In an announcement, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has said that his office will join the growing consensus of opinion in arguing that the state ban on marriage for lesbian and gay couples should be overturned. There are two cases in federal court challenging the Commonwealth’s marriage amendment and Herring is urging the courts to rule…
Today U.S. District Judge Terence Kern ruled that Oklahoma’s ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional. His ruling is stayed pending appeal, meaning marriages will not occur immediately in the state. Two plaintiff couples, Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin and Gay Phillips and Susan Barton, filed their case, Bishop v. Oklahoma, in the U.S. District Court for…
Jan. 1, the Boy Scouts of America officially lifted the ban on gay members, although the ban on gay Scout leaders remain. Despite widespread fears that there would be a mass exodus of members the policy change was widely supported, including by religious leaders, and produced few consequences. In fact, according to BSA spokesman Deron…
Today, Utah U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby ruled that the state’s ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional. In a 53-page decision, the court found that Utah’s marriage ban denies loving, committed lesbian and gay couples their “fundamental right to marry,” and that the ban lacks any “rational basis.” “This has been a banner year for marriage…
WASHINGTON — The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the sole sponsor of the landmark federal constitutional challenge that eliminated California’s Proposition 8, today announced that it has joined the federal constitutional challenge to Virginia’s ban on marriage equality, Bostic v. Rainey. The Bostic case contends that the Virginia Marriage Amendment and otherVirginia laws that prohibit gay and lesbian couples from marrying are…
Riding a wave of Russian homophobia, neighboring Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country by land area, plans to introduce legislation in September that would shutter gay clubs, bar protests from the LGBT community and prevent what officials are calling the propagandization of alternative lifestyles. Member of the Majilis (the lower chamber of the parliament) Aldan…
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed into law AB 3371, a bill that will put an end to dangerous and disproved efforts designed to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender expression that have proven to inflict great emotional harm. New Jersey becomes the second state to ban these dangerous practices after California…
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…
NEW YORK – Today, national and international LGBT organizations – including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Lambda Legal, the National Black Justice Coalition, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and GLAAD – joined with local LGBTQ organizations to urge New York City legislators to defend…
CHICAGO — The American Osteopathic Association’s House of Delegates approved a policy today calling for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to modify its eligible blood donor criteria by allowing men who have had sex with other men to donate blood. Currently the FDA bans these individuals from donating blood due to concerns of the…
