Author Archives: Lisa Keen

Speed Read: Tough ruling in Colorado

It wasn't unusual that a federal district court judge declared Colorado's marriage ban for same-sex couples unconstitutional, but he bucked the trend by presuming the U.S. Supreme Court would grant a stay of his decision. Two potential presidential candidates make

President signs historic executive order

President Obama this morning (July 21) signed a long-sought executive order prohibiting contractors who do business with the federal government from discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and adding to existing protection (which includes sexual orientation) for federal

Speed Read: No religious exemption

President Obama will sign an executive order tomorrow that prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT people but, importantly, it does not provide a new exemption to allow contractors to claim a religious-based need to discriminate.

Speed Read: All eyes on Supreme Court

Seven major LGBT groups have withdrawn their support for ENDA, amidst a raging debate over whether the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision is good or bad for the community and whether the LGBT community should accept a religious exemption to

Speed Read: A lot can happen in a week…

If this was a week you thought it was safe to take a vacation, you may have missed the big religious exemption ruling by the Supreme Court, a push for a religious exemption in President Obama's pending executive order, an

Legal activists call Hobby Lobby decision ‘radical’ and will require vigilance to protect LGBT equality

Some LGBT legal activists say today’s decision in a U.S. Supreme Court religious exemption case amounts to a “dangerous and radical departure from existing law that creates far more questions than it answers.”

Speed Read: White House celebration

The White House will host its annual Pride reception this afternoon. The Seventh Circuit federal appeals court issued a stay of a federal judge's ruling that Indiana's marriage ban is unconstitutional. And cases advance in Louisiana and Florida.

Speed Read: Utah heading to Supremes

Utah's attorney general says he'll go directly to the Supreme Court to challenge a federal appeals panel decision against the state's marriage ban for same-sex couples. Boulder --and now St.Louis-- have begun issuing marriage licenses. And the Supreme Court has

Speed Read: Appeals panel strikes ban

For the first time post-DOMA being struck down, a federal appeals court has ruled that a state marriage ban for same-sex couples is unconstitutional but stayed the decision, pending appeal. A federal district court judge in Indiana declared that state's

First federal appeals court panel weighs in; finds Utah’s ban unconstitutional

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a 2 to 1 decision Wednesday, upholding a district court decision that Utah’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples is unconstitutional.