A California chapter of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has challenged BSA national policy by recommending an openly gay scout receive his Eagle Scout honor. Ryan Andresen was denied his award last October because of the fact that he was gay and BSA national policy prohibits the participation of gay Scouts. His mother, Karen Andresen,…
Jeanne Manford, the founder of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and an all-around pioneering straight ally in the LGBT rights movement, has died at the age of 92. Manford died at her home in Daly City, Calif. after a series of health problems. Manford became active in LGBT rights when in…
(CNN) — For 15 years, Ashley Broadway has devoted her life to the military and to her spouse, an Army lieutenant colonel. The former schoolteacher found a new job and made new friends each time she had to relocate bases, including a move to South Korea. When a deployment to the Middle East separated the…
(CNN) — He forged his views of war and the military as a young man in mine-plagued fields of Vietnam. Now Chuck Hagel may become the first Vietnam veteran and first enlisted soldier to serve as U.S. defense secretary. In nominating him to succeed Leon Panetta, President Barack Obama urged the Senate to confirm a…
The Supreme Court released Monday the schedule of oral arguments for the sitting that begins March 18, showing that the two cases on same-sex marriage will be heard Tuesday, March 26, and Wednesday, March 27 reports Lyle Denniston of Scotusblog. The case on California’s “Proposition 8″ will come first, followed by the case on the…
(CNN) — Charges against actress Lindsay Lohan in an alleged Manhattan nightclub fight “are not ready to proceed at this time,” her attorney said Monday after a hearing at New York criminal court. Lohan did not attend the hearing because there was nothing for her to plead to, said her attorney, Mark Heller. “It’s my…
WASHINGTON (CNN) — If he becomes defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel will bring Vietnam battlefield experience, criticism of U.S. policy in Afghanistan and tensions with his own Republican Party to the Pentagon. President Barack Obama’s announcement of Hagel’s nomination to the defense post will occur around 1 p.m. Monday, along with the nomination of…
LOS ANGELES – The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), is joining forces with Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend, the nation’s largest lesbian event. HRC is coming onboard as a full sponsor at the upcoming 23rd anniversary of the largest lesbian event in the world April 3-7, in Palm Springs, Calif. Embracing the “party with a purpose”…
(CNN) — Who in Congress doesn’t want to pass a bill that helps protect women against acts of violence? No one, of course. But the Violence Against Women Act, first passed in 1994 and reauthorized previously without fanfare, hit a snag this time around. The hiccup in the bill involved groups of vulnerable people: Native…
(CNN) — A Mississippi man pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal hate crime charge in connection with a group of young men and teenagers that carried out racial attacks against African-Americans in 2011. Joseph Dominick, 21, from Brandon, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Mississippi, to one count of conspiracy to…
