In the News

1/28/2010

"Gay leaders offered only a lukewarm reception Wednesday night for President Obama's statement, in his State of the Union address, that he would work for the repeal of the military’s discriminatory policy against gays.

"...Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, issued a statement saying 'We have heard promises before about ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' While Cathcart said Lambda was happy to hear President Obama's remark, he added that 'the time has finally come to fulfill that promise.'"

1/22/2010

"A woman married to a woman is suing the Office of Personnel Management because it is blocking her wife from receiving federal health insurance benefits available to spouses.

1/21/2010

1/14/2010

"As the Perry v. Schwarzenegger gay-marriage trial continues, gay-marriage opponents say they are overmatched and out-financed by the legal team of Ted Olson and David Boies. The gay-rights movement has traditionally been viewed as the underdog in most legal battles, but here it is their opponents who say they are over-matched. Opponents of gay marriage say they are struggling to fight the power and clout of gay-marriage supporters.

1/12/2010

"The federal judge who is hearing appeals of California's Proposition 8 this week ruled that the proceedings could be shown -- albeit in delayed fashion -- on YouTube.

"...Opponents, meanwhile, say the big stage of the world's most popular video sharing site would open up participants in the case to harassment and make footage from the case easy to edit and distort.

1/9/2010

"Gay-rights activists intend to take the fight to allow gay couples to marry in New Jersey directly to the state Supreme Court, advocates said yesterday, one day after the state Senate defeated a bill to allow same-sex marriage.

"...'Our goal is to file something when it's ready and well-prepared, and we think that will be in a matter of weeks,' said Leslie Gabel-Brett, director of education and public affairs for Lambda Legal.

1/11/2010

"Opening statements were expected Monday in Federal District Court in San Francisco, in a case that is being anxiously watched by gay rights groups and supporters of traditional marriage nationwide.

"...Indeed, several of the figures who helped pass Proposition 8 are expected to be called to testify under oath, something that gay rights advocates hope will play in their favor.

1/11/2009

"After a run of setbacks at the state level, gay rights advocates will take the campaign for same-sex marriage into a federal courtroom on Monday, starting down a treacherous avenue that ends at a U.S. Supreme Court dominated by conservatives.

1/8/2010

"The State Senate on Thursday rejected a proposal that would have made New Jersey the sixth state in the nation to allow marriages involving same-sex couples. The vote was the latest in a succession of setbacks for advocates of gay marriage across the country.

"With the effort to win legislative approval now dead, supporters of same-sex marriage vowed to focus their efforts on the state’s highest court, which in 2006 ordered lawmakers to give same-sex couples the same rights as others whether or not they called such unions marriages.

12/22/2009

"Last month, Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, ordered the Office of Personnel Management to allow health insurance companies serving federal staffers to provide benefits for same-sex spouses of the court's workers.

"But on Friday, the OPM told the attorney for Karen Golinski, a court employee, that the agency would not obey the judge's order.