 Los Angeles Times | Rulings on gay couples' benefits question Defense of Marriage Act Los Angeles Times, CA - By Carol J. Williams Brad Levenson and Tony Sears spent Thursday fielding congratulatory calls from gay rights supporters around the nation for their ... Judge: Gay spouse entitled to benefits Gay and lesbian spouses of federal employees are entitled to the ... Fed. court may rule marriage act unconstitutional |
Hundreds counter Phelps' anti-gay picketers at Shawnee Mission East Kansas City Star, MO - By JIM SULLINGER Hundreds of gay rights supporters, including many high school students, responded Thursday to picketing by 14 members of the Westboro ... Anti-Gay Protesters Target Prairie Village School Students Counter Protest By Phelps' Group Hundreds counter anti-gay picketers at Shawnee Mission East |
Gay-rights advocates take their case to sacred ground Salt Lake Tribune, United States - By Rosemary Winters Lehi » Two dozen gay-rights advocates rallied outside of Thanksgiving Point on Thursday night as more than 600 Utahns gathered inside to ... Foes off target in gay-rights fears, experts say |
LGBT legislation at a glance EDGE Boston, MA - by Ethan Jacobs Here’sa list of the LGBT-related legislation that was filed at the start of the legislative session last month. For complete coverage of the ... |
Amy Balliett: LGBT organizer BusinessWeek - Have you heard of Amy Balliett? She’sa 26-year-old activist in Seattle. Following the California’s passage of Proposition 8 in November, she used social ... |
Special issues and considerations for LGBT families Proud Parenting - These considerations tend to be unique to LGBT families; however I find it’s important that families of all types understand some of the issues that their ... |
Artist Known for Gay Subjects ’Outed’ As Prop. 8 Supporter EDGE Boston, MA - Said David Juhren of GLBT group LOFT, "There’s something very duplicitous in making money through depiction of the LGBT community through her art [which ... |
ArtExplosion has grown up over the years Sun-Sentinel.com, FL - The juried art exhibit, one of the largest GLBT shows in the country, now charges a modest entry fee. Maureen Kohler, president and CEO of ArtServe, ... Fort Lauderdale wins bid to host prestigious gay travel conference |
Conversations with Nicole Gay and Lesbian Times, CA - More than 2000 GLBT activists and leaders gathered for the 21st annual National Conference on LGBT Equality, “Creating Change.†It was almost a full week of ... |
From our friends at Equality California:The California Supreme Court announced [yesterday] that it will hear oral arguments on Thursday, March 5, 2009 in the Proposition 8 legal challenge. The National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the ACLUâ€"with support from civil rights groups, religious organizations, labor unions, and legal scholarsâ€"argue that Proposition 8 is invalid because the people of California have established strict safeguards that prohibit the underlying principles of the California Constitution from being changed by a simple majority vote. By taking away a right only from one group, Proposition 8 violates the most basic principle of our government: that all people are entitled to equal treatment under the law.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown is also asking the Court to invalidate Proposition 8 on the ground that certain fundamental rights, including the right to marry, are inalienable and can not be put up for a popular vote.
On November 10, 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stated that he hoped the Court would overturn Proposition 8. On CNN, he said of Proposition 8's passage, "It's unfortunate, obviously, but it's not the end, I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area."
On November 19, 2008, the California Supreme Court agreed to hear the legal challenges to Proposition 8 and set an expedited schedule. Briefing in the case was completed on January 21, 2009.
The California Supreme Court must issue its decisions within 90 days of oral argument.
On January 15, 2009, 43 friend-of-the-court briefs urging the Court to invalidate Prop 8 were filed, arguing that Proposition 8 drastically alters the equal protection guarantee in California's Constitution and that the rights of a minority cannot be eliminated by a simple majority vote. The supporters represent the full gamut of California's and the nation's civil rights organizations and legal scholars, as well as California legislators, local governments, bar associations, business interests, labor unions, and religious groups.
In May of 2008, the California Supreme Court held that laws that treat people differently based on their sexual orientation violate the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and that same-sex couples have the same fundamental right to marry as other Californians. Proposition 8 eliminated this fundamental right only for same-sex couples. No other initiative has ever successfully changed the California Constitution to take away a right only from a targeted minority group. Proposition 8 passed by a bare majority of 52 percent on November 4.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU filed this challenge on November 5, representing Equality California, whose members include many same-sex couples who married between June 16 and November 4, 2008, and six same-sex couples who want to marry in California. The California Supreme Court has also agreed to hear two other challenges filed on the same day: one filed by the City and County of San Francisco (joined by Santa Clara County and the City of Los Angeles, and subsequently by Los Angeles County and other local governments); and another filed by a private attorney.
Serving as co-counsel on the case with NCLR, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU are the Law Office of David C. Codell, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.
This was shared with us today by Dave Parker, former president of PFLAG's Transgender Network (TNET)...
"Just two weeks ago, Cynthia Nicole was gunned down in the streets of Hondurasâ€"three shots to the chest, one to the headâ€"because she was a transgender human rights activist, according to the Human Rights Watch website. A familiar story, it said, in Nepal, Africa, Guatemala, the United Statesâ€"well, everywhere it seems, except…Columbus?"
According to this article in The Other Paper, Columbus, Ohio is becoming a hot spot for transgender people seeking a community that is open, tolerant and provides legal protections.
For example, the city ordinances protect “gender identity or expression,†which means, “having or being perceived as having gender-related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, expression, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s actual or perceived sex.â€
One resident told The Other Paper, "Over the years, I have worked with many people from other states, as far as Texas and Virginia, and from big cities, such as Chicago and Detroit from where trans people have traveled or moved to Columbus because they could not find help where they lived."
Check out the rest of this intriguing article. And if you live in or have visited Columbus, give us your opinions and thoughts about the city!
"Just two weeks ago, Cynthia Nicole was gunned down in the streets of Hondurasâ€"three shots to the chest, one to the headâ€"because she was a transgender human rights activist, according to the Human Rights Watch website. A familiar story, it said, in Nepal, Africa, Guatemala, the United Statesâ€"well, everywhere it seems, except…Columbus?"According to this article in The Other Paper, Columbus, Ohio is becoming a hot spot for transgender people seeking a community that is open, tolerant and provides legal protections.
For example, the city ordinances protect “gender identity or expression,†which means, “having or being perceived as having gender-related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, expression, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s actual or perceived sex.â€
One resident told The Other Paper, "Over the years, I have worked with many people from other states, as far as Texas and Virginia, and from big cities, such as Chicago and Detroit from where trans people have traveled or moved to Columbus because they could not find help where they lived."
Check out the rest of this intriguing article. And if you live in or have visited Columbus, give us your opinions and thoughts about the city!
Join the Impact has partnered with other national LGBT groups to develop a web based public education campaign, http://www.tell-three.org/, to encourage LGBT people and their supporters to have three conversations with friends and family to help build support for LGBT equality.“The passage of Prop 8 in California has motivated LGBT people and their supporters like never before,†said Amy Balliett of Join the Impact, a grass roots organization with more than 15,000 members that has helped to organize massive demonstrations throughout the U.S. since the November elections. “Now that we’ve had some time to get over our anger and sadness, we’re ready to act. And the single most important thing we can do to guarantee we don’t find ourselves on the losing side of another political campaign is to have conversations with our friends and family about what it means to be LGBT.â€
Other organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union; Equality California; the Equality Federation; Freedom to Marry; The National Lesbian and Gay Task Force; the National Center for Lesbian Rights; and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, will be rolling out their own versions of the campaign on their websites. The goal of the campaign is for all LGBT groups and individuals to seize upon the momentum that has been generated since the passage of Proposition 8 in November and work together to tell their stories to build support for all of the issues affecting LGBT people.
Visitors to http://www.tell-three.org/ can find additional information on who to talk with and how to start these important conversations. There are also resources for those who want to learn more about the issues affecting LGBT people. But, as the website notes, the most important thing is for people to have personal conversations. The website encourages LGBT people to talk about their relationships, about growing up, and about how being LGBT has made them feel different from others in some respects and the same in others. Straight allies are encouraged to talk about their relationships with LGBT people and to speak up when they hear others make homophobic or transphobic comments.
The groups are encouraging everyone â€" members of national and local LGBT groups, individuals and couples supportive moms and dads, and allied friends and colleagues â€" to join the campaign and get people talking. The site makes it easy to spread the word to others to send an e-mail to their friends. Eventually there will also be opportunities for people to share their experiences on the site.
The groups are encouraging everyone â€" members of national and local LGBT groups, individuals and couples supportive moms and dads, and allied friends and colleagues â€" to join the campaign and get people talking. The site makes it easy to spread the word to others to send an e-mail to their friends. Eventually there will also be opportunities for people to share their experiences on the site.
For more information, or to participate, visit http://www.tell-three.org/.
We’ll be bringing you bits and pieces of Black History all month long so you will remember, for the other 11 months!
The right, especially the religious right, never ceases to amaze me. Here is someone, who is supposed to be a “man of God”, who is vigilant about civil rights for people of color, yet believes that the LGBT community should NOT be protected from getting their heads bashed in. Bishop…or should I say Bigot, [...]script>
The gay icon and pop star who started performing at The Colosseum theater at Caesar’s Palace back in February of 2004 is packing his bags and heading out of town. Elton John will be closing his Las Vegas Strip show, “The Red Piano,” on April 22. The singer, songwriter, pianist initially signed on for 75 shows, [...]
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