11/24/2009

"A federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the city of Atlanta on behalf of 19 patrons searched and detained during the Sept. 10 raid of the Atlanta Eagle gay bar.

"Police Chief Richard Pennington and 48 of his officers, including members of the department's Red Dog unit, also are named in the civil rights suit, which claims violations of federal and state law.

11/24/2009

"A national gay rights group filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the city of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Department on behalf of 19 people who say they were illegally searched and detained during a late-night raid on a crowded gay bar.

"Several nurses at Jackson Memorial Hospital have personally apologized to Janice Langbehn, a lesbian from Washington state who said that a Jackson social worker wouldn't allow her to be with her dying partner in 2007.

"...Langbehn, with Lambda Legal's help, sued the hospital. The case was dismissed without a decision on whether Jackson discriminated against Langbehn because she is gay. The court determined that the hospital had no legal obligation to allow anyone to visit a patient.

11/19/2009

"The state's highest court on Thursday upheld policies giving some government benefits to same–sex couples who are legally married outside the state, but did not rule on whether gay marriage should be legal in New York, leaving that issue for the Legislature to decide.

11/17/2009

"Lambda Legal, an advocacy group based in New York, filed a federal lawsuit in Phoenix on Tuesday on behalf of 10 state employees protesting the elimination of their benefits. The employees work for the Arizona Highway Patrol, the State Department of Game and Fish and state universities.

"...Tara Borelli, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said HB 2013 violates the section of the U.S. Constitution requiring the government to treat all people equally.

11/17/2009

"Gay and lesbian state and university workers filed suit Tuesday to overturn a law that takes away their domestic partner benefits.

"The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix claims the move amounts to a violation of constitutional protections that guarantee equal treatment of all individuals. Specifically, attorney Tara Borelli of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said denying benefits to gay workers that are available to others amounts to paying them less for the same work.

The next few weeks may mark a critical milestone for LGBT rights: The House Education and Labor Committee is scheduled to consider the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the next few weeks, and a vote in the full House could happen soon after!

11/12/2009

"Gay-rights activists in Salt Lake City got the backing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a successful push for city nondiscrimination ordinances — a sign of the complex landscape of the gay-rights debate.

"On Tuesday night, the Mormon church publicly supported the ordinances banning discrimination against gays and lesbians in housing and the workplace. The City Council passed the ordinances unanimously.

11/4/2009

11/4/2009

"Maine, with its libertarian leanings, had seemed to offer an excellent chance of reversing the national trend of voters rejecting marriage equality at the ballot box. Instead, it became the 31st state to block same-sex marriage through a public referendum.