 My Fox Boston | Jury: SD firefighters were harassed in gay parade The Associated Press - SAN DIEGO (AP) â€" A jury determined Tuesday that four San Diego firefighters were sexually harassed for being ordered to participate in a gay pride parade ... San Diego firefighters win suit over gay-pride parade Firefighters win harassment judgment, $34300 in damages Jury Rules In Favor Of Firefighters In Parade Case |
 New York Times | High school play canceled over possible objections to gay content Los Angeles Times, CA - Drama teacher at a Newport Beach high school says the principal shut down his production of 'Rent' because of its gay characters. District officials say the ... Newport Beach, CA High School Cancels RENT, Blames Gay Characters Killing RENT - Behind the Times and Beyond the Pale No ‘Rent’ for California High School |
 Queerty | Student Sues LA College Over Right to Give Anti-Gay Marriage Speech FOXNews - LOS ANGELES â€" A Los Angeles college student is suing his school, saying he was deprived of his right to freedom of speech. Jonathan Lopez says a public ... Student sues LA City College district over gay-marriage speech Gay Marriage Speech Sparks Lawsuit in CA Man sues US college over anti-gay marriage speech |
LGBT Community Is Still Traveling, Even in Tough Times DiversityInc.com (subscription) - But a new survey shows that when it comes to travel, the LGBT community is still willing to spend. A Harris Interactive/Witeck-Combs survey found that 38 ... |
"Milk" part of studios' slow awakening to power of LGBT stories SmartBrief, DC - ... star like Sean Penn to get the biopic "Milk" to the big screen, Hollywood is becoming more attuned to telling LGBT stories, according to this article. ... |
 WeHo News | Conference to focus on youth LGBT issues Press & Sun-Bulletin, NY - Attendees will explore different issues facing the LGBT community. David Kilmnick, founder and director of the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth group will ... Honoree Nominations For WeHo Gay Pride Open Pride Week festivities set for June 21-27 |
Boston GLBT Seniors Have a Place of Their Own EDGE Boston, MA - ... has transformed a historic manor home on the desirable Bellevue Avenue in Melrose into a shared single-family residence actively welcoming GLBT seniors. ... |
Trial Begins in Fla. Gay Bashing Murder EDGE Boston, MA - While Skipper’s murder has brought anti-gay violence to the fore, however, Skipper’s parents, and the GLBT community that has come together to o ffer them ... |
 MiamiHerald.com | Steve Rothaus MiamiHerald.com, FL - Fort Lauderdale â€" The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus, an arm of the Florida Democratic Party representing Florida’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender ... Steve Rothaus |
In her weekly column for The Detroit News, columnist Deb Price praises the recent re-introduction of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), spearheaded by our friends at Immigration Equality. UAFA would make simple modifications to existing U.S. immigration law, leveling the playing field for same-sex couples and treating lesbian and gay couples just like their heterosexual counterparts."Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., a House Judiciary subcommittee chairman, recently reintroduced the Uniting American Families Act to change the law," Price writes. "President Barack Obama supports changing it."
"The proposal would add 'or permanent partner' to parts of the Immigration and Nationality Act already allowing heterosexuals -- whether U.S. citizens or permanent residents -- to sponsor spouses for green cards," she notes.
"It's wanton cruelty, gratuitous cruelty to keep people who love each other apart," Nadler declared in a teleconference call.
Nadler said Obama's support means "for the first time (we can) make a really serious attempt to pass it" alone or in an omnibus immigration bill.
Nadler stressed that the change has nothing to do with gay marriage, Price notes. "However you stand on that subject, there should be general agreement that loving couples should not be kept apart," he said.
Indeed, no American should be forced to choose between their country and their family, and the Uniting American Families Act would eliminate that unacceptable dilemma.
For more information on UAFA, visit Immigration Equality online, and to read Price's full column, click here.
Dana Rudolph, of Mombian fame, has a new piece up at 365Gay.com about repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and standing up for military families. The LGBT community is abuzz with the possibility that President Obama will repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†(DADT) policy. This is a necessary and important step towards equality for LGBT Americans and enabling our military to recruit and retain qualified personnel.
Repealing DADT, however, is only the first stepâ€"albeit the most important oneâ€"towards equality for LGBT servicemembers. Unless the federal government not only permits openly lesbian and gay servicemembers, but also recognizes their families, we are asking those servicemembers to defend our country with a fraction of the support given to non-LGBT personnel.
The military takes family support very seriously. Army companies, for example, each contain a Family Readiness Group, “an official command sponsored organization of Family Members, volunteers, and Soldiers belonging to a unit, that together provide an avenue of support and assistance. This network of communication between Family Members, volunteers, the chain of command, and community resources, is for Soldier and Family readiness.†. . .
. . . Soberingly, when the worst happens, only spouses, blood relatives, or adoptive relatives can handle the disposition of remains for a deceased servicemember.
With the repeal of DADT, it is reasonable to assume more lesbian and gay servicemembers will choose to stay in the service longer. They would thus be more likely to have a spouse and/or children at some point in their military careers, making the recognition of their relationships a growing issue.
The wording of final legislation to repeal DADT is still up in the air, but the version currently in the House, H.R. 1246, is clear, however, that benefits for families of lesbian and gay servicemembers are not up for consideration: “Nothing in this Act . . . shall be construed to require the furnishing of dependent benefits in violation of . . . the `Defense of Marriage Act.’â€
Hillary Clinton has already agreed to provide same-sex partners of State Department employees with the same benefits and protections as opposite-sex spouses. President Obama has said he will work to repeal DOMA, but has not yet set a timetable.
Let me stress, therefore : We need to stay focused on repealing DADT and not try to work in broader family rights for lesbian and gay servicemembers right now. As much as it hurts to read the DOMA clause in the anti-DADT legislation, it seems a prudent move at this point in order for the measure to have any chance of success.
At the same time, we should be mindful that family rights for military personnel will be an upcoming challengeâ€"and perhaps an opportunity. The repeal of DADT could highlight the need to enact federal relationship-recognition and adoption rights for every American, if only to ensure that all servicemembers have equal benefits for their families.
To read Dana's full column, visit 365Gay.com online . . .
As many of you may have heard, there has been an anti-gay discriminatory adoption ban posed by 2 legislators from Tennessee, Senator Paul Stanley and Representative John DeBerry. The bill states:“The public policy of this state is to favor marriage, as defined by the constitution and laws of this state, over unmarried sexual cohabitation. It is also the public policy of this state to place children into adoptive families that provide the most stable familial relationships for that child and will foster an appreciation for the policies of this state that favor marriage over unmarried cohabitation. The general assembly specifically finds that it is not in a child’s best interest to be adopted by a person who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship that is not a legally valid and binding marriage under the constitution and laws of this state. Therefore: a minor may not be adopted if the individual seeking to adopt is cohabiting outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution and laws of this state.
Senator Stanley has added his own thoughts to the bill, saying that
“"We were having a lot of [unmarried] individuals apply to adopt children from state custody.....And while single people can make very good parents, what we were finding is that some of those individuals were in same-sex relationships," he points out. "And we just thought it was not advantageous to have children who are the responsibility of the state being placed in such homes." Stanley believes married, heterosexual couples provide the best climate for raising children. "I don't think you can put a child in a home with two individuals of the same sex and meet the needs -- the emotional, the physical, the mental needs of that child to be a well-developed child as they move into adulthood," he contends.
We are encouraging you to act â€" contact your legislator or write a letter for your local newspaper. When contacting your legislator, please make sure you correctly identify the bills: SB0078 in the Senate and HB0605 in the House. To contact your representative, click here. Tell them you do not support these anti-gay and anti-family bills. Encourage your representative to only support legislation that supports all of our families, including our LGBT loved ones.
The Tri Cities, TN chapter (covering the Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City areas) has sample letters that you can use to write your legislator or your local newspaper. For copies of these letters, please visit their blog.
-Erin Cranford Williams
My good friend and colleague, Matt Hennie has a GREAT post over at OutSports - Jock Talk Blog about the Michael Phelps bong debacle, and how he’s a great “escape artist”. “We had a photo and him saying he was sorry for inappropriate behavior,†Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said during a televised press conference. “He [...]
A legislative measure in Colorado that would make it easier for LGBT community members to leave property to their partners and to visit each other in the hospital is has moved one step closer to reality. The bill was approved yesterday by the House Judiciary Committee, and now moves to the full House for debate. If passed passed, [...]
Courtesy of Advocate.com: Beau Breedlove, the former lover of gay Portland, Ore., Mayor Sam Adams, has accepted Unzipped Magazine’s offer to be featured on the magazine’s May cover and traveled to Los Angeles this weekend for a nude photo shoot, editors announced on Tuesday. Breedlove’s name was thrust into the spotlight in January, when Adams admitted to [...]
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