Retiring Supreme Court justice was key vote for LGBT rights; authored dissent in Ga. anti-sodomy case
Retired Army Maj. Jeff Cleghorn, a gay attorney from Atlanta, traveled to Washington, D.C., late last month to lobby Congress to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” The trip was part of an organized campaign by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund and the Human Rights Campaign.
The final version of healthcare reform legislation passed by Congress did not include any of the LGBT-specific measures for which groups like the Human Rights Campaign and National Lesbian & Gay Task Force had lobbied.
Lesbian law professor Chai Feldblum was appointed to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on March 27, one of 15 recess appointments made by President Obama that day.
Gates says plan ‘not a moratorium’ on military gay ban
Legislation can be like a train: It runs on a track, makes certain stops along the way, and is often attached to other trains. But in Congress, the train doesn’t run on time.
Last September, gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would likely get a House committee vote in September and a floor vote that fall. Didn’t happen.
WASHINGTON — A former Republican lawmaker who wants to replace Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made headlines this week when he drew a comparison between gay marriages and bestiality.
CNN reported March 15 that in an interview with a Florida radio station, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth chided Massachusetts for being the first state to legalize gay marriage, then continued with an equine analogy.
WASHINGTON — Both smiles and tears of joy were in plentiful supply earlier this month as the nation’s capital became the latest jurisdiction in the United States to recognize same-sex marriage.
The District of Columbia’s Religious Freedom & Marriage Equality Amendment Act took effect on Wednesday, March 3, according to the DC Agenda, an LGBT media outlet. Couples who receive marriage licenses must wait three business days to wed, so with the weekend, March 9 was the first day for gay marriages in the district.