Gay and lesbian rights

Wouldn’t it be great to have an online source for all kinds of practical and politically insightful information highlighting the critical issues facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities of color? Now we have one with the recent launch of LGBTRacialEquity.org by the Funders for LGBT Issues . The new site serves as a virtual toolkit chock-full of thoughtful and timely resources, including: • A broad range of perspectives on dozens of issues and topics, from building... Read Full Story

The Human Rights Campaign can now confirm the House Education and Labor Committee will vote on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. on legislation to end the widespread practice of employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  The vote was noticed moments ago. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 3017), introduced by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), would prohibit employment discrimination, preferential treatment, and... Read Full Story

In a somewhat of a surprise move, the Mormon Church supported the passage of a non-discrimination by the Salt Lake City city council that extends housing and employment protections to gays and lesbians in Salt Lake City. In delivering the Mormon Church's comments to city council, the Church representative credited the city council with balancing the rights of citizens to housing and employment with freedom of religion issues. Personally, I suspect what really motivated the Mormon Church was... Read Full Story

This post is from Tom Sullivan, HRC’s family project deputy director: Yesterday marked the official launch of the OurFamiliesCount.org website which will promote LGBT visibility and participation in next year’s U.S. Census. This online public education campaign is a collaboration of LGBT community and allied groups that will motivate LGBT Americans to take part in the 2010 U.S. Census. HRC is a proud member of this coalition. The website has both English and Spanish language versions... Read Full Story

From the event’s Facebook page : “Maine’s passage of Question 1 – stripping away existing rights from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer citizens – made it clear that homophobia, transphobia and hatred are still allowed to permeate the American political sphere. Question 1 sought to silence the queer community’s voice by characterizing our relationships as second class and unequal. “Although Question 1 was only decided by Maine voters, it is an assault to all people who... Read Full Story

Join us at GLAAD’s 8th Annual OUTAuction, presented by Bud Light, on Sunday November 15th, 2009 from 5:00pm-9:00pm at New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion! Since 2002, GLAAD, the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, has produced this annual fundraising event that celebrates established and emerging artists in an event that is part glamorous cocktail party, part art auction, all fun! This year we have close to 700 guests... Read Full Story

Today, the Human Rights Campaign joined leaders and advocates among the LGBT community today in the launch of Our Families Count ( www.ourfamiliescount.org ) — a new voluntary public education initiative promoting LGBT visibility and participation in next year’s U.S. Census.  The new 2010 Census education project is a collaborative and unique strategy to unite disparate populations across the entire LGBT spectrum.  The outreach effort is designed to educate all LGBT people about the... Read Full Story

UC Marriage Equality Flash Mob Posted in activism, cincinnati, DOMA, gay marriage, maine, Ohio, Prop. 8, Protests, University of Cincinnati Tagged: asexual, bisexual, cincinnati, DOMA, flash mob, ftm, gay, gay marriage, gender, genderqueer, GLBT, GLBTQ, glbtqia, Intersex, lesbian, LGBT, LGBTQ, lgbtqia, maine, marriage equality, mtf, Ohio, pansexual, Prop. 8, queer, trans, transgender, transsexual, UC, University of Cincinnati Read Full Story

Rhode Island's governor has vetoed legislation giving same-sex couples the same rights to plan the funerals of their late partners as married couples. Gov. Don Carcieri blocked the bill Tuesday because he said it represents an incremental erosion of the values of traditional marriage. Rhode Island does not recognize same-sex marriage. The bill would have required that same-sex couples have a relationship for at least one year and pass other tests, such as owning property together. Besides... Read Full Story

This post is from Ty Cobb, HRC legislative counsel: Today the American Medical Association (AMA) made two significant announcements regarding LGBT rights. Its members voted to join the effort to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law and declared that bans on same-sex marriage result in health disparities for LGBT couples and families. The AMA said that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should be repealed because it creates an ethical dilemma for lesbian, gay and bisexual members of the... Read Full Story