In the News

6/21/2010

"The threat to civil rights can also be seen in the recent case of an HIV-positive person who was charged as a terrorist for allegedly biting another man. Daniel Allen, a 45-year-old Black, HIV-positive gay man, was charged as a bioterrorist for allegedly biting a neighbor's lip during an October 2009 scuffle in suburban Detroit. Allen claims that the neighbor harassed him because he is gay. In addition to two felony assault charges, he was charged with using a 'harmful biological device' after admitting that he was HIV-positive.

6/16/2010

"There were so many people trying to get in to watch the final day of the landmark trial challenging California's same-sex marriage ban, the court staff had to set up an additional overflow room for observers. Those dozen or so members of the public who managed to snare seats in Courtroom 6 on the 17th floor of San Francisco's federal courthouse building had to stand in line starting at 5:45 Wednesday morning to get them.

6/3/2010

"In a written opinion dismissing a charge of bio-terrorism against a 45-year-old HIV-positive man, Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Peter Maceroni ruled that the mere fact a person is HIV-positive is not enough to accuse him or her of unlawfully possessing a harmful biological substance.

06/02/2010

"The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors heard hours of contentious public testimony Tuesday before voting 3 to 2 to boycott Arizona over SB 1070, the state's controversial 'papers, please' illegal immigration law that requires law enforcement to ask anyone they 'suspect' of being an 'illegal alien' to produce documented proof of American citizenship.

6/3/2010

"In a significant move for same-sex couples, the Internal Revenue Service has decided to recognize California's community property law and treat the income earned by California registered domestic partners as community property income for federal income tax purposes.

5/26/2010

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a clear message on the White House's plan to change the military's 'don’t ask, don't tell' policy: Don't wait.

"...'I think it's a fairly elegant solution,' said Kevin Cathcart of Lambda Legal. 'It looks like it could pass, which I was not so sure about with the broader, original repeal.'

5/24/2010

"Madison Smith has two mothers - or at least two women willing to hire a small army of lawyers to establish or slap down maternity claims.

"...Camilla Taylor, a senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal, an advocacy group for gays, said Ohio law recognizes the parental rights of people who have no biological relationship with a child.

"'A disturbing number of biological parents are asking the high court or intermediate courts in Ohio to revisit laws that protect children and the rights of nonbiological parents in Ohio,' Taylor said."

5/14/2010

"A same-sex couple married in Des Moines last year has filed a lawsuit against two state health department officials, after the department refused to name both women on their daughter's birth certificate.

"Heather Lynn Martin Gartner, 38, and Melissa McCoy Gartner, 39, filed the Polk County lawsuit last week on behalf of their second child, who was born in September.

5/11/2010

"A Macomb County Circuit Court judge is to decide whether to dismiss a bioterrorism charge against an HIV-positive man accused of biting his neighbor during an October brawl.

"...Allen was charged by the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office with unlawful possession or use of a harmful device under a 2004 Michigan antiterrorism law passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"...Both representatives of the ACLU and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund argued that the charge was a misuse of the statute."

5/10/2010

"Gay legal activists are applauding President Obama’s second nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court: Solicitor General Elena Kagan. But it could hardly be described as a standing ovation.

"...Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Executive Director Kevin Cathcart called Kagan 'a strong position' in opposing the military's ban on gays but noted that [the] Obama administration has also 'taken legal positions on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and the so-called 'Defense of Marriage Act' with which we strongly disagree.'