SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: ‘S.F. GAY MARRIED COUPLE LOSES IMMIGRATION BATTLE’
Aug 09th, 2011 11:07 AM By AdminAccording to The San Francisco Chronicle:
“Citing the Defense of Marriage Act, the Obama administration denied immigration benefits to a married gay couple from San Francisco and ordered the expulsion of a man who is the primary caregiver to his AIDS-afflicted spouse.
“Bradford Wells, a U.S. citizen, and Anthony John Makk, a citizen of Australia, were married seven years ago in Massachusetts. They have lived together 19 years, mostly in an apartment in the Castro district. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied Makk’s application to be considered for permanent residency as a spouse of an American citizen, citing the 1996 law that denies all federal benefits to same-sex couples.
“The decision was issued July 26. Immigration Equality, a gay-rights group that is working with the couple, received the notice Friday and made it public Monday. Makk was ordered to depart the United States by Aug. 25. Makk is the sole caregiver for Wells, who has severe health problems.
“‘I’m married just like any other married person in this country,’ Wells said. ‘At this point, the government can come in and take my husband and deport him. It’s infuriating. It’s upsetting. I have no power, no right to keep my husband in this country. I love this country, I live here, I pay taxes and I have no right to share my home with the person I married.’”
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THE BEN COHEN STANDUP FOUNDATION LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE
Aug 04th, 2011 03:21 PM By Admin
Congratulations to our friends at The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation on launching their new website today.
The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation is the world’s first foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the long-term, damaging effects of bullying, and funding those doing real-world work to stop it. They stand up against bullying regardless of to whom it happens. Because lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are often targeted by bullies, they give particular attention to this community. They include removing homophobia from sports as central to our mission.
Ben Cohen, MBE, is an England Rugby World Cup champion, and among the world’s greatest athletes. He ranks second in all-time scoring for England, and first among straight professional athletes to focus his philanthropic efforts for the benefit of the LGBT community.
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- Check out The StandUp Foundation’s new website
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LAST GAY CONCENTRATION CAMP SURVIVOR PASSES AWAY
Aug 04th, 2011 03:12 PM By AdminAccording to The Washington Post:
“Rudolf Brazda, believed to be the last surviving person who was sent to a Nazi concentration camp because of his homosexuality, has died, a German gay rights group said Thursday. He was 98.
“The Berlin branch of the Lesbian and Gay Association, or LSVD, said that Brazda died on Wednesday. It didn’t give details of the location or cause of death.
“Brazda was sent to the Nazis’ Buchenwald concentration camp in August 1942 and held there until its liberation by U.S. forces in 1945.
“Nazi Germany declared homosexuality an aberration that threatened the German race, and convicted some 50,000 homosexuals as criminals. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 gay men were deported to concentration camps, where few survived.
“When a memorial to the Nazis’ gay victims was unveiled in Berlin in 2008, the LSVD said the last ex-prisoner that it knew of had died three years earlier. But the group said it was then contacted by Brazda, who visited the memorial at its invitation and became an honorary member.
“Brazda was born in 1913. He grew up in the eastern German town of Meuselwitz and repeatedly ran into trouble with Nazi authorities over his homosexuality before being sent to Buchenwald.
“Brazda lived in the Alsace region of eastern France after World War II. Earlier this year, he was named a knight in the country’s Legion of Honor.”
HRC: HOUSE LAWYERS EXPLAIN WHY DISCRIMINATION AGAINST GAYS AND LESBIANS IS OKAY
Aug 03rd, 2011 02:23 PM By AdminThe following is the Human Rights Campaign’s blog HRC Backstory:
On Monday, lawyers for the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) filed their latest arguments using your taxpayer dollars to defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court, in Windsor v. United States. As you’ll recall, in that case, Edie Windsor is challenging the hefty tax penalty she faces as she inherits her late wife’s estate because of DOMA, a penalty that would not apply if her spouse had been a man.
For the first time, BLAG lawyers have put pen to paper to explain why laws that discriminate against gays and lesbians should not be subject to a more thorough review – better known as “heightened scrutiny” – by the courts. When deciding whether to apply heightened scrutiny, courts typically consider two factors: (1) whether there is a history of discrimination based on the characteristic and (2) whether the characteristic is relevant to one’s ability to participate in or contribute to society. They sometimes also consider (3) whether the characteristic is immutable and (4) whether the group is particularly vulnerable politically. The BLAG’s brief addresses all these factors, making statements that are simultaneously homophobic and unconvincing.
The brief touches very lightly on the first two factors, the ones that courts consistently weigh, arguing instead that all four factors are must be taken into account. Citing an LGBT historian, the BLAG lawyers claim that there is no substantial history of discrimination against gays and lesbians, as “a consequence of the fact that homosexuality – as a distinct category or class – was not even recognized in the United States until the late nineteenth century.” Apparently, in their minds, because it took so long for a courageous few to begin identifying themselves as gay or lesbian –in the face of the overwhelming risk of losing employment, having custody of children torn away, being ostracized from friends and family, and even becoming a victim of hate violence or spending years in prison— there is insufficient history of discrimination to support heightened scrutiny. They go on to contend that “how quickly things are changing” for gays and lesbians should also count against us. And on the second factor, the BLAG lawyers simply skirt the tough question of whether sexual orientation bears any relation to ability to perform or contribute to society. Despite it being a core factor in the heightened scrutiny analysis, in three short paragraphs their brief contends that it is “hardly the sum total” and simply reiterates their belief that Congress had good reasons to enact DOMA.
Most of their brief is spent, instead, trying to convince the court that sexual orientation is not immutable and that gays and lesbians have inordinate political power. First, the BLAG lawyers argue that, because there is some variation in the ways terms like “gay,” “lesbian” and “homosexual” are defined and understood, they “are amorphous and do not adequately describe a particular class.” In addition, their brief questions immutability because sexual orientation is not clear at birth (citing an expert who stated, “[L]ooking at a newborn, I would not be able to tell you what that child’s sexual orientation is going to be”) and because some experts have observed that some people’s sexuality is more fluid than others. Notably, the brief ignores both the broad body of scientific evidence, professional opinion and popular belief that gays and lesbians cannot change who they are and the so-called “evidence” put forward by anti-equality forces that reparative therapy can change sexual orientation.
But more than a third of the entire brief is spent dwelling on one point – that gays and lesbians are not politically powerless. The BLAG lawyers catalogue recent advances, like the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and marriage equality in New York, as evidence that our community has “wielded considerable power” in the political arena and elsewhere. They cite the work of HRC, the Victory Fund and other groups as proof positive that “gays and lesbians have achieved and continue to achieve substantial political success.” They brush aside the fact that in state after state, laws and constitutional amendments have been adopted that deny the dignity and equality of our families, and that gays and lesbians do not enjoy even basic protections against employment discrimination in twenty-nine states. While our recent progress in undeniable, the difficulties facing LGBT families across the country remain enormous. What makes this argument even more shockingly callous is that political powerlessness is not a necessary factor in the heightened scrutiny analysis. The Supreme Court adopted heightened scrutiny for discrimination based on gender in 1971, more than half a century after women won the right to vote and several years after they were included in the Civil Rights Act’s employment protections. And in a more recent case about race and heightened scrutiny, in 1995 the Court concluded that a federal program that favored minority-owned businesses should be reviewed under strict scrutiny, even though that race-based classification disadvantaged a clearly politically powerful majority.
I have no doubt that Edie Windsor and the ACLU team representing her will take these ridiculous arguments apart. And I hope that the BLAG lawyers are right about one thing – that our society has changed enough for gays and lesbians that Judge Francis will not allow a law based in animus toward us to stand.
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TWO TEENAGERS CHARGED IN DENVER ANTI-GAY HATE CRIME
Aug 03rd, 2011 10:27 AM By AdminThe following is an excerpt from a story by ABC 7 News in Denver, CO:
“Two teenagers in Arvada have been charged with bias-motivated assault, accused of yelling gay slurs at a man before beating him up.
“Joseph Murphy, 18, and Zachary Kocman, 19, are each charged with one felony count of bias-motivated crime and one misdemeanor count of third-degree assault.
“The attack occurred on July 18, at about 2:30 p.m., according the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
“The 25-year-old victim and a friend were walking in the area of 52nd Avenue and Federal Boulevard when the two suspects drove up to them yelling ’sexual orientation slurs,’ the district attorney’s office said.
“The suspects then got out of their car and chased the victim for several blocks before physically assaulting him, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.”
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“DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” REPEAL CERTIFIED, POLICY TO END IN 60 DAYS!
Jul 22nd, 2011 04:21 PM By AdminToday, President Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen certified the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The policy will end in 60 days, on September 20, 2011!
The following is a statement from President Obama:
Today, we have taken the final major step toward ending the discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law that undermines our military readiness and violates American principles of fairness and equality. In accordance with the legislation that I signed into law last December, I have certified and notified Congress that the requirements for repeal have been met. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will end, once and for all, in 60 days—on September 20, 2011.
As Commander in Chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness. Today’s action follows extensive training of our military personnel and certification by Secretary Panetta and Admiral Mullen that our military is ready for repeal. As of September 20th, service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country. Our military will no longer be deprived of the talents and skills of patriotic Americans just because they happen to be gay or lesbian.
I want to commend our civilian and military leadership for moving forward in the careful and deliberate manner that this change requires, especially with our nation at war. I want to thank all our men and women in uniform, including those who are gay or lesbian, for their professionalism and patriotism during this transition. Every American can be proud that our extraordinary troops and their families, like earlier generations that have adapted to other changes, will only grow stronger and remain the best fighting force in the world and a reflection of the values of justice and equality that the define us as Americans.
The following is a picture of the official certification:
WANDA SYKES’ FUNNY TAKE ON COMING OUT
Jul 21st, 2011 11:50 AM By AdminGET INFORMED, GET INVOLVED
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HRC: HEALTHCARE EQUALITY INDEX 2011
Jun 30th, 2011 04:59 PM By AdminThe following is an excerpt from HRC’s Back Story Blog:
The Healthcare Equality Index 2011 was released today by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Family Project. The report details the results of [their] most recent HEI survey, rating how equitably healthcare facilities treat their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients and employees. The survey focuses on four main policy areas: patient non-discrimination, visitation, cultural competency training and employment non-discrimination.
…So, why the HEI? We know that the fear of discrimination causes many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to avoid seeking care and, when they do get treatment, studies have shown that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are often not treated with the respect that all patients deserve. For five years now, to help end this discrimination, the HEI has served as an organizational assessment tool, assisting healthcare administrators in making their policies more explicitly welcoming of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients and their families. The HEI also provides useful resources to hospitals working to comply with accreditation standards and new HHS regulations.
As the HEI continues to grow year after year, the message from our healthcare industry contacts is clear – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion is key to providing high quality healthcare to all.
…And if anyone asks you what is meant by “healthcare equality” you can tell them that, first and foremost, it’s about quality care for all.
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IMMIGRATION EQUALITY: SIGN THEIR PETITION TO KEEP BI-NATIONAL GAY COUPLES TOGETHER
Jun 28th, 2011 04:28 PM By AdminJoin our friends at Immigration Equality urge President Obama to stop separating loving bi-national gay couples by signing their petition.
Frances and Takako first met in 1980. In 2000, they held a commitment ceremony with their family and friends. And earlier this year, they legally married in Vermont.
Despite all of that – and because of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) – they are still facing imminent separation very soon.
Takako, who has been in the U.S. legally on a student visa, is scheduled to go out of status on July 4th. She and Frances turned to Immigration Equality’s legal team for help, and they are in the process of fighting their separation.
Frances and Takako are an amazing couple. And their story underscores why marriage equality at the state level – while a significant step forward, and a wonderful sign of progress – isn’t enough for gay and transgender couples. Until DOMA falls, or immigration laws are amended, couples like them continue to face separation every day.
Immigration Equality has launched a petition on Frances and Takako’s behalf. They are asking everyone to stand with this amazing couple and send a strong message – directly to President Obama – that he must stop deporting gay and transgender spouses and place a moratorium on those deportations until the courts, or Congress, have settled DOMA’s fate.
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VIDEO: NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO’S SPEECH ABOUT PASSAGE OF MARRIAGE EQUALITY
Jun 25th, 2011 02:14 PM By AdminThe following is a video of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s speech last night about the passage of marriage equality in the Empire State. The governor is the finest example of true leadership!
