In the News

5/3/2009

"It's been more than two years since Lacey resident Lisa Pond died of a brain aneurysm in a Florida hospital, but her life partner, Janice Langbehn, cannot let go of the circumstances surrounding that day.

"Langbehn and Pond, who had been a couple for 18 years, were with three of their four children in Miami, getting ready for a cruise when Pond suddenly collapsed.

4/16/2009

"Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer?turned?lover Howard K. Stern is suing an author for $60 million for claiming in a book that he's gay. Lambda Legal doesn't like that, because there's 'nothing shameful about being identified as gay.'

"Anna Nicole Show costar Howard K. Stern is suing an author in Manhattan district court for claiming in a tell?all book that Stern is gay. Stern is demanding $60 million in damages, but if the efforts of legal activists are successful, he may not get a cent.

4/15/2009

"For most of the country, the unanimous decision this month by the Iowa Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage was an unexpected and seemingly random victory for a movement that has long drawn its deepest support from major cities in liberal coastal states.

"But for Camilla Taylor, a Chicago-based lawyer for the gay rights group Lambda Legal, it was the logical conclusion to a deliberate seven-year effort to make the Midwestern state one of the first in the country to allow same-sex marriage.

4/9/2009

"Vermont has become the fourth state to approve same-sex marriage. The decision comes one week after the Iowa Supreme Court cleared the way for gay-marriage in that state. A look at gay marriage in America."

4/9/2009

"Iowa's Supreme Court ruled unanimously Friday that the state's same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couple.

"That makes Iowa the third state, and the first in the Midwest, where gay marriage will be legal."

Hear more on npr.org

4/7/2009

"Vermont on Tuesday became the fourth state to recognize gay marriage, and the D.C. Council voted to recognize same-sex unions performed in other states. The two actions give same-sex marriage proponents new momentum, following a similar victory last week in Iowa's Supreme Court.

4/7/2009

"Gay-rights groups say that momentum from back-to-back victories on in Vermont and Iowa could spill into other states, particularly since at least nine other legislatures are considering measures this year to allow marriage between gay couples.

"The Vermont Legislature on Tuesday overrode Gov. Jim Douglas's veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry, mustering one more vote than needed to preserve the measure.

4/3/2009

"Basic fairness and constitutional equal protection were the linchpins of Friday's historic Iowa Supreme Court ruling that overturned a 10-year-old ban on same-sex marriage and puts Iowa squarely in the center of the nation's debate over gay rights.

"...The Polk County lawsuit, Varnum vs. Brien, was financed by Lambda Legal, a gay-rights group that has fought similar battles across the country.

4/3/2009

"A court ruling today made Iowa the first state in the Midwest ? and the third in the country ? to allow same-sex marriage, putting it in a class with Connecticut and Massachusetts. This is a marker that not even the nation's big blue coastal states, California and New York, have been able to achieve.

4/4/2009

"Iowa became the third state in the country and the first from the rural heartland to legalize same-sex marriage when its Supreme Court yesterday unanimously struck down the state's decade-long ban.

"...Justices look at opinions from other states," said Jennifer C. Pizer, the national marriage project director for Lambda Legal, which brought the Iowa case. 'There's a significant likelihood that [the decision] will influence other states, like California.'