After pleas from the 57-nation Muslim bloc, the Vatican, and many African nations, the New York-based United Nations (UN) budget committee passed a resolution Friday asking UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to reconsider his decision to offer benefits to the same-sex partners of UN employees whose home countries would recognize such partnerships, reports AFP. The U.S. delegation said Annan's order was 'divisive' and asked that he reconsider.
Lambda Legal is asking Prudential Financial to reconsider a denial of benefits to a the wife of a retired employee, according to Lambda. Prudential does offer benefits to domestic partners of employees, but only offers benefits to the partners of retirees who retired after 2000. Laurel Awishus married Kathy Adelsheim, her partner of 20 years in Canada and asked Prudential to provide benefits for Adelsheim, even though Awishus had retired before the cutoff date. Prudential declined, citing IRS regulations.
On the marriage front in Massachusetts, a referendum will likely be available for voters in a couple years to decide whether the state will ban same-sex marriages by way of the state constitution, reports the Globe. Gov. Mitt Romney was able to move 15 Republican representatives from their seemingly immovable positions to vote for the amendment that would ban gay marriage but allow civil unions. The shift allowed for a five-vote win for the amendment. State Rep. Paul K. Frost told the Globe, '[S]omething was better than nothing.' But nothing is what they may still get. State Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly says he will not ask the Supreme Judicial Court to stay its decision to impose marriage on May 17, so residents from at least 12 states will be able to marry in Massachusetts in just over a month. [State law does not allow people to marry if their home states will not recognize the marriage.]
Meanwhile, Georgia lawmakers approved a bill last week that would place a referendum on the ballot in November that would ban same-sex marriages by way of their state constitution as well, according to the New York Times. The measure passed by just two votes and creates what some say will be another divisive issue in a presidential election year.
Rhode Island's House majority leader Gordon Fox spoke at a gay marriage rally, reports the Providence Journal. But the second-highest ranking official in the state house revealed to supporters that he is gay and has a partner of six years. The news reportedly was not planned or discussed even with his partner. Fox made a comparison between gay marriage and the interracial marriage of his parents.
After the government agency charged with protecting federal workers from discrimination removed references to protections for gay and lesbian employees, the White House says they support protections for gay and lesbian federal employees, reports AP. 'The president believes that no federal employee should be subject to unlawful discrimination,' White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. 'That's long-standing federal policy that prevents discrimination based on sexual orientation.'
The Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) unanimously elected the Chairs, Vice Chairs, and Party Leader and Elected and Official (PLEO) members of the 2004 Democratic National Convention Standing Committees. Those elected included five openly gay and lesbian Democrats, the largest number of GLBT Americans ever nominated and elected by the DNC to serve on the three committees.
The House of Representatives last week approved by vote of 343-81 legislation that would strengthen the ability of military recruiters to violate university non-discrimination policies. 'Schools should never be forced to allow discrimination,' said HRC President Cheryl Jacques. 'There's no need for legislation that requires discrimination.' An existing law known as the Solomon Amendment already requires universities to give the military the ability to recruit and interview students without signing a sexual orientation-inclusive non-discrimination policy, even if the schools require such policies from other prospective employers. Although many universities grant military recruiters access to students, the legislation would require universities to certify such access or risk losing all federal funding.
The U.S. Department of Justice cannot join the Boy Scouts in opposing the ACLU's challenge to the constitutionality of subsidized leases for the San Diego Boy Scouts as a result of a ruling issued March 16 by federal district court judge Napoleon Jones.
Saying that lesbian and gay patients have a right to equal access to medical care and must be allowed to seek justice when they face discrimination, Lambda Legal urged a California State Court to reject a medical group's 'desperate' attempt to block important claims in a case filed by a lesbian who was denied fertility services. Guadalupe 'Lupita' Benitez was denied fertility treatment by her Southern California healthcare providers because she is a lesbian. Her discrimination lawsuit was thrown out of state court two years ago, but Benitez won an appeal last year which said patients can sue healthcare providers who discriminate against them based on their sexual orientation, and federal law does not exempt healthcare providers from state civil-rights laws.
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously voted to oppose constitutional amendments aimed at banning same-sex marriage, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Catholic opponents of gay marriage led by San Francisco's archbishop held a prayer march Saturday, criticizing city officials who have licensed thousands of same-sex weddings and calling for a federal amendment to ban the unions, AP reported.
The New Mexico Supreme Court last week denied a request from the Attorney General for a permanent injunction blocking the Sandoval County clerk from issuing any more same sex marriage licenses, reports 365Gay.com . But a temporary restraining order remains in effect.
Bruce Crawley resigned as board chairman and board member of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau last week after he made homophobic comments in the Philadelphia Daily News. Mayor John Street named Michael P. Williams to lead the Minority Business Enterprise Council. Crawley refused to interview Williams because he is openly gay. 'It is ironic that Mr. Crawley, an African American, would discriminate against another African American because he is not straight. Furthermore, to disqualify a job candidate simply on the basis of sexual orientation is against city law,' said Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington filed a lawsuit April 1 against the State of Washington challenging the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples. The suit was filed in Thurston County Superior Court on behalf of 11 couples from across the state who wish to marry in Washington or to have their marriage recognized under Washington law. Plaintiffs include a police officer, a firefighter, a banker, a nurse, a retired judge, a college professor, a business executive, and others. They reside from Seattle to Spokane and from Friday Harbor to Hoquiam.
A unanimous resolution in support of civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples has been passed recently by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA). The resolution, which supports legislation and legal action to secure these marriages, was made at the RRA's annual convention in Deerfield Beach, Fla. Rabbi Weiner-Kaplow, spiritual leader of Northbrook, Illinois' Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Synagogue, which serves more than 20 communities in the north and northwest Chicago suburbs, said, 'Gay and lesbian couples who want to form caring, nurturing and supportive households should absolutely have the right to marry and enjoy all the privileges that our society offers to loving married adults.'
David Tseng, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, is leaving the organization, effective June 1, to pursue other professional opportunities. He headed up the D.C.-based offices for two years.
Patricia Ireland has become Senior Advisor to the Equality Campaign, a grassroots activist organization and DontAmend.com, a national advocacy network devoted to stopping anti-gay constitutional amendments.
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