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…
President Barack Obama has appointed the first openly gay individual to the United States Military Academy Board of Visitors, an act that underlines the imminent dissolution of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning gays and lesbians from open military service. The historic appointment of Army veteran Brenda S. “Sue” Fulton to the West Point…
GOP hopeful Michele Bachmann is well known for her anti-gay political views – views that helped her win a Senate seat against a more moderate Republican candidate and that have influenced her stance on what she once called “the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, 30…
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…
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former New York Senator and one of the first celebrity contributors to the “It Gets Better” campaign on behalf of LGBT youth, celebrated last week’s vote to legalize same-sex marriage today with a statement applauding the country’s gay rights progress. The Sacramento Bee reports that Clinton emphasized the United States’…
President Obama spoke at a Democratic National Committee event in New York yesterday and addressed a crowd of prominent LGBT constituents with a speech designed to galvanize campaign support and recognize the impact of the administration’s equal rights and anti-discrimination efforts made on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. After thanking the gathered…
Nicole Murray Ramirez, a long time San Diego Latino and LGBT rights activist, has been named the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender person of the year by city Assemblymember Toni Atkins. Atkins explained that San Diego’s LGBT community has relied upon Nicole Murray Ramirez over the years and noted the city’s progress by pointing out…
Another presidential hopeful has joined GOP candidates Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty as a victim of the “glitter bandits.” The most recent politician to be “glittered” is Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. According to the Star Tribune, Bachmann was the subject of a glitter shower Saturday after delivering a speech at the RightOnline Conference in…
What began as an isolated attack on Newt Gingrich’s anti-gay politics has become a vigilante movement in defense of LGBT and reproductive rights – this time in pink. Nancy Mancias and Chelsea Byers, members of the anti-war activist group CODEPINK, took a page out of activist Nick Espinosa’s playbook yesterday when they showered Republican presidential…
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles opined today that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional as it pertains to joint bankruptcy filing. MetroWeekly reports that the case in question involves same-sex married couple Gene Douglas Balas and Carlos A. Morales and, in the words…
