WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), today denounced an anti-transgender op-ed by Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The op-ed, which stems from California AB 1266, legislation ensuring transgender students in California’s schools are treated fairly, says being transgender is “a revolt against God’s…
HONOLULU — Members of Hawaii’s Congressional delegation are uniting to express their support for marriage equality in Hawaii. Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz and Reps. Colleen Hanabusa and Tulsi Gabbard released statements of support, each urging Gov. Neil Abercrombie and the state legislature to pass the freedom to marry in Hawaii without delay. “We’re…
ATLANTA – An interactive map of the HIV epidemic in San Diego is now available for the first time on AIDSVu, the most detailed publicly available maps of HIV prevalence in the United States. The Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University launched AIDSVu’s new interactive online maps showing the latest HIV prevalence data for San…
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to revive Proposition 8, ending the last remaining legal challenge to same-sex marriage in the state. The Los Angeles Times reported that in its challenge before the state’s highest court ProtectMarriage, Prop. 8’s sponsors argued that a single judge lacked the authority to overturn a state…
Today, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced its plan to extend benefits to same-sex spouses of uniformed service members and Department of Defense civilian employees. The announcement stated: After a review of the department’s benefit policies following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Section Three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional, and in…
LOS ANGELES — Voices of acclaimed recording artists and stories from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students, will come together in a jubilant celebration at Voices On Point. The evening is a benefit for Point Foundation (Point), the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBTQ students of merit. As part of the Sept. 7 concert and dinner to…
SACRAMENTO—Today, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the historic School Success and Opportunity Act into law, ensuring transgender youth have the opportunity to fully participate and succeed in schools across the state. Assembly Bill 1266—which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2014—was authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano and passed the California State Senate and Assembly earlier this…
When D. Bruce Hanes began issuing same-sex marriage licenses from his office in Norristown, Pa., no one, not Democrats nor Republicans, questioned his sense of right or wrong. They did, however, question his legal authority. As the legally appointed register of wills for the third most populous county in the Keystone state, his decision to…
WASHINGTON – The White House has announced Bayard Rustin, the late civil and human rights advocate will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. An aide and confidant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Rustin was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs…
WASHINGTON – The Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board is looking into whether the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM) violated state law by refusing to disclose the identities of its donors during its efforts to oust state Supreme Court justices in 2010 and 2012. NOM launched an aggressive campaign to interfere with the state’s…
