Nov. 2 2012 I received a letter from the California Department of Public Health, Vital Records. In that letter came proof that I was “born again.” I was born female. You see, the gender listed on my original birth certificate was male, and my name was my given, male name. The gender listed on the…
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is not only the meek, mild, obedient woman the Christian tradition has turned her into, but also, a strong, morally autonomous, independent woman who does her own thinking, her own questioning, her own discerning and her own deciding. For many of us, it’s a very different way of thinking about…
(CNN) – Lawmakers in Moscow moved Friday to ban Americans from adopting Russian children, passing a bill that imposes a series of sanctions on U.S. interests, state media reported. Russia is one of the top countries of origin for international adoptions in the United States. The State Duma, Russia‘s lower house of parliament, adopted the…
(CNN) — Time is running out for congressional Republicans and President Barack Obama to strike a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. If the two parties can’t come to an agreement before the end of the year, a combination of broad tax hikes and deep government spending cuts take effect . Experts warn of a…
Let freedom ring … that is what we all hope will happen with the Supreme Court agreeing to review the Prop. 8 and Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) cases. Many leaders in our community are excited, yet concerned, about the potential of the Supreme Court ruling in these two cases. The Prop. 8 case will…
When Washington politicians give something a catchy name, it usually means one of two things: they want to confuse you, or they want to distract you. The now ubiquitous “Fiscal Cliff” does some of both. Cliffs are extant geographic features, left by God or erosion, beyond which is a fall to near certain death. Neither…
(CNN) – As the nation’s top court prepares to tackle the contentious issue of same-sex marriage, one of its most conservative justices defended past writings linking bans on homosexual sodomy to bans on sex with animals and murder. Speaking at Princeton Monday, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said his previous comments, made in multiple Supreme Court…
PASADENA, Calif. (CNN) – When President Barack Obama formally ended “don’t ask, don’t tell” in July 2011, ending a 17-year ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military, Tracey Cooper-Harris felt liberated about her future as a veteran. As a sergeant in the U.S. Army, she received more than two dozen medals and commendations…
(CNN) – Edith “Edie” Windsor lost her spouse in 2009, her grief compounded by an estate tax bill much larger than other married couples would have to pay. Because her decades-long partner was also a woman, the federal government in legal terms did not recognize the same-sex marriage, even though their home state of New…
San Diego is one of eleven cities that scored 100 percent in the new Human Rights Campaign Municipality Equality Index (MEI) released yesterday. The MEI, the first ever rating system of LGBT inclusion in municipal law, finds that while many U.S. cities lag behind in protections for LGBT people, some of the most LGBT-friendly policies…
