Tag Archives: LGBT rights

“Two weeks ago, just after the Maine’s successful reversal of the state legislature’s decision to sanction same-sex marriage, MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer asked me a profound question: ‘Would Jesus have spent $550,000 to oppose same-sex marriage?’ “The question was exactly what many secular parties had been asking in Portland, Maine, where she was speaking to me by satellite. My answer was …

Washington DC activist and JMG reader Phil Attey has launched ChurchOuting.org, a site intended to publicize the names of Catholic priests who are socially out but professionally closeted. Via press release: A new local Internet and social media campaign was launched today in response to increasing anti-gay attacks by Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Archdiocese of Washington and to a …

We’ve discussed this here a couple of times, but today the New York Times tackles the issue of the difficulties and expense in trying to change your name after a same-sex marriage. Couples who live in states that don’t allow or recognize same-sex marriage or its equivalents (civil unions, for instance) generally can’t just rely on a marriage certificate as …

After a gay couple won their lawsuit charging that a city law banning same-sex marriage was illegal, the mayor of Buenos Aires says he won’t challenge the court’s ruling, bringing marriage equality to the capital of Argentina. The court ruled that two articles in the city’s civil code that say only people of different sexes can get married are illegal. …

Today the anti-gay right-wing group America Forever faxed 80,000 members of the Mormon Church a message attacking the LDS’s recent support of Salt Lake City’s new LGBT right law. It is an outrage that The LDS Church was placed in this position by the gays from Utah and their movement; it is a shame to all the people of the …

Fallout for the Mormon Church’s unprecedented support for LGBT rights in Utah is already coming. A representative from the Sutherland Institute, whose “about” page describes themselves as a “public policy group” looking to “transcend impulsive, convenient, or self-serving policies” told the audience at a debate with Equality Utah that “sexual orientation is an illusion” and that “the gloves must come …

Just days after he vetoed a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to make burial decisions about each other, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri now says he’s “open” to considering a domestic partnership law. “Maybe it’s something we should consider,” said Carcieri, after meeting privately Thursday for more than an hour in his office with a half-dozen members of …

Last night the city council of Salt Lake City unanimously passed an ordinance outlawing discrimination against gays in employment and housing, the first such law in the entire state of Utah. Very surprisingly, among those speaking in support of the bill were official representatives of the LDS Church. Hours after the LDS Church announced its support Tuesday night of proposed …

Saying it was a “disturbing erosion” of the “principles surrounding traditional marriage,” today Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri vetoed a bill that would allow same-sex couples to make burial decisions about each other. Carcieri added that if the legislature didn’t like that, he would welcome a statewide ballot vote on how to bury queers. (I’m paraphrasing.) The bill, also sponsored …

Next May, activists in Maine will echo 1965’s Selma to Montgomery marches when they “meet in the middle for equality” in a march from Portland to Augusta. A similar event took place in March of this year when activists marched to Fresno, California in anticipation on that state’s Supreme Court ruling on Prop 8. The Facebook page for Maine’s 2010 …

Yesterday the first ever transgender-inclusive ENDA hearings began before the U.S. Senate. Restrooms and religion arose as the only objections today during the U.S. Senate’s first hearing on the inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). And the testimony from the Obama administration struck an unusually ironic note just two days after Maine voters rejected an equal marriage law there. The 2009 …

Archdiocese of Portland employee and Stand For Marriage spokesdouche Marc Mutty says the vote in Maine “had nothing to do with hate.” Dan Savage: “It definitely had everything to do with hate. The Yes On One campaign trafficked in vicious anti-gay stereotypes throughout the entire campaign. Their whole campaign was premised upon the notion that allowing same-sex couples to legally …

The final result of last night’s vote in Kalamazoo is in. It was 62-38. Kalamazoo city voters decisively adopted an ordinance Tuesday that extends anti-discrimination protections to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals. The ordinance passed 7,671 to 4,731, making Kalamazoo the 16th city in Michigan to adopt such a gay-rights ordinance that grants the protections in the areas of …

Marine Corps Commandant James T. Conway is spearheading a campaign opposed to the repeal of DADT. Via the right-leaning Washington Times: Most of the senior brass hold deep reservations about President Obama’s pledge to end the ban on gays in the military, especially in the middle of two wars that have put extra stress on the military, down to the …

The Family Policy Network goes for the tired “man in the ladies room” crapola in this last minute ad urging the overturn of Kalamazoo’s LGBT rights law.

After years and years and years of work, tonight the Matthew Shepard Act passed its final congressional hurdle and at long last is on its way to President Obama’s desk for final approval. The Matthew Shepard Foundation rejoices: Today, the United States Senate took an historic step toward ensuring justice for the victims of hate crimes targeted for violence due …

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a series of new rules guaranteeing equal access to their programs regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. The initiatives announced today will be a proposed rule that will provide the opportunity for public comment. The proposed rule will: clarify that the term “family” as used to describe eligible beneficiaries …