|
|
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 27, 2009
Momentum is building for Congress to pass the first major civil rights act protecting gays and transsexuals, supporters say, and one of the stars in the debate is a barrier-breaking transgender staffer on Capitol Hill.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, would prohibit workplace discrimination — including decisions about hiring, firing and wages — based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It would exempt religious organizations, the military and businesses with less than 15 workers.
The driving force behind the bill has been Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the longest-serving of the three openly gay members of Congress. He expects hearings on the measure to be held this fall.
Continue reading New Impetus for Bill Banning Anti-Gay Bias at Work
By DENISE LAVOIE (AP) – August 26, 2009
BOSTON — For decades, Edward Kennedy was considered the most powerful voice in the Senate for gay rights as a strong supporter of HIV/AIDS funding, hate crimes legislation and same-sex marriage.
His death struck a blow to gay rights advocates, who say they’ve lost a key ally.
“Having somebody in the Senate who was never afraid to stand up and say, ‘This is the right thing to do’ lifted all of our spirits and made all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people know that there was hope,” said Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a political action committee.
Kennedy was an early advocate for AIDS research and treatment, securing federal funding so patients could have easier access to experimental drugs, expanded home care and outpatient mental health care.
In 1996, he was one of only 14 senators who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the federal government from recognizing gay unions. He also was a leading supporter of gay marriage in his home state of Massachusetts, which was the first to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004.
Continue reading Kennedy remembered as champion of gay rights
By Hugh Ryan
An Advocate.com exclusive posted August 25, 2009
When 28-year-old Nathan Manske was laid off from his job at a large New York advertising firm, he devoted his time to I’mFromDriftwood.com, where gay men and women can remind America that we’re everywhere. 
At 28, Nathan Manske might be a poster child for fun employment. Tan, attractive, articulate, and recently laid off by a large advertising firm, Manske has spent the last six months channeling all of his energies into creating and maintaining the website I’m From Driftwood. IFD publishes short first-person accounts of LGBT people from all around the world, each under the simple header “I’m from _____.”
The stories come from everywhere: small towns in Michigan; big cities in Argentina. As the title suggests, Manske himself comes from Driftwood, a small town in Texas, about 45 minutes south of Austin. Recently, Advocate.com caught up with him in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he now resides, to talk about IFD. Continue reading We Are (From) Everywhere
Justice Dept. Filing Distances Administration From Arguments That Angered Gays
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Obama administration distanced itself Monday from legal arguments it had made earlier this summer, taking pains to remove and renounce language that had outraged advocates in the gay community in a case that centers on the constitutionality of a same-sex marriage law.
In a filing by the Justice Department, administration lawyers made it clear for the first time in court that the president thinks the 13-year-old Defense of Marriage Act, which denies benefits to domestic partners of federal employees and allows states to reject same-sex marriages performed in other states, discriminates against gays and should be repealed.
Continue reading Obama Says Marriage Law Should Be Repealed
The New York Times
By JO BECKER
Published: August 18, 2009
Theodore B. Olson’s office is a testament to his iconic status in the conservative legal movement. A framed photograph of Ronald Reagan, the first of two Republican presidents Mr. Olson served, is warmly inscribed with “heartfelt thanks.” Fifty-five white quills commemorate each of his appearances before the Supreme Court, where he most famously argued the 2000 election case that put George W. Bush in the White House. On the bookshelf sits a Defense Department medal honoring his legal defense of Mr. Bush’s counter-terrorism policies after Sept. 11.
But in a war room down the hall, where Mr. Olson is preparing for what he believes could be the most important case of his career, the binders stuffed with briefs, case law and notes offer a different take on a man many liberals love to hate. They are filled with arguments Mr. Olson hopes will lead to a Supreme Court decision with the potential to reshape the legal and social landscape along the lines of cases like Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade: the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide.
Given the traditional battle lines on the issue, Mr. Olson’s decision to file a lawsuit challenging California’s recent ban on same-sex marriage has stirred up stereotype-rattled suspicion on bothsides.
“For conservatives who don’t like what I’m doing, it’s, ‘If he just had someone in his family we’d forgive him,’ ” Mr. Olson said. “For liberals it’s such a freakish thing that it’s, ‘He must have someone in his family, otherwise a conservative couldn’t possibly have these views.’ It’s frustrating that people won’t take it on face value.”
Continue reading A Conservative’s Road to Same-Sex Marriage Advocacy
Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, August 10, 2009
This is a big week for same-sex marriage advocates, as a clearer picture will emerge about whether they’re going to put the issue before voters again in November 2010 or wait until 2012. Or beyond.
On Wednesday, Equality California, one of the organizations at the forefront of the anti-Proposition 8 campaign last year, will announce which “way forward” it suggests taking. Continue reading Prop. 8 foes to decide whether to fight in 2010
by Chris Johnson — Washington Blade — August 7, 2009
An Oregon lawmaker made history Wednesday by introducing a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the U.S. Senate, marking the first time that a trans-inclusive bill has been considered in that chamber of Congress.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, a first-term Democratic senator, told the Blade he’s sponsoring the legislation because “it stems from core conviction” about his belief in fairness and equality.
“For me, one of the huge issues that I’ve cared a lot about is equality under the law and fairness to all Americans, and this was just a core part of the way I view the world,” he said. Continue reading Merkley introduces trans-inclusive ENDA in Senate
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
President Obama said Thursday he will bestow the nation’s highest civilian honor on slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, making him the first openly gay civil rights leader to receive the award and drawing praise from activists who have criticized Obama for shortchanging their cause.
The president named Milk and tennis great Billie Jean King — the first openly lesbian athlete of prominence — among 16 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, actors Sidney Poitier and Chita Rivera, the late Congressman Jack Kemp and U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy.
The president’s decision to honor Milk and King comes as gay-rights leaders have criticized the president for not pushing to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays in the military and for failing to act aggressively enough to undo the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that does not recognize same-sex marriage.
Milk, whose life was the subject of a Hollywood film last year, was elected to the city’s Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming the first openly gay politician elected in a major U.S. city. He and then-San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated a year later by former Supervisor Dan White.
“Milk encouraged lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens to live their lives openly and believed coming out was the only way they could change society and achieve social equality,” the White House said in announcing the honor.
Continue reading Harvey Milk among Medal of Freedom honorees
|
|
|
