Tag Archives: LGBT rights

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch signed that state’s civil unions bill into law today. When the law goes into effect in January, NH will join Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey as the 4th state with civil unions available to same-sex couples. A total of 10 states now offer gay couples some sort of state-level recognition.

“I’m not deterred one iota from coming back to protest in Moscow.” – British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, who was beaten by suspected neo-nazi protesters at this weekend’s Moscow gay pride event. Unbelievably, after he was beaten, Tatchell and other marchers, including Moscow Pride organizer Nikolai Aleksee were arrested by Moscow police. Tatchell delivered the keynote address to Moscow …

Transmen, female-to-male transexuals, continue to be barred from membership in Chicago’s Hellfire BD/SM club, the largest of some 400 such clubs in the nation. Despite some internal dissent, including the resignation of the club’s newletter editor, the membership recently voted to maintain their 10-year policy that “there must be a penal [sic] attachment.” Hellfire is one of the few BD/SM …

“I was always discreet, I never considered it would be an issue. I thought if I don’t say anything, they’re not going to ask me. But it was more aggressive than I thought.” – Arabic languages specialist Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Stephen Benjamin, who was dismissed from the Navy in another round of DADT-related firings. Benjamin admitted sending his …

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia. In observance of the occasion, the Human Rights Watch has listed five world leaders to its Hall Of Shame because of their anti-gay actions in the last year: 1. Pope Benedict XVI: for undermining families. The leader of the Holy See has gone well beyond expressing the Church’s theological views on homosexuality. 2. …

A decade after taking over as British Prime Minister, Tony Blair steps down on June 27th. Widely credited for helping move Britain away from socialism towards a vibrant, pro-market economy, Blair instituted welfare reforms, tripled the funding for the national health service, and brokered a truce with the IRA. Today Britain has the world’s 5th largest economy and the pound …

Yesterday Oregon’s Senate approved a domestic partnership bill that will give the state’s gay couple most of the rights of full marriage. The bill is expected to be signed into law next week by Gov. Ted Kulongoski. Oregon will join New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New Hampshire as one of the five states to offer civil unions to gay couples. …

A 2/3 majority would be needed in both the House and Senate to override Dubya’s possible veto of the Hate Crimes Act, which the bill’s backers do not think they can achieve. Although his senior advisors are recommending a veto, historically, the Decider has been very hesitant to use his veto privilege, so we might still have a chance. In …

Here is the result of the just completed House vote on the Hate Crimes Act, HR 1592: Democratic: Yes: 212 No: 14 Republican: Yes: 25 No: 166 Total: Yes: 237 No: 180 To applause and a few cheers, from the podium, Barney Frank exhulted, “The bill is passed!” Human Rights Campaign head Joe Solmonese: “This is a historic day that …

Today is the last day to call your representative and urge their support of the LGBT-inclusive hate crimes act. Late last night, the measure passed out of the House Judiciary Committee and now goes to a vote before the full House chamber tomorrow. As I mentioned yesterday, right-wingnuts are deluging Congress with calls and backers of the bill are becoming …

Mayor Jason West lost his reelection bid in New Paltz, New York yesterday. You may remember West from 2004, when he followed the lead of SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and presided over the weddings of 24 gay couples in his tiny village on the Hudson, ramping up debate on gay marriage in the New York area. West was charged with …

Calling it the “greatest threat to American freedom today”, some Christian activists are staging a campaign against the passage of the Matthew Shepard Act, a bill currently before Congress that would include LGBT people in hate crimes protections. The Christian group is Truthtellers, headed by Rev. Ted Pike, whom you may recall as being behind the 2004 protest of a …

Log Cabin Republicans have forced a legal challenge to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, after a California federal judged ruled that their case against the government will proceed on June 18th. A similar suit filed by the Servicemembers’s Legal Defense Network is awaiting a ruling from a Boston federal judge, after the SLDN sued for the reinstatement of 12 soldiers discharged …

The New Hampshire legislative approved of same-sex civil unions today, sending the bill to Gov. John Lynch, who has said he will sign it, joining NH with New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont. Iowa today extended civil rights protections to LGBT folks in an ENDA-tpe bill that took 15 years to gather enough votes to pass. Almost two-thirds of polled New …

ABOVE: Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) speaks about ENDA, which he and Reps. Deb Price (R-OH) , Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Chris Shays (R-CT) introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives. More photos are here. (via – Human Rights Campaign.) Rep. Baldwin: “Twenty-five years ago, my own state of Wisconsin was the first in the nation to add sexual orientation to …

This just in… WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, April 24, at 1:00 p.m., Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; and Chris Shays, R-Conn., will introduce the bipartisan Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill addresses discrimination in the workplace by making it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or refuse to promote an …

Hundreds of clergy from all faiths have gathered in Washington today to lobby for the passage of ENDA and the LGBT-inclusive hate crimes bill, which last week was renamed the Matthew Shepard Act when it was introduced in the Senate. HRC’s Joe Solmonese: “For too long, there has been a false perception in American politics that faith and religion stand …

Last week, Deb Price of the Detroit Press managed to get the Iraq government’s spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, to now condemn the killing of Iraqi gays, when she demanded, “Does the Iraqi government condemn the killings of Iraqis targeted specifically because they’re homosexual?” The spokesman responded, “Iraqi government condemn each and every killing — whoever are being killed. Definitely we condemn …

A male firefighter was awarded $1.7M by a Los Angeles jury for anti-gay discrimination he claims he suffered for coming to the defense of a lesbian firefighter. The firefighter had claimed he was forced out of the fire department after he supported his coworker in her homophobic bias suit against the department. I presume the male firefighter is straight, making …

Last night I attended the first organizational meeting of the Queer Justice League, where about 100 activists gathered to discuss the purpose, structure, rules and procedures of the group. During an interesting opening exercise, attendees were asked to give their first names, preferred gender pronoun, and a one-word description of their mood about the meeting. Curious, optimistic, hopeful, ready, excited, …