Late Friday State Attorney General Kamala D. Harris issued the following statement in response to San Diego County Clerk Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr.’s filing asking the state Supreme Court to halt same-sex weddings pending a court hearing. “The filing offers no new arguments that could deny same-sex couples their constitutionally protected civil rights. The federal…
WASHINGTON – The House Energy & Commerce Committee has approved the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act, H.R.698. The bipartisan bill sponsored by Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) would lift a federal ban on the donation of HIV-positive organs to HIV-positive recipients, making it possible for researchers to study the safety of such procedures. The bill…
To my fellow Republicans. Enough already! Let’s worry about what’s important and win some elections Dear Editor, Last week I heard a joke – not for the first time – about the Republican Party. The commentator said the “… Republican Party is in favor of shrinking government so that it’ll fit in my bedroom.” Unfortunately,…
SAN DIEGO – Today, Congresswoman Susan Davis released the following statement on San Diego Pride: “Full of Pride this weekend! All San Diegans, regardless of sexual orientation, can be proud of how far our country has come. In just the last three years we all have worked together to gain more equality in our military…
Thanks to the United States Supreme Court’s ruling on the marriage cases last week, we would be justified in letting out a sigh of relief that LGBT equality is finally becoming a reality and this month’s Pride celebration is the perfect opportunity to celebrate our recent successes. Among the most wonderful new additions to our…
Everyone knows that the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). That means married same-sex couples now qualify for the 1,100+ federal benefits that were previously denied to them. We can’t go through them all, so here are my top 15 benefits for married same-sex couples: IRA and Roth…
BY NEAL PUTNAM Anti-gay protests at the LGBT Pride Parade are almost a tradition that most people dislike but others find either amusing or prove the point that Pride events are needed because of folks with attitudes like theirs. In recent years, members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church have picketed the parade with hateful…
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…
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…
“DOMA writes inequality into the entire United States Code.” “DOMA’s principal effect is to identify a subset of state sanctioned marriages and make them unequal. The principal purpose is to impose inequality, not for other reasons like governmental efficiency. Responsibilities, as well as rights, enhance the dignity and integrity of the person. “And DOMA contrives…
