U.S. Senate seat from Wisconsin.
Posted in Election 2012, Senate
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 September 12, 2012
The presidential finish line is eight weeks off, and there’s little indication that the LGBT vote in this year’s presidential election will divide up any differently than it has in the past several: 3 to 1 for the Democrat. But it is not an entirely civil divide.
Posted in Election 2012, Presidential 2012
By Lisa Keen on June 28, 2012
In a dramatic move with significant political and economic implications, a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday (June 28) voted to uphold President Obama’s landmark health care reform law.
Posted in Federal Courts, 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 16, 2012
Despite a warning that President Obama may exercise his veto power, the U.S. House Wednesday (May 16) approved a version of the Violence Against Women Act that omits provisions, approved in the Senate, to help LGBT victims of domestic violence.
Posted in Congress, National Politics, White House
By Lisa Keen on May 10, 2012
In a strict party line vote, Republicans on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee rejected three attempts Tuesday (May 7) to add protections for LGBT victims of domestic abuse in a bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.
Posted in Congress, National Politics
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
By Lisa Keen on May 8, 2012
BOSTON—Three Iowa state supreme court justices ousted by voters in 2010 for ruling that same-sex couples were due the same rights as other couples under the state constitution were honored May 7 with the prestigious JFK Profiles in Courage Award.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on April 26, 2012
A casual listener to U.S. Senate debate Thursday (April 26) would not have heard the skirmish over protections for LGBT victims of domestic abuse.
Posted in Congress, National Politics, News
By Lisa Keen on April 23, 2012
Republican presidential nominee apparent Mitt Romney has begun his run toward the political middle, and one aspect of that shift appears to have been the choosing an openly gay man to his team of campaign advisors.
Posted in Election 2012, Presidential 2012
By Lisa Keen on April 20, 2012
Less than three weeks before voters in North Carolina go to the polls to cast a vote on same-sex marriage early voting has begun, an embarrassing sex scandal involving the state Democratic Party has burst into the national media.
Posted in Election 2012, Presidential 2012
By Lisa Keen on April 12, 2012
Longtime Democratic and lesbian activist Hilary Rosen was in the proverbial political hotseat this week over a critique she offered Wednesday night regarding Republican presidential nominee-apparent Mitt Romney.
Posted in Presidential 2012
By Lisa Keen on April 4, 2012
BOSTON — A three-judge panel in Boston heard oral arguments Wednesday (April 4) in the first challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to reach a federal appeals court.
Posted in Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Circuit Courts
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