WASHINGTON – This morning, President Obama will sign two executive actions aimed at eliminating sex discrimination in federal contracting. Movement on these critically important orders, intended to support a push for Congress to pass the Pay Check Fairness Act, underscores the need for President Obama to offer protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)…
One of my favorite TV moments is the West Wing episode in which President Jed Bartlet meets Dr. Jenna Jacobs, the Dr. Laura proxy, at a reception for talk radio hosts. In response to Jacobs’ claim that “I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President, the Bible does,” Bartlet unleashes a tirade of questions…
In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in a pharmaceutical contract dispute, Abbott Laboratories v. SmithKline Beecham, that it violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection to exclude someone from jury service because of his or her sexual orientation. In doing so, the court also concluded that discrimination based on…
One year ago today, Marco McMillian, Mississippi’s first openly gay mayoral candidate, was murdered. His body was burned and abandoned at a levee. His family was left to mourn the loss of their only son. Lawrence Reed was indicted by a Grand Jury on February 12 for the murder. The press indicated that Reed planned to use McMillian’s…
FAIRFAX, Va. – A first-of-its-kind study by researchers at George Mason University’s Department of Global and Community Health and Indiana University’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion draws some conclusions to an age-old question: What does love have to do with sex, in particular, among gay and bisexual men in the United States? While most research about love has been…
Speaking before the annual Indian Psychiatric Society meeting, prominent psychiatrist and last year’s president Dr. Indira Sharma labeled homosexuality ‘unnatural.’ The comment, which she reiterated on Monday, created a firestorm in a country still under attack from a major High Court decision which reinstated the ban on same-gender sex. According to the Times of India, Sharma unapologetically decried the…
Today, following their meeting members of the LGBT Core Group at the United Nations issued the following declaration on ending violence and discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity: 1. We, ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, El Salvador, France, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and United States, and the High…
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld California SB 1172 which prohibits dangerous and disproved efforts designed to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender expression that have proven to inflict great emotional harm. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law last year. A similar bill in New Jersey…
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed into law AB 3371, a bill that will put an end to dangerous and disproved efforts designed to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender expression that have proven to inflict great emotional harm. New Jersey becomes the second state to ban these dangerous practices after California…
MOSCOW– Russia’s Interior Ministry confirmed today that the country’s controversial anti-gay law will be enforced during the Sochi 2014 Olympics. Ria Novosti reports that confusion has reigned over how the country intends to act during the February 7-23 Winter Games after President Vladimir Putin signed legislation in June that bans the promotion of homosexuality to…
