Tag Archives: LGBT rights

Equality activists scored a preliminary victory in New Jersey tonight! The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee has narrowly voted to pass a marriage equality bill to the full state Senate. The final tally was 7-6. Whew! That voted is scheduled for Thursday. It is not yet known when, or if, the state Assembly will vote on the issue. The debate …

In response to the anti-gay Manhattan Declaration, a document calling for the disobedience of LGBT rights laws and co-signed by hundreds of religious leaders, comes The Affirmation Declaration, which calls for pro-LGBT people of faith to sign on as supporters of civil equality. An excerpt from the just-posted document: We assert that the pain brought upon our GLBTI brethren in …

Andy Towle points us to this LiveLeak video which purports to show gay Pakistanis being flogged in the street. Clip description: “Homosexuals Pakistanis recieving their punishment. You can see two lovers kiss at 0:15 before their flogging.” Andy notes that the comments on LiveLeak are sickening.

LGBT news outlet Out Front Colorado has issued a (mostly) tongue-in-cheek manifesto calling for a gay secession. It reads, in part: The American government has failed to acknowledge that civil rights cannot and should not be put to a popular vote. By definition, the majority has no concern for the well-being of the minority. Were the historic Civil Rights Act …

Uganda’s infamous “kill gays” bill is about to pass in the country’s parliament, but it is expected that the “gay death sentence” portion will be changed to life imprisonment. The draft Anti-Homosexuality Bill is part of a growing campaign against homosexuals in Uganda, rights groups say. Critics say the aim is to divert attention from corruption and other political issues …

Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown are doing cartwheels. “This is a huge win, it puts the nail in the coffin on the idea that gay marriage advocates can persuade a majority of Americans their cause is just,” said Brian Brown, Executive Director of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). “New York makes it crystal clear: the American people do not …

Marriage equality failed today in the New York Senate after a years-long battle to bring the issue to a vote. The final tally: 24 YES, 38 NO. Among the surprises was a “no” vote from Queens Democrat Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who had previously been a vocal supporter. In October, Monserrate narrowly escaped a felony assault conviction for slashing the face …

In a story published today on Bay Windows, veteran gay journalist Rex Wockner talks about the delay in moving ENDA forward in Congress, where the bill is mired in legal tinkering on the arcane (to us) issues of disparate impact, lawyers fees, and double-recovery. “Disparate impact” is when a policy or practice has the effect of being discriminatory even if …

Yesterday the Cleveland City Council unanimously passed a weakened transgender rights bill. Via Spangle: By adding the words “gender identity or expression” to a criminal law that provides protection in areas of employment, housing and public accommodations, council members took a huge step forward, supporters said. “Basically, it means that I won’t have to worry about being fired,” longtime activist …

Over at The American Prospect, Gabriel Arana discusses the risks and payoff inherent in David Boies and Ted Olson’s gambit of taking the repeal of Prop 8 to federal court. The stakes are high. If Perry v. Schwarzenegger reaches the Supreme Court and Boies and Olson are successful, gays and lesbians nationwide would not only have the right to marry, …

Dubya, 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, Wall Street. TIME Magazine gets it right when they call the aughties “the decade from hell.” Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end, the first 10 years of this century will very likely go down as the most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post–World …

In an editorial published yesterday, the Los Angeles Times strongly condemned the anti-gay Manhattan Declaration, calling it “irresponsible and dangerous” and warning that the document may embolden anti-abortion terrorists. The impression left is that the legal environment in which churches must operate is reminiscent of the Roman Empire that threw Christians to the lions. Never mind that advocates of same-sex …

The Family Policy Council of Washington state, stinging from their R-71 defeat, says that any legal basis for separation of church and state is a myth. And it’s perfectly fine to make laws based on the Bible. Transcript via Lurleen: No, the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear anywhere in the United States or Washington State constitutions. …

Calling it a “historic document,” Mike Huckabee is asking his viewers to sign the anti-gay Manhattan Declaration, which calls on Christians to disobey laws that protect LGBT people from discrimination. The DeMoss Group is hosting the declaration online and has the complete list of right wingers, clergy, wingnuts, and hate group leaders that have signed.

Add Charleston, South Carolina to the list. Charleston City Council passed ordinances expanding the city’s existing policy prohibiting discrimination in housing to include age, sexual orientation and gender identity. The council also passed a public accommodations ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, disability, age or sexual orientation. The ordinances were presented …

The PR firm hired to promote The Manhattan Declaration, a vow of disobedience to gay rights laws signed by about 150 Christian leaders, is the DeMoss Group, the wingnut outfit hired by Mitt Romney for his 2008 presidential campaign. From their about page: The DeMoss Group is the nation’s first and largest public relations agency exclusively serving Christian leaders, organizations …

Good As You has posted the complete text of The Manhattan Declaration, the anti-gay screed issued today by a pan-denominational group of Christian clergy that vows disobedience of laws that protect gays from discrimination. Excerpt titles are mine. The Threat- We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to …

Austria has passed a comprehensive civil unions law, but part of the compromise with the country’s right wing includes a provision that gays cannot hold ceremonies at registry offices. The compromise, achieved after weeks of wrangling between the ruling Social Democrats and their conservative coalition partner in government, will give gay couples equal rights to heterosexuals with regards to pensions …

In February of this year, Utah state Sen. Chris Buttars was booted from a Senate judiciary committee after he made incendiary anti-gay comments that were caught by the crew filming 8: The Mormon Proposition. Today he says he has nothing against gay people and actually supports Salt Lake City’s recent move to add LGBT protections. But just so you know, …

A federal judge has ordered the government to compensate a couple who were denied employee partner health benefits because they are gay. U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt deemed the denial of healthcare and other benefits to the spouse of federal public defender Brad Levenson to be a violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of due process and …