Gay rights

November 5, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez today stated that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is a “top legislative priority” of the Obama Administration. The remark came during a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing focused on the legislation.

Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, the chief Senate co-sponsor of ENDA, applauded the comment as a major endorsement of the Senate’s efforts to pass a fully inclusive version of the bill.    » read more »

November 5, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC- At a hearing today of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) urged passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Senator Casey is a cosponsor of ENDA.

Senator Casey released the following statement:

“It is long past time to require employers in the private sector to respect the rights and dignities of their employees and to provide employees with remedies in federal courts when they are the victims of egregious and insidious discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.    » read more »

Calls For Workplace Anti-Discrimination Law

October 29, 2009 -- Washington, DC -- Today, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Executive Vice President Mary Kay Henry praised President Obama for his signing into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and called for greater protections for LGBT workers.

"There's a motto we have in the labor movement: 'An Injury to One is An Injury to All,'" said Henry. "For Congress to pass, and the President to sign into law, the first explicit protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the nation's history, is an incredibly important first step in ending the decades of violence and discrimination suffered by the LGBT community.    » read more »

Momentum Builds for Repeal as the Military Readiness Enhancement Act Secures 180th Cosponsorship

15 October 2009 -- (Washington, DC)- Today, Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA, 8th District) and Congressman Tim Walz (D-MN, 1st District) announced the 180th cosponsorship of H.R. 1283, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act.    » read more »

Legislation to overturn the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) Progresses

October 13, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on the heels of the National Equality March in Washington, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) celebrated the 101th co-sponsor of their bill, the Respect for Marriage Act. This landmark legislation would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 law which discriminates against lawfully married same-sex couples.    » read more »

Washington, DC - 10/09/2009 - A new report based on a recent national survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that a clear majority of Americans favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into legal agreements with each other that would give them many of the same rights as married couples, a status commonly known as civil unions.

This finding marks a slight uptick in support for civil unions and appears to continue a significant long-term trend since the question was first asked in Pew Research Center surveys in 2003, when support for civil unions stood at 45%.    » read more »

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act will help protect Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, religion or national origin, in the event of violent hate attacks

October 8, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), a conferee on H. R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2010, cheered the passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was included in the Defense bill, while registering his strong reservations on the military commissions provision also included.    » read more »

October 8, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – The US House of Representatives today voted in favor of legislation containing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which extends the definition of violent hate crimes to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

The original bill, H.R. 1913, passed the House on April 29th of this year, mostly along partisan lines. The Senate attached its version of the Hate Crimes Bill to the Defense Authorization Act of 2010 (H.R. 2467), and after the bill passed the Senate, the language was maintained by the House/Senate Conference Committee. Today, the Defense Authorization Act conference report passed on a vote that broke largely on partisan lines, 281 to 146.    » read more »

DeGette Applauds House for Extending Hate Crimes Protections

8 October 2009 -- WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) today joined her colleagues in passing the National Defense Authorization Act of 2009, which includes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, on a vote of 281 to 146.    » read more »

October 7, 2009 -- (Washington, DC) -- Today, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-Miramar) sent the following letter to Defense Secretary Gates urging him to work together with President Obama and Congress to establish a timeline within which to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and replace it with a policy of inclusion and non-discrimination. Congressman Hastings’ latest letter regarding Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell comes just days after National Security Adviser GEN Jim Jones announced that President Obama will take on the issue at the “appropriate time.”    » read more »

Support Of The Lieberman-Baldwin Benefits Legislation

June 17, 2009 -- In 2007, Michael Guest, the first openly gay Ambassador confirmed by the United States Senate, resigned from the Foreign Service. He loved his career, but he had to leave it in the end -- because he believed that the country he served was failing to implement the principles of equality it espoused abroad.

His partner was ineligible for training provided to Ambassadorial spouses; he bore the costs of his partner's transportation to his placements abroad; and his partner did not receive the overseas benefits and allowances given to spouses of Ambassadors.    » read more »

June 17, 2009 -- In an Oval Office event later today, President Barack Obama will sign a Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination. The Memorandum follows a review by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Secretary of State regarding what benefits may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees in the civil service and the foreign service within the confines of existing federal laws and statutes.    » read more »

June 17, 2009 -- "I am pleased that today President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination that will extend a number of benefits to same-sex partners that are afforded to spouses of Federal employees. I applaud the President for this effort to promote fairness in the workplace. It is a step in the right direction towards equalizing benefit coverage for all Federal employees.    » read more »

June 17, 2009 -- OLYMPIA – Washington Governor Chris Gregoire released the following statement today on President Obama’s decision to extend some federal benefits to domestic partners of federal employees:

“I commend President Obama for recognizing the need to respect and protect all families. Our state has been a leader in advancing basic rights to registered domestic partners and we continue to pass legislation to offer additional protections to gay and lesbian families.

"This past legislative session, I signed a bill to expand all of the rights and responsibilities afforded to married couples to registered domestic partners. This legislation assures better financial security and ensures equal treatment for gay and lesbian families living in Washington state.    » read more »

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State -- Washington, DC, June 1, 2009 -- "Forty years ago this month, the gay rights movement began with the Stonewall riots in New York City, as gays and lesbians demanded an end to the persecution they had long endured. Now, after decades of hard work, the fight has grown into a global movement to achieve a world in which all people live free from violence and fear, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In honor of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month and on behalf of the State Department, I extend our appreciation to the global LGBT community for its courage and determination during the past 40 years, and I offer our support for the significant work that still lies ahead.    » read more »