Category: GLBT

Park Forest to Add Gender Identity, Parental and Housing Status to Protected Classes

Posted on by TL

The Village of Park Forest will consider an item on Monday to add expand the definition of protected classes on its housing ordinance.

From ENEWSPF:

The second item [on the agenda] for action comes from Cook County. The Cook County Department of Planning and Development recently requested that the Village amend its fair housing ordinance to expand the list of protected classes to include parental status, gender identity, and housing status. The Village’s fair housing ordinance also must prohibit any activity that aids and/or abets housing discrimination, or retaliation against any person for the exercise of any rights under the Village’s fair housing ordinance, or the willful interference with the exercise of any rights under the Village’s fair housing ordinance.

Yes, I know Park Forest is making this move because Cook County wants it to happen.  However, keep in mind that Park Forest added “sexual orientation” to its housing ordinance in the 1980s, long before any other suburb in the Chicagoland area, and certainly long before most communities in the United States.  The measure passed publicly, without an bit of protest from the community or board members.  Park Forest has always been ahead of the curve.

It’s worth keeping an eye on Park Forest.

3 Dead, 12 Wounded at Israeli Gay Youth Center Shooting

Posted on by TL

Nod to Brad Friedman for this.

From Reuters, via the NYTimes:

Israel’s gay community was rocked on Sunday by the killing of two people in a homosexual and lesbian youth center and the possibility they fell victim to a hate crime in the Jewish state’s most freewheeling city.

“The biggest shock is to think that it happened in Tel Aviv, which is the most tolerant city in the country,” said Avi Sofer, a gay rights activist.

Witnesses said a masked gunman clad in black opened fire on Saturday night in a basement club belonging to the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association, which was hosting a weekly event for teenage gays.

The attacker killed a 26-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl and wounded 13 people before fleeing, hospital officials said.

“He simply fired all over the place,” Or Gil, 16, told the YNet news website. “At first I thought it was prank, or a toy gun. After the killings, it was quiet, completely silent and then people came to help the wounded.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu condemned the attack, telling his cabinet: “We are a tolerant, democratic country governed by the rule of law and we must respect each and every person.”

I found this quite interesting:

Despite anti-gay sentiments among some religious Jews in Israel, gays serve openly in the military. Israel accords same-sex couples a measure of legal recognition and cohabitation rights, though Orthodox religious authorities control formal nuptials in the country.

The whole episode is quite sad.

Act NOW: Urge Your Senator to Support Hate Crimes Legislation.

Posted on by TL

The Matthew Shepard Act is before the United States Senate.  The wrong-right wing, for some insane reason, is pulling an all-out campaign to bury this bill.

We need your support now.  NOW.

Matthew Shepard, that beautiful boy from Wayoming, was murdered only because he was gay.

That’s it.

We need FEDERAL legislation to let everyone know hate crimes are wrong, no matter the reason.  For some reason, some people in the United States believe it’s okay ok to murder someone because he or she is gay.

Rubbish.

Call your senator NOW.

From the Matthew Shepard Foundation:

After 10 years of continued effort, a federal act to prevent and prosecute hate crimes committed against persons due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity is closer than ever to becoming law, with a key Senate roll-call about to take place.

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which passed the U.S. House earlier this year by a sizeable margin, has been offered as an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (S. 1391). Officially known as the Leahy/Collins/Kennedy/Snowe Amendment, it will be debated intermittently ahead of a crucial procedural vote as soon as Thursday afternoon, or as late as Monday, July 20.

The cloture motion (to end debate and force a vote on the amendment) will require 60 votes to pass. Support for the Matthew Shepard Act appears to be close to that threshold, though opponents of this common-sense legislation are reportedly deluging the Senate with calls and correspondence urging its defeat.

Yesterday, Matthew Shepard Foundation Governing Board President Judy Shepard joined Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at a Capitol press conference to urge passage of the legislation.  Sen. Reid reiterated his commitment to get the Matthew Shepard Act into law this year. The Defense Department spending bill, with or without the Shepard Act attached, will need to go to a conference committee of the House and Senate that will be charged with producing a final version in September.  House and Senate leaders and the White House have again restated their commitments to get this done—this year.

But lawmakers need to hear where you stand. Call THE SENATE SWITCHBOARD at 202-224-3121, or visit http://www.senate.gov/ and make your voice heard today!

Jason Marsden
Executive Director

Call NOW.  Democratic, Republican, no matter.  Gay, straight, no matter.   For the love of God, call to show your support for your fellow human beings.  Some of whom, are gay.

D.C. Law Recognizing Out-of-Jurisdiction Marriages By Same-Sex Couples Takes Effect

Posted on by TL

From our friends at the Human Rights Campaign:

D.C. joins other jurisdictions across the nation on the historic road to marriage equality.

Washington, D.C.– The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, issued the following statement after a new D.C. law recognizing marriages by same-sex couples performed in other jurisdictions became effective today.

“Today, same-sex couples in D.C. who have married elsewhere, or who choose to marry in one of the growing number of jurisdictions that provide marriage equality, will have their relationships fully recognized,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “This law is an important and historic step towards equal dignity, equal respect and equal rights under D.C. law for same-sex couples. Congratulations to the D.C. Council, Mayor Fenty and the many advocates of equality in our community who have worked hard for, and continue to pursue, marriage equality in D.C.”

On May 5, 2009, the D.C. Council overwhelmingly passed legislation that expressly recognizes marriages by same-sex couples from other jurisdictions, including foreign countries. The bill was signed by Mayor Adrian Fenty the next day and transmitted to Congress for review. Opponents of marriage equality attempted to stop the legislation from taking effect by proposing a referendum. However, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics ruled last month that the proposed referendum would violate the D.C. Human Rights Act and therefore was not a proper subject matter for the referendum process. A D.C. Superior Court judge upheld this ruling and denied opponents’ request for a preliminary injunction to stay the legislation. The law took effect today, at the conclusion of the 30 day Congressional review period.

Under the new law, a same-sex couple living in D.C. who is legally married elsewhere – for example, in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Canada – will be recognized as married in D.C. and will receive the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage under D.C. law. D.C. law continues to provide for domestic partnerships for same-sex and different-sex couples. Same-sex couples cannot legally marry in D.C. itself, although their marriages from other jurisdictions are now recognized.

Six states recognize marriage for same-sex couples: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (effective September 1, 2009), Maine (scheduled to become effective September 2009, pending possible referendum) and New Hampshire (effective January 1, 2010). Outside the United States, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, and Sweden recognize marriage for same-sex couples.

New York recognizes marriages by same-sex couples legally entered into in another jurisdiction, and the legislature is considering legislation that would permit same-sex couples to marry in New York. California recognized marriage by same-sex couples between June and November of 2008, before voters approved Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to prohibit marriage equality for same-sex couples. The 18,000 marriages of same-sex couples performed in California before the passage of Proposition 8 remain valid.

Same-sex couples do not receive federal rights and responsibilities anywhere in the United States. To learn more about state by state legislation, visit: www.hrc.org/state_laws.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

India Decriminalizes Homosexuality

Posted on by TL

From the Chicago Tribune:

The Delhi High Court issued a landmark ruling Thursday decriminalizing homosexuality, a move that could bring more freedom to millions of people in this deeply conservative nation.

The ruling said that treating relations between consenting adult homosexuals as a crime is a violation of basic human rights safeguarded under the Indian Constitution.

The court decision amending an 1860s-era British Empire statute ostensibly applies only to Delhi. But activists said that given the capital territory’s leadership position, they expect the ruling to influence courts across the country.

“I think this is quite fantastic,” said Anjali Gopalan, director of the Naz Foundation, an HIV/AIDS awareness group, one of the parties that submitted the lawsuit eight years ago. “It’s a big step forward, although there are many more steps ahead.”

Turns out it’s only six years ago that the United States did the same thing.

Fort Worth Gay Bar Raided on 40th Anniversary of Stonewall

Posted on by TL

From the Dallas Voice:

Between 150 and 200 people gathered on the steps of the Tarrant County Courthouse Sunday, June 28 — the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion — to protest a police raid on a Fort Worth gay bar, The Rainbow Lounge, at about 1 a.m. that day. Gay Fort Worth City Councilmember Joel Burns told the protesters he has called on Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead to conduct a thorough investigation into allegations of harassment and police brutality against bar patrons during the raid. One man remains hospitalized with a brain injury after, witnesses said, several officers threw him to the ground while arresting him.

Sources have said that seven people were arrested in the raid although witnesses at the scene said many more people were handcuffed with zip ties and taken out of the bar.

One man, identified by his sister as Chad Gibson, was in the intensive care unit at Fort Worth’s JPS Hospital with bleeding in his brain after officers threw him to the ground and used zip-ties to handcuff him.

The raid happened on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion.

Joel Burns, Fort Worth’s first and only openly gay City Council member, was in Houston for the weekend, but came back to Fort Worth in time for the rally at the courthouse.

“We want all citizens of Texas and Fort Worth to know and be assured that the laws of ordinances of our great state and city will be applied fairly, equally and without malice or selective enforcement,” Burns said at the rally, reading from a prepared statement.


“We consider this to be part of ‘The Fort Worth Way’ here. As elected representatives of the city of Fort Worth, we are calling for an immediate and thorough investigation of the actions of the city of Fort Worth police and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission in relation to the incident at the Rainbow Lounge earlier this morning,” Burns said.

In an e-mail communication before noon on Sunday, Burns said he had already talked with Fort Worth Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead who had promised an investigation into the matter. Burns also said at that time that Mayor Pro Tem Kathleen Hicks, who represents the district where the Rainbow Lounge is located, and City Manager Dale A. Fisseler were also already aware of the situation.

The suspicion is that “elements of the law enforcement community selectively targeted a recently opened gay and lesbian establishment for selective enforcement and harassment.”

Not much commentary at this point.  I’m just watching this one.

Pres. Obama to Extend Benefits to Same-Sex Partners of Federal Employees

Posted on by TL

Tip of the hat to  ABC News for this one:

ABC News has learned that tomorrow President Obama will sign a presidential memorandum extending benefits to the same-sex partners of gay and lesbian federal employees.

The move was long planned, sources say, though it comes at a time that gay and lesbian supporters of the president are expressing anger and disappointment at his inaction on rescinding Don’t Ask/Dont Tell, his opposition to same-sex marriage, and his support for the anti-same-sex-marriage Defense of Marriage Act in a legal brief that compared same-sex unions to incestuous ones.

More from the New York Times:

The decision is a political nod to a reliably Democratic voting bloc that in recent weeks has grown frustrated with the White House’s slow movement on their priorities.

Several powerful gay fundraisers withdrew their support from a June 25 Democratic National Committee event where Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak. Their exit came in response to a June 12 Justice Department brief that defended the Defense of Marriage Act, a prime target for gay and lesbian criticism. Justice lawyers argued that the law allowed states to reject marriages performed in other states or countries that defy their own standards.

And some more from the NYTimes:

John Berry, the highest-ranking gay official in the administration and the de facto human resources chief for the administration, told a gay rally last weekend that Obama planned to take action on benefits soon.

Berry, who heads the Office of Personnel and Management, has repeatedly told reporters that he expected the White House to turn to legislation to give domestic partners access to federal health and retirement plans.

But Obama so far has sent only one piece of legislation to the Hill — a pay-as-you-go measure that is part of his wooing of fiscally conservative Democrats.

Instead, Obama will use his signature instead of legislation to achieve the benefits parity sought by same-sex couples.

And a Happy Pride Month to some.

Now, about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Mr. President.

Really, though, this represents a huge step forward for civil rights.

New Hampshire Legislature Approves Gay Marriage

Posted on by TL

Momentum builds for human rights today as the New Hampshire legislature approves gay marriage today.  Not civil unions, but gay marriage.  One of the strongest arguments in favor of gay marriage came from the Republican side of the aisle.

From WTAE:

New Hampshire legislators approved a measure Wednesday that would make the state the sixth to allow gay marriage, and Gov. John Lynch said he would sign it later in the afternoon.

He had promised a veto if the law didn’t clearly spell out that churches and religious groups would not be forced to officiate at gay marriages or provide other services.

The Senate passed the measure Wednesday, and the House — where the outcome was more in doubt — followed later in the day. The House gallery erupted in cheers after the 198-176 vote.

“If you have no choice as to your sex, male or female; if you have no choice as to your color; if you have no choice as to your sexual orientation; then you have to be protected and given the same opportunity for life, liberty and happiness,” Rep. Anthony DiFruscia, R-Windham, said during the hourlong debate.

The qualifying language excluding churches and religious institutions was requested by the governor:

Lynch, a Democrat, personally opposes gay marriage but decided to view the issue “through a broader lens.”

Lynch said he would veto gay marriage if the law didn’t address churches and religious groups.

The revised bill added a sentence specifying that all religious organizations, associations or societies have exclusive control over their religious doctrines, policies, teachings and beliefs on marriage.

It also clarified that church-related organizations that serve charitable or educational purposes are exempt from having to provide insurance and other benefits to same sex spouses of employees. The earlier version said “charitable and educational” instead of “charitable or educational.”

The added language regarding churches is completely unnecessary.  The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution keeps the state out of religion:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The stats cannot compel any church to marry anyone at all.  If the added language makes the churches happier, then all the better.

But legal gay marriage is going to happen.

Illinois Civil Union Bill Moves to Third Reading

Posted on by TL

Senate Bill 1716 has moved to Third Reading, according to Illinois State Rep. Greg Harris.  The bill will establish Civil Unions in Illinois.  “Civil Union” means a legal relationship between 2 persons, of either the same or opposite sex, according to the bill.

According to the Illinois House Democrats web site, “Third reading” means the bill is read for a third and final time before the full chamber. After the sponsor explains the bill, members of the chamber can ask questions. When debate is completed, the chamber votes on the bill.

Turning Left will furnish updates as the bill continues to progress.