In response to recent legislative efforts on behalf of the LGBT community seeking to overturn a federal ban on gay blood donors, the Illinois-based anti-gay group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is launching a campaign to protect the extent ban. The Huffington Post reports that the AFTAH’s campaign, entitled “Keep the Gay Blood Ban,”…
In an effort to promote LGBT equality and to address the shortage of blood donors in the U.S., Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has launched an initiative to overturn legislation which currently prevents gay men from giving blood. Sen. Kerry is working closely with a colleague in the House of Representatives to prove that the ban,…
Senator Christopher Coons (D-Delaware) took the Senate floor today in what promises to be a historic hearing on DOMA repeal, urging his colleagues to support the Respect for Marriage Act and instate equal benefits for same-sex couples nationwide. Coons, an original co-sponsor of the landmark anti-discrimination act, delivered an opening statement to gathered legislators and…
On behalf of President Obama, Press Secretary Jay Carney announced today that the White House stands behind efforts to instate the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill designed to repeal DOMA on grounds of unconstitutional discrimination. The seminal legislation will be the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing tomorrow in Washington, D.C. With regard…
The U.S. House of Representatives held a vote Thursday evening on an amendment reaffirming the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In response to the vote (which was carried with a heavy Republican majority and a final tally of 248 in favor, 175 against), HRC president Joe Solmonese issued a response in which he called the…
The fate of a California measure to include LGBT history in state textbooks is currently in the hands of Governor Jerry Brown. If approved, the bill would render California the first and only state in the U.S. to make gay and lesbian history a mandatory facet of state curricula. While there is currently no ban…
Microsoft Corporation announced support today for the Uniting American Families Act, a measure authored by Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (D) and designed to create immigration law reform for same-sex couples in the United States. Leahy’s legislation aims to promote greater equality by allowing LGBT Americans to sponsor permanent, same-sex partners in their bid for…
A new bill was introduced yesterday by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Susan Collins (R-ME) that would put an end to the unequal taxation of employer-provided health insurance for domestic partners. In an unusual twist for equality-oriented legislation, the bill enjoys bipartisan backing with both Democratic LGBT advocates and Republican politicians lined up to co-sponsor…
Former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) has spoken out expressing his disapproval of a measure currently moving through California’s legislature that would compel state schools to add gay history to education curricula. If the measure passes, San Diego gay and lesbian history, not to mention that of gay rights activists across the nation, could one day…
After LGBT Weekly’s coverage of anti-discrimination initiatives in San Diego schools earlier this week, state-wide progress in the form of Senate success for both the FAIR Education Act and Seth’s Law signals further victory for LGBT equality activists. Today, the California Senate passed the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, a piece of…
