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Sunday, November 7th, 2010
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Congress should act quickly, before new members take their seats, to repeal the military’s ban on gays serving openly in the military. He, however, did not sound optimistic that the current Congress would use a brief postelection session to get rid of the law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
“I would like to see the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” but I’m not sure what the prospects for that are,” Gates said Saturday, as he traveled to defense and diplomatic meetings in Australia. Unless the lame-duck Congress acts, the repeal effort is considered dead for now.
The current, Democratic-controlled Congress has not acted to lift the ban, which President Barack Obama promised to eliminate. In his postelection news conference Wednesday, Obama said there would be time to repeal the ban in December or early January, after the military completes a study of the effects of repeal on the front lines and at home.
Full Story from WTOP
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Tags: congress, dadt, defense secretary robert gates, don't ask don't tell, lame duck session, repeal
Monday, September 13th, 2010
If the Republican Party regains control of Congress on Nov. 2, already-stalled pro-gay legislation would be dead — at least barring an uncharacteristically bold lame-duck action by Democrats. On the bright side, the prospects are fairly good for the District of Columbia to defend its marriage-equality law.
LGBT activists in D.C. have struggled with our congressional overlords for decades. Congress used a legislative veto against our sodomy law repeal in 1981, and an appropriations rider against our domestic partnership law in 1992. After Congress stopped obstructing domestic partnerships in 2001, D.C. passed more than a dozen bills incrementally strengthening that law. Our final step to full marriage equality last year was taken with one eye firmly fixed on Capitol Hill.
This battle testing leaves us ready, in the event of a GOP congressional takeover, to fight opponents like Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who failed to get even a majority of House Republicans to co-sponsor the D.C. Defense of Marriage Act in the 111th Congress.
Full Story from
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Tags: congress, d.c., district of columbia, Gay Marriage, gop, marriage equality, republicans, same sex marriage, washington dc
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Republican representatives are backing a resolution that condemns a federal judge’s ruling that struck down California’s gay marriage ban, Proposition 8. The resolution was introduced Tuesday by Texas Congressman Lamar Smith, POLITICO.COM reported.
Representatives Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Steve King of Iowa and John Fleming of Louisiana joined Smith in unveiling the measure as lawmakers returned from their August recess for a special one-day session.
Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s 138-page ruling delivered on Wednesday declares Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. Republicans have remained mostly mum about the decision that sets the stage for gay marriage to play an increasingly larger role in the upcoming midterm elections.
Full Story from On Top Magazine
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Tags: congress, congressional resolution, Gay Marriage, gop, marriage equality, prop 8 ruling, proposition 8, republicans, same sex marriage
Monday, July 26th, 2010
In yet another important win for marriage equality, the District of Columbia’s highest court ruled July 15 that the city government acted lawfully when it rejected a local minister attempt to place a referendum before voters that sought to roll back equal marriage rights for gay couples in the nation’s capital.
The ruling leaves intact marriage equality legislation, in effect in the District City Council since early March. But the ruling may not be the end of the battle for Washington, D.C. The U.S. Supreme Court and Congress may have the final word.
There were two questions before the D.C. Court of Appeals, which is the equivalent of a state supreme court. First, whether the proposed ballot measure was discriminatory or not, and second, whether the D.C. City Council had the authority to restrict a ballot initiative that violated a provision of city’s Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on the basis of sexual orientation and other categories.
Full Story from Keen News Service
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Tags: appeal, challenge, congress, d.c., dc, district of columbia, Gay Marriage, law, marriage equality, same sex marriage, supreme court, washington dc
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Republican congressional candidate Bob Giuda, of Warren, raised some eyebrows in Nashua on Monday when he spoke to a group of students at Rivier College and compared same-sex marriage to bestiality, according to reports at WMUR.com.
Giuda had finished speaking at Rivier when a small group asked him about his position on gay rights, WMUR said, and he responded in opposition to same-sex marriage because he believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
According to WMUR, Giuda reportedly said, “What’s going to happen next? Men and sheep? Women and dogs?”
Full Story from the Nashua Telegraph
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Tags: bestiality, bob guida, congress, Gay Marriage, gop candidate, marriage equality, new hampshire, nh, same sex marriage
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Remember Donna Milo, the Cuban transwoman who’s running as a Republican Congress? She believes marriage should be between “a man and a woman” and that her “triumphs are based on [her] abilities, not on a label or a crutch.”
That’s nice, except that the crutches she’s supposedly never used are the same ones that allowed her to become a US citizen, get married and have kids.
According to Milo’s website she was born in Cuba in the early 1960s and came to America at age three. As such, she benefited from the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act which changed the legal status of Cuban immigrants to grant them “permanent resident status” with access to legal work, medical care, government welfare, and unemployment benefits. So Milo’s right; she didn’t depend on a crutch so much as a automatic wheelchair.
Full Story from Queerty
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Tags: candidate, congress, donna milo, fl, florida, Gay Marriage, gop, marriage equality, republcian, same sex marriage, transgender
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Congressional Democrats reached an agreement Monday with the White House and possibly the Pentagon on a key legislative step toward repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bars openly gay soldiers from the military.
In a letter to President Obama obtained by CNN, three congressional sponsors of legislation to repeal the policy outlined the proposed agreement that would set contingencies based on completion of a military review of the matter already under way and subsequent final approval from the president and military leaders.
Specifically, the proposed agreement calls for repeal to become final only after completion of the military review expected by the end of 2010, followed by a review certification from Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen.
Full Story from CNN
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Tags: congress, dadt, don't ask don't tell, gay groups, hrc, repeal, white house
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
Perhaps the following signals an enormous change in US military structure and command: following orders is only optional, and individual troop concerns should be addressed before attacking the enemy.
President Obama’s Defense Secretary, a holdover from the George W. Bush Administration, is more than just asking or telling Congress to stay out of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” controversy, he’s warning them in “the strongest possible terms” that such an action would undermine morale.
Roll Call reports:
Congressional Democrats have been eyeing the upcoming Defense authorization measure as a vehicle to scrap the ban on gays serving openly in the military. But in a Friday letter to House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), Gates recommended “in the strongest possible terms” that Congress allow the Pentagon “to conduct a thorough, objective, and systematic assessment of such a policy change; develop an attentive comprehensive implementation plan, and provide the President and the Congress with the results of this effort in order to ensure that this step is taken in the most informed and effective manner.”
Full Story from The Raw Story
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Tags: congress, dadt, defense secretary, don't ask don't tell, repeal, robert gates
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
For the first time in the history of the United States Congress, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, otherwise known as the ethics panel, was going to have elected officials and senior staffers in same-sex marriages, who received marriage certificates in states where it is legal, disclose their spousal financial information the same way heterosexual married staffers do. That was until both sides of the gay marriage camp started complaining.
The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, also know as the ethics panel, had released draft rules a week ago that made extensive revisions to the old instruction manual for filling out financial disclosure forms.
The draft rules included a paragraph declaring that “In 2009, there were a total of four states which issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont. (New Hampshire and the District of Columbia began issuing such licenses effective in 2010.)”
Full Story from Queerty
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Tags: congress, financial disclosure, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, rules, same sex marriage
Friday, April 16th, 2010
The House ethics committee has drafted rules that would define same-sex couples who are legally married as “spouses” when it comes time to fill out their Congressional financial disclosure forms, according to Roll Call.
If adopted, the reporting requirements would mark the first time Congress has recognized a same-sex partner as a spouse. Opponents of gay rights said that the draft seems incongruent with the Defense of Marriage Act’s mandate that “the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife.”
The drafted rules were posted this week on the ethics committee Web site as well as another site, but were apparently removed after Roll Call inquired about them.
Full Story from Just Out
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Tags: congress, ethics rules, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, proposal, same sex marriage, spouse
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Congress should act quickly, before new members take their seats, to repeal the military’s ban on gays serving openly in the military. He, however, did not sound optimistic that the current Congress would use a brief postelection session to get rid of the law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
