What kind of world do you want?

Project 1138 is designed to increase public awareness of the 1,138 federal marital benefits and protections denied to same-sex couples as the result of marriage inequality.

LGBT workers still lack workplace protections in most states

The passage of a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing and the workplace in Kalamazoo, Mich., still leaves workers vulnerable to being fired because they are gay or lesbian because the state is one of 29 without such anti-bias protections on the books. But laws such as these serve a larger purpose, according to Bernadette Brown, policy director of the Triangle Foundation.

"They acknowledge that LGBT people are valuable members of the community, and that our risk of discrimination and harassment is increased simply because of who we are, and that's unfair," Brown said.

Jay Michaelson: Why gay rights is a religious issue

Jay Michaelson is a writer, scholar, and actvist whose work focuses on the intersections of spirituality, Judaism, sexuality, and law.

He will be presenting his talk 'Why Gay Rights is a Religious Issue' on March 9 at Sturm Hall at the University of Denver at 7 p.m.

Michaelson's website says that the Christian Right has succeeded in characterizing opposition to rights as a religious issue — but what about support of gay rights? Unlike African-American civil rights, for example, gay rights is rarely seen as a religious imperative, as a moral rather than purely liberal/constitutional cause. Yet this is tactically, ethically, and spiritually disastrous. In fact, there are several reasons why, if one is religious, one should be for equality for sexual minorities. This evening, we’ll discuss at least ten of them.

The talk is presented by Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity and co-sponsored by Judaism Your Way , the DU Hillel and the DU Queer Straight Alliance.

Obama: Anti-gay Ugandan bill "odious"

This morning, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke out against the pending anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda at the 58th National Prayer Breakfast. Hosted by members of Congress and sponsored by the Fellowship Foundation, otherwise known as The Family, the breakfast was attended by foreign leaders, U.S. government officials and invited guests. The breakfast has been attended by every president since President Eisenhower, and takes place annually in Washington, DC.

 

During his address, President Obama stated that it is unconscionable, at home or abroad, to target lesbians and gays for who they are. Moreover, he described the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill as “odious.” Secretary Clinton stated that she has spoken to President Musseveni of Uganda about the despicable nature of the pending legislation. In addition, she ensured breakfast attendees that her Department will continue to address international human rights violations of lesbians and gays.

 

Read more at www.HRCBackStory.org.

Partner of trooper denied death benefits could still receive federal aid

The partner of a Missouri state highway patrolman who died in a car accident while working on Christmas Day is not entitled to state survivor benefits because domestic partnerships are not legally recognized by either the patrol's pension system or Missouri law. 

However, Kelly Glossip, the surviving partner, could receive a $311,000 payment from a federal program for survivors of officers killed on the job that does recognize domestic partners.

Photo from STLToday.com.

Porn company Corbin Fisher contributes $60,000 to gay rights

Well, here's one more reason to like gay production studio, CorbinFisher.com (NSFW).

They recently made a significant financial contribution to gay rights efforts in the state of Florida with a $60,000 donation to Equality Florida, one of the state's largest civil rights organizations, "dedicated to eliminating discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and class". The donation is among several service and charity initiatives implemented by the company and is one of the largest financial contributions ever received by the advocacy group.

The donation to Equality Florida followed a chance encounter, according to Corbin Fisher CEO, Jason Gibson, at a cocktail party.

"Through mutual friends and acquaintances at this function, I had the pleasure of meeting several individuals who spend tremendous amounts of time and energy fighting discrimination against GLBT Floridians," recalls Gibson. "I was moved by the extent of their enthusiasm, impressed by their dedication, and further impressed by their considerable accomplishments in pursuing their mission to end discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation."

More after the jump.

Corbin Fisher regularly donates to various gay rights groups and charities, including similar advocacy and education organizations in California and at the national level. The contribution to Equality Florida marks its biggest single donation to an individual group, however.

"Beyond gay rights being a cause more than worthy of whatever support we can offer, and beyond Equality Florida being a remarkable and effective organization pursuing that cause, the tireless work of such organizations and the individuals behind them have a very real impact upon the lives of our employees, our friends, and our members," notes Gibson.

Corbin Fisher executives regularly meet to discuss ways to contribute to worthwhile causes, according to COO Brian Dunlap. "We understand that our audience comes to us for the content that we produce, but also recognize and appreciate that having such a large audience offers an opportunity to positively impact a variety of causes." Through its websites, newsletter and social networking site presence, Corbin Fisher has regularly encouraged members and fans to contribute to causes such as earthquake relief in Haiti, the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the US, and relief efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Further, the company encourages its two dozen plus employees to donate time and resources to causes they find worthwhile. Donations made by Corbin Fisher employees to charitable, non-profit organizations are matched by the company. Corbin Fisher employees can also take "service days", skipping work to spend time volunteering for charity and service organizations without sacrificing vacation time or pay. The company has also made its General Counsel, Marc Randazza, available for a variety of pro bono work.

State-by-state: Gay legislation across the USA

HRC today released a comprehensive state-by-state report detailing LGBT-related legislation in 2009 and an outlook for 2010.  The report indicates that despite disappointments in 2009, we witnessed a banner year for positive legislation affecting the LGBT community with as many positive bills passed this past year as in 2007 and 2008 combined.  The report also details expectations for 2010 with the fight for marriage equality and relationship recognition now focused on Hawaii, Illinois, New Mexico, and Rhode Island and continued state and local efforts to protect LGBT employees. 

“While the road is never easy, we look ahead to 2010 with renewed dedication in the fight for equality,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.  “We will continue to work closely with state LGBT groups and our allies to secure these much-needed advancements.  As the midterm elections heat up, we must remain focused on the many state legislators who stood with us by continuing to support them and also remember those who stood in the way.”

Call to Action: Protect gay Ugandans from state-sanctioned murder

HRC reports that if we don't act quickly, a terrifying bill now being considered in Uganda could make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment or even death.

Act now by clicking here and sending an email make sure our leaders use their influence to help protect LGBT Ugandans from this homicidal bill.

GLBT rights: A decade of progress

As the decade draws to a close, a new report shows the past 10 years have been a period of dramatic gains in equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in America. Two-thirds of the 36 statistical indicators compiled in A Decade of Progress on LGBT Rights showed significant advances, including sharp increases in the number of LGBT Americans protected by nondiscrimination and family recognition legislation at the state level. Just over a quarter of the indicators were negative, and two showed mixed results. The report is a joint project of the LGBT Movement Advancement Project and the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr., Fund. The report is available at www.lgbtmap.org.

“The remarkable achievements toward LGBT equality tend to be obscured by day-to-day struggles, and overall progress often goes unnoticed nationally” said Linda Bush, Executive Director of the LGBT Movement Advancement Project (MAP). “By looking broadly at the last decade, this report gives a much fuller perspective on where we are today -- and how far we’ve come in just ten years.”

Read more after the jump.


“From over 50 years of supporting causes that help advance equality, we understand that making meaningful change requires time. But these facts make it clear that equal rights for gay people are advancing at an exceptional rate,” said Ira Hirschfield, President of the Haas, Jr. Fund. “Gay people and their families deserve equal rights and an equal opportunity to participate in their communities and the institutions that bring Americans together. We are committed to supporting work that brings our country closer to that goal.”

Matt Foreman, a longtime advocate for LGBT equality who now directs the Haas Jr. Fund’s gay and immigrant rights programs, said the Fund is excited by the accelerated rate of change. “While enormous and heart-wrenching inequities remain, progress over the last ten years has been extraordinary.”

Among the report’s key measures of progress:

Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation: The number of states outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation increased 83 percent, from 12 to 22, between 2000 and 2009. The percentage of the U.S. population living in states banning discrimination based on sexual orientation soared from 24.5 percent to 44.1 percent, an 80 percent increase. In other words, today 134 million Americans are now living in states where discrimination based on sexual orientation has been outlawed, an increase of 65 million over the decade. (When local nondiscrimination laws passed by cities without statewide protections are included, the figure is over 50 percent of the U.S. population.) Fortune 500 companies that protect workers based on sexual orientation grew from 51 percent to 88 percent.

Discrimination Based on Gender Identity: There was an even more remarkable increase in states outlawing discrimination based on gender identity and expression, which rose from just 1state in the year 2000 to 14 states representing nearly 30 percent of the population in 2009. The percentage of Fortune 500 companies that protect workers based on gender identity jumped even more, from just 0.6 percent to 35 percent.

Relationship Recognition: Similarly exceptional gains were made in the area of family recognition. In 2000, no state extended the freedom to marry to same-sex couples; one state gave broad recognition to same-sex relationships and one offered limited recognition. Now in 2009, five states extend marriage to same-sex couples (with New Jersey and the District of Columbia pending at press time), six offer broad recognition, and seven offer more limited recognition. Overall, the number of Americans living in a state that offers some protections to same-sex couples nearly tripled, from 12.7 percent to 37.2 percent.

Protection from Violence: The 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is the first federal law to specifically protect LGBT people.

LGBT Elected Officials: The number of openly LGBT elected officials in America rose 73 percent between 2000 and 2009, from 257 to 445.

Public Opinion: The percentage of the public supporting the right of openly gay and lesbian people to serve in the military grew from 62 percent to 75 percent. Support for marriage equality has grown from 35 percent in 2000 to 39 percent today; there has been an even larger increase in support for relationship recognition that involves many of the rights of marriage, from 45 to 57 percent.

Safer Schools: In 2000, only one state had a safe school law that specifically cited sexual orientation and gender identity/expression for protection; by 2009 that rose to 13states. The number of Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs in high schools grew from 700 to 4,700, a nearly six-fold increase.

The report also includes data on areas with mixed or negative results:

Marriage Opposition: In 2000, 5 states had blocked marriage equality through a statewide vote; today, 31 have done so, including 29 states amending their constitutions to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages.

Homophobia in schools: The percentage of LGBT students reporting hearing homophobic remarks in school has remained above 99 percent and LGBT students who report experiencing harassment in school edged up (up from 83.2 percent to 86.2 percent.)

HIV/AIDS: New HIV infections among adolescent and adult men who have sex with men grew 10 percent, from 28,000 to 30,800, as did the percentage of new HIV infections overall that occurred among men who have sex with men, which rose from 51 percent to 53 percent.

Military Service Ban: In spite of overwhelming public support for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the U.S. military continued to discharge hundreds of gay and lesbian service members, with the cumulative number of discharges under the 1993 policy nearly doubling during the past decade. The only “positive” note was that the number of annual discharges decreased from 1,241 in 2000 to 619 in 2008 (the most recent year for which data are available), apparently because of the urgent need for soldiers to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002.

A more in-depth and longer term analysis of progress toward LGBT equality can be found in MAP’s “The Momentum Report – 2009 edition,” which is available at www.lgbtmap.org. MAP is a think tank founded in 2006 that produces and disseminates research aimed at helping speed advancement of equality for LGBT people.

The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund is a private family foundation created in 1953 which has awarded more than $364 million in grants to support fundamental rights and opportunities for all people. It has invested nearly $42 million in promoting equal rights and opportunities for gays and lesbians since 2002.



Twelve Iranian men face execution for sodomy

Ten young Iranian men, including eight teenagers, are currently awaiting execution for sodomy, and two more are being re-tried on the same capital charge.

Check out the full article at GayCityNews.com.

Washington upholds domestic partnership law

Today the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, applauded voters in Washington for passing Referendum 71, approving the state’s domestic partnership law and preserving legal rights and benefits for thousands of families. The domestic partnership law that the voters upheld provides registered same-sex and senior domestic partners with the same legal protections, benefits, and obligations that marriage provides under state law. The initiative passed by a margin of 52.5 to 47.5.

“The people of Washington have rejected a mean-spirited attempt to rob some citizens of the protections that others receive. The passage of Referendum 71 assures that state-registered domestic partners will have the same financial and personal security under state law as their neighbors.” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Although only marriage is truly equal, this referendum provides tangible protections that are more important than ever in these uncertain economic times,” he added.

The bill to expand domestic partner benefits was passed in May 2009 and signed into law by Governor Christine Gregoire. The measure was placed on the ballot after opponents collected enough signatures to qualify for a referendum.

Whoo-hoo for Kalamazoo!

Today the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, congratulated Kalamazoo voters in their decision to uphold Ordinance 1856, a measure that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The ordinance won by a margin of 62 to 38.

“I applaud the people of Kalamazoo for embracing equality for all,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Sexual orientation and gender identity have no place in employment decisions, access to housing, or public accommodations. Each of us is entitled to security in our daily lives regardless of who we love, of who we are. Thank you One Kalamazoo for your outstanding efforts and rousing success.”

In June 2009, the Kalamazoo City Commission adopted amendments to the city’s non-discrimination ordinance in the areas of employment, public accommodations, and housing that added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes. Opponents of the ordinance were successful in placing the ordinance on the ballot. By voting yes on Ordinance 1856, Kalamazoo residents were able to ensure that everyone has a remedy if they experience discrimination.

WWII Vet speaks out for gay rights

"It makes no sense that some people who love each other can marry and others can't just because of who they are. This is what we fought for in WWII - the idea that we can be different and still be equal."

Wow.

Check out the video above for some moving and powerful testimony from a WWII vet in support of gay rights. - via OMGBlog

HRC sez: Momentum is building

From President Obama's speech at HRC's National Dinner to final House passage of hate crimes to the National Equality March, the nation's attention is on LGBT equality to a hate crimes bill that will be law any day now and an inclusive ENDA up for debate in Congress before the end of the year - ot to mention marriage equality fights in states throughout the country and Washington, D.C. and thousands marching on Washington for LGBT equality - HRC says momentum is building for the gay rights movement.

But they need to raise $200,000 in the next month and a half to seize the opportunity and fight against anti-gay initiatives in multiple states and push their federal agenda to the tipping point.

Click here to donate what you can to aid HRC in the fight for GLBT rights.

Perspectives on Obama's promise to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Newsy has compiled news coverage from multiple sources to get all the angles on President Obama's recent pledge to end Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Brent Childers: Evolution of an evangelist

Faith In America's Brent Childers recounts key moments in his evolution from LGBT-rights opponent to a gay community backer who participated in Sunday's National Equality March.

"During the past four years I have looked into the faces of those I once caused harm to with religion-based bigotry and prejudice," he writes. "And while I may have never inflicted a physical blow, I know today that my words indeed caused deep wounds -- perhaps at some point deeper than I care to dwell upon."

President Obama addresses HRC

Check out video from President Obama's appearance at yesterday's HRC National Dinner.

Florida decision spotlights vulnerability of gay couples

A Florida court has dismissed Lambda Legal's lawsuit filed against Jackson Memorial Hospital in 2008 on behalf of Janice Langbehn, the Estate of Lisa Pond and their three adopted children.

In February 2007, the family was tragically kept apart by hospital staff for eight hours as Pond's condition deteriorated and she died. Surviving partner Janice Langbehn was told that she was in an antigay city and state and that she could expect to receive no information or acknowledgment as family.

Staff Attorney Beth Littrell says, “The court’s decision paints a tragically stark picture of how vulnerable same-sex couples and their families are during times of crisis.”

Lambda Legal has until October 16 to review the ruling with the family and consider all legal options.

Read more about this tragic case at Lambda Legal's website.

Gay couples pay more, get less than marrieds

A recent article in The New York Times details the bottom-line effects of the federal Defense of Marriage Act on gay and lesbian couples.

They even made a chart (above) and everything.

In almost every area, including health insurance, Social Security and estate taxes, same-sex couples will pay significantly more or receive fewer advantages than their married counterparts.

"It's pretty insulting," Philadelphia resident Harvey Hurdle said of the annual Social Security statements detailing how much a spouse would receive. said. "It says your spouse would get this much. And it's like, 'Oh no he won't!' "

NFL star: If Britney Spears can do it, why can't gays?

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has become one of the few professional athletes to speak out in favor of LGBT rights.

In a piece for The Huffington Post, Ayanbadejo asked, "If Britney Spears can party it up in Vegas with one of her boys and go get married on a whim and annul her marriage the next day, why can't a loving same-sex couple tie the knot?"