 Reuters | Married gay couples sue US seeking federal rights Reuters By Jason Szep BOSTON (Reuters) - Eight same-sex couples who married in Massachusetts and three gay widowers filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking access to the federal protections and programs granted to straight married couples. ... Same-sex spouses challenge US curbs Gay couples sue for federal marriage benefits  Comment by Janson Wu Staff Attorney at GLAD |
 KAUZ | 3 face hate-crime charges after attack at gay bar Houston Chronicle, United States 2009 AP GALVESTON, Texas â€" Three suspects are facing hate-crime charges after allegedly throwing rocks into a gay bar in an attack that injured two men, police said. According to witnesses, one man held open the door to Robert's Lafitte bar Sunday ... Attack at Galveston gay bar prompts hate-crime charges against 3 3 charged in violent attack at gay bar Anti-gay attack in Galveston highlights issues with hate crimes law |
 findingDulcinea | Calif. Legislature supports gay marriage challenge San Jose Mercury News, USA Supreme Court's decision last spring and the November election, about 18000 gay couples married. The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Thursday on lawsuits that seek to overturn Proposition 8. The lawsuits argue that the initiative was ... California's gay marriage battle back in court Calif. Supreme Court Takes On Gay Marriage â€" Again Lawmakers vote to support gay marriage |
LGBT Students Remain Suicide Risks Despite Changing Attitude & Laws EDGE Boston, MA by Scott Stiffler Teen suicide is a serious problem, but among LGBT youth, it has been catastrophic. Although reliable statistics that break out LGBT students are hard to come by, advocates point to anecdotal evidence, news reports and their own ... Robert Soave: Allied for LGBT acceptance Gay for a day |
 WeHo News | California bill targets LGBT domestic violence 365Gay.com Human rights groups say the regulations could impair LGBT patients’ access to care services if interpreted to permit providers to choose patients based upon sexual orientation, gender identity or family structure. 8 Do you think political speeches at ... Expressing Faith Through Marriage Equality Equality California Launches Statewide TV Ad Campaign on Lesbian ... WeHo Hosts Public Viewing Of Prop 8 Arguments |
GAYWHEELS.COM LAUNCHES FIRST SURVEY OF LGBT VEHICLE OWNERS Out In America, OH RIVER EDGE, NJ â€" Gaywheels.com, the sole source of information specifically targeted to and about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) car-shoppers has launched the first survey designed to deliver insight on LGBT automotive owners. ... |
 DigitalJournal.com | Anti-Gay Utah Lawmaker’s Remarks Continue to Excite Controversy EDGE Boston, MA by Kilian Melloy Anti-gay Web site Americans for Truth About Homosexuality charges members of Utah’s Republican party with having "bent" to GLBT equality groups like the Human Rights Campaign, which an article at the site accused of being ... Senator Gets Wrist Slap Following Anti-Gay Comments |
Black History With A Side Of Style Vital VOICE, MO At first glance, the GLBT community has been a community not defined by color. Perhaps it has been viewed, much like the larger community, as mostly white. I have found little voice given to this subject in any paper, whether it be a black paper, ... |
CYRUS CASSELLS FINALIST JUDGE FOR QV FUNDRAISER. Out In America, OH Any poet who self-identifies as GLBT may enter. 10-15 Finalists will be invited to read at a special event at 7PM, May 16th, 2009 at Teatro de La Muse in Plano, Texas. 1st (150.00) 2nd (75.00) and 3rd (50.00) place prizes will be awarded with three ... |
As the time of this posting, same-sex marriage is only legal in two U.S. states - Massachusetts and Connecticut (the California Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments on overturning anti-gay Prop 8 later this week on March 5th).Unfortunately no matter where a same-sex couple lives, the federal government does not recognize any same-sex marriage benefits due to the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" of 1996. But now, according to The New York Times, "The legal advocacy group that successfully argued for sex-same marriage in Massachusetts intends to file suit... on Tuesday seeking some federal benefits for spouses in such marriages."
"The plaintiffs in the suit include eight couples and three widowers, all of whom were married in Massachusetts after the state began allowing same-sex marriages in 2004. All have applied for federal benefits, Ms. Bonauto said, but have been denied because the federal government does not recognize their marriages."
Take the case of Herbert Burtis, 78, who lost his legal spouse last year. He would be entitled to "about $700 a month in Social Security survivor benefits" if his marriage had been heterosexual.
“Nobody else has to go through that begging to be considered equal to other married people,†said Mr. Burtis, who married in 2004 but was with his partner for more than 60 years.
The Times adds, "Although federal courts have heard other challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act... this is the first in which plaintiffs who were married in their state of residence applied for federal benefits and were denied them."
Vermont Public Radio's Capitol News Connection has a great interview, available on their website, with Julie Kruse, policy director for Immigration Equality. Julie talks with CNC about the recent re-introduction of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would modify U.S. immigration policy to treat same-sex couples, and heterosexual couples, equally under the law.Surf over to CNC's website to listen to Julie explain why this legislation is so critically important . . . and then, if you haven't done so, ask your elected representative to sign on as a supporter of UAFA.
No one should be forced to choose between their family and their country . . . and it is past time for our country's immigration laws to treat everyone fairly.
As our families in Iowa wait for an upcoming decision about marriage equality from the state's highest court, we are reminded, via this guest post from Kenny Michael Murrell, that America's heartland is home to countless, loving families that are making a difference in their own communities, every day.
It all started in 2003. I moved to an Iowa town called Van Meter. I started school, and shortly after starting I met a guy named Justin. Although I was shy and withdrawn, he was very friendly and invited me over to his place to hang out. I didn’t know at that time that Justin’s mother (pictured) was a lesbian, and furthermore I didn’t expect the impact she would make on my entire life.
Kenny contacted PFLAG earlier this week in hopes that we would allow him to honor his chosen family. In this moving tribute, Kenny, who hails from Van Meter, Iowa, reminds us all that our families are defined by our heart . . . and that it is time to honor all of those families, in big ways and small.
It all started in 2003. I moved to an Iowa town called Van Meter. I started school, and shortly after starting I met a guy named Justin. Although I was shy and withdrawn, he was very friendly and invited me over to his place to hang out. I didn’t know at that time that Justin’s mother (pictured) was a lesbian, and furthermore I didn’t expect the impact she would make on my entire life.Before I even said anything, Kimberly (Justin’s mom) knew that I was gay, and knew that I was not yet comfortable with it and that was why I was so withdrawn and preserved. Kim’s partner is Brenda. Kim was married before she met Brenda, and loved her husband Mitch. With him, she gave birth to three wonderful boys, and since Mitch was black and she is white, they are all bi-racial. Kim and Brenda had moved into a place together and Brenda brought her daughter, Cheyenne, with her. They all live in this very nice house very happily together.
So there I was, an awkward, gay 16-year old thrust into an atmosphere of love and acceptance, unconditional support and understanding. I spent more and more time over there, and became closer and closer with not only Justin, but Kim and Brenda as well. Kim was someone that I could talk to about anything. She always had the best advice for me no matter what it was about. She had known that she favored women since she was a teenager, so she had a lot of experience with being rejected and hated.
For the next few months I spent all of my free time over there, so much to a point where my own birthparents would get jealous. I soon started calling Kim mom, and I was considered their son. We did everything together, I could talk to them about anything, and they helped me through some very tough times in my life. I don’t know if I would still be alive if it weren’t for her. She spoke with me and helped me get comfortable with coming out. After spending so much time with them, I was more comfortable with myself, more confident, and not afraid to be whom I was born to be.
I came out to my parents after knowing Kim and Justin for over a year. My parents said that they knew, but they didn’t ever want to talk about it. My mom became a very bad alcoholic and my dad was moving all around since he was in the military. At the time, I was pretty much raising my little sister. At the time my older sister was doing drugs, and I didn’t know what to do. Of course, I came to Kim. She knew just what to say and do, to make me feel better.
I eventually called my biological parents and told them that everything at home is a mess, and I am moving in with Kim and Brenda and Justin and the kids. They were less than thrilled, but I was 17 so they didn’t argue with it much.
Kim Hines is the single greatest person I know. She writes fantastic poetry on her life experiences and does some work with Photoshop. She is a tough woman, and being a mom of bi- racial kids and being a lesbian, she had to be! She would defend all of us kids to the death if we were being persecuted or discriminated against and wouldn’t take any slack or allow us not to be the best people she knows we can be. She pushes us to out limits, then past them and forces us to excel in life.
Justin is the greatest straight-supporter I know. He has always had his mom’s back, as well as his entire familys’. Kim has taken me in when my own family pretty much didn’t want to have anything to do with my gay side, and it’s not only me. She has taken in several kids that were for some reason or another cast astray by their unloving parents. She is always there for everyone, even at the expense sometimes of her personal time, pleasure, and even health. She is so selfless that I have to stand back in awe, wondering how someone could be so passionate, so caring, and so real, even in the face of constant adversity. She get’s stares, things yelled at her, homophobic remarks, gawking and her kids of a different race, but stands tall and smiles, knowing that she is doing the right thing, and there is nothing wrong with love. She has straight friends she made when she moved to the area, and she has helped inform them on the LGBT issues and enlighten them that just because you love the same sex, it doesn’t make you different.
Kim has done so many great things, I have barely scratched the surface. She has helped so much, yet faced so much that I could never repay her in a million years, and she has never asked for anything in return.. I just want her to get some sort of recognition because even if she hasn’t directly made an impact on the minds of American’s on a national scale, she is the best local political activist I know, and has touched and changed the lives of many people in the community.
Thanks, Kim . . . for being you, for making me who I am today, and everything you do.
- Michael
From Glad.org: On March 3, 2009, GLAD filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Boston on behalf of eight married couples and three surviving spouses from Massachusetts who have been denied federal legal protections available to spouses. Two of these couples will be filing suit after receiving rejections of their amended tax returns from the [...]
From Equality California: Murdered and persecuted by governments. Arrested and beaten for being who we are. Our rights put up for popular vote, time and time again. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have been the target of hate and discrimination for centuries and our fight for marriage is part of a long struggle for equality and [...]
And no, this is not an April fool’s joke…Resource Center of Dallas and the North Texas GLBT Chamber have joined together for the 2009 GLBT Job Expo. This year’s expanded event will be held at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business’ Fincher Building, 621g, 6212 Bishop Blvd. Employers will receive maximum value and visibility from their relationship [...]
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