WASHINGTON –Today, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced the establishment of a working group to study the “policy and readiness implications” of allowing transgender service members to serve openly. Earlier today the Associated Press broke the news that the Department of Defense would soon announce a plan for lifting the ban. The working group…
A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) says its national executive committee last Friday approved a resolution to lift the membership restriction regarding sexual orientation, while respecting the right of religious chartered organizations to continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own. NBC News reports that if approved, the…
The Associated Press have reported that the Department of Defense will soon announce a plan for lifting the ban on open service by transgender people in the military. According to the Associated Press, an announcement is expected this week, and the services would have six months to assess the impact of the change and work…
Today, the president of the Boy Scouts of America called for an end to the group’s blanket ban on gay adult leaders, warning Scout executives that “we must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be,” and that “any other alternative will be the end of us as…
WASHINGTON – Today, the Human Rights Campaign, (HRC) responded to the release of draft guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a long-awaited change to the current scientifically unwarranted blood donation ban on gay and bisexual men. The draft guidance outlines the implementation of a deferral based policy utilizing a one year period…
SAN DIEGO– The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) has welcomed recent statements and efforts made by President Obama, the U.S. Surgeon General and congressional leaders regarding the ban of conversion therapy for minors. The President’s statement supports CAMFT’s position on sexual orientation change efforts released in September 2014. “CAMFT emphatically supports the statements and…
Transgender New Yorkers covered by Medicaid can now access the medically necessary health care they have been denied for nearly two decades. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Department of Health have officially adopted a new regulation that ends the 17-year-old exclusion of transgender health care from New York’s Medicaid program. The new…
Today, Nebraska child welfare officials moved to stop enforcing a two-decade-old policy barring gay and lesbian couples from obtaining state foster parent licenses. The change in procedure, according to a report in the Omaha World Herald, came quietly and was confirmed Friday by Gov. Pete Ricketts’ spokesman, who said that the sexual orientation of people…
Today Federal District Judge Joseph Bataillon issued an injunction against Nebraska’s ban on marriage equality, requiring all state officials to treat same-sex couples equally for the purposes of marriage effective March 9. In Waters v. Ricketts, the ACLU sued the state on behalf of same-sex couples, arguing last month that Nebraska’s ban on marriage equality…
The decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to move forward with a long-awaited change to the current blood donation ban on gay and bisexual men has been met with mixed reactions. A deferral based policy utilizing a one year period of abstinence from same-sex sexual activity will be implemented, as recommended by the…
