Last week, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and OutServe, the association of actively serving LGBT military personnel, announced the selection of transgender Army veteran Allyson Robinson to lead the newly combined organization. In her first interview since her appointment Robinson spoke to San Diego LGBT Weekly columnist Autumn Sandeen about her new role and what…
NEW YORK (CNN) — A federal appeals court in New York on Thursday became the nation’s second to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, finding that the Clinton-era law’s denial of federal benefits to married same-sex couples is unconstitutional. The divisive act, which was passed in 1996, bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and…
WASHINGTON – House Republicans, under the leadership of Speaker John Boehner, have racked up a $1.5 million bill in their relentless pursuit of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – and they are sticking American taxpayers with the cost. Despite the fact that a solid majority of Americans support marriage equality, and despite the…
The Supreme Court released its list today of cases they will take up this session and none of the DOMA cases nor the federal Prop. 8 case is on the list. The American Foundation for Equal Rights writes: Today, the U.S. Supreme Court released the first list of cases it will hear this Term and…
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The divisive issue of same-sex marriage was expected to be discussed privately by the Supreme Court Monday, and the justices could soon announce if they will hear a constitutional challenge to a federal law denying financial benefits to gay and lesbian couples. An order from the court announcing whether they will take…
WASHINGTON – The fight against gays and lesbians in the military and against same-sex marriage continues apace for two Republican senators. Last Tuesday Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) introduced the Military Religious Freedom Act. The bill is intended to prevent military chaplains from being forced to perform a marriage ceremony, if the…
Joining his counterparts in New York and Connecticut, Vermont’s attorney general has requested that a federal court of appeals finds that the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally denies same-sex couples the right to marry. Attorney General William H. Sorrell said in a statement Friday that the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a…
WASHINGTON – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Jerrold Nadler and 143 other House Democrats have filed an Amicus Brief in the case of Edith Schlain Windsor v. United States of America. Edith “Edie” Windsor, 83, a constituent of Rep. Nadler’s in New York City, challenged DOMA in court after the federal government taxed her more…
BY L. KOVE The Waite family has been together for 11 years. They live in Germany where they married. Thomas is an American veteran and Marko is German. DOMA prevents them from being seen as a family by the American government. Germany views them as a family. Both were working at the Department of Defense’s…
TAMPA, Fla. – Kansas secretary of state and Mitt Romney advisor Kris Kobach has compared LGBT people to drug users and polygamists. Kobach made the remarks while debating the GOP platform’s marriage equality language yesterday in Tampa. While arguing against an amendment, introduced by Pat Kerby – a Republican National Convention delegate from Nevada –…
