Commentary: should our congressional candidates be focusing on mayoral issues?

Like many San Diegans, I found out Monday morning that Congressional candidate Carl DeMaio would be organizing events for the effort to recall Mayor Bob Filner. This is my shocked font! Of course, the man who lost the mayoral race to Filner is joining the recall. It allows him to settle an old score and…

Read More

SSAB: Individuals in same-sex marriages should not wait to submit applications for Social Security benefits if they believe they are eligible

WASHINGTON — Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Social Security and Medicare benefits may soon be available to same-sex couples in the District of Columbia and the 13 states recognizing same-sex marriage. June 26,  in United States v. Windsor, the Supreme Court ruled Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional, finding…

Read More

Immigration reform and the LGBT community

In the gloam of the Senate immigration debate, despite conservative Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s religious harrumphing about how any measure that included allowing bi-national LGBT couples the same opportunities as heterosexual ones have to apply for citizenship would derail reform, he, and many others, could not have possibly imagined what would happen Wednesday, June…

Read More

Thomson Reuters Checkpoint releases report on U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on DOMA

NEW YORK — Thomson Reuters has released an overview of the Supreme Court’s ruling that strikes down section three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional. The report is designed to help tax advisers understand the far-reaching implications of the decision. DOMA had required same-sex spouses to be treated as unmarried for purposes…

Read More

Uniting LGBT bi-national families

The recent Supreme Court ruling against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has far reaching ramifications for many, especially for LGBT U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and their non-citizen spouses. Until now, these couples have been barred from obtaining immigration status for their non-citizen spouses. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano says the DHS…

Read More

Bi-national same-sex couples to be treated the same as opposite-sex couples in immigration petitions

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling last week on DOMA, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has directed the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to treat immigration visa petitions of bi-national same-sex spouses the same as those of an opposite-sex spouse. Napolitano’s statement follows: “After last week’s decision by the Supreme Court holding that Section 3…

Read More