Author Archives: Lisa Keen

Speed Read: Voluntary appeal

Tennessee’s attorney general on Tuesday asked a federal judge in Nashville to stay enforcement of her injunction to require the state to recognize the marriages of three same-sex couples, and is appealing the order to the federal appeals court. A

Speed Read: ‘Revenge for my views’

President Obama’s second executive order calling for sanctions against the Russian government over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula identifies Yelena Mizulina, author of the anti-gay laws, as one of seven individual Russian leaders for specific sanctions. New Hampshire is

Lambda and others weigh in on ‘religious employers’ at Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear two cases next week that test the degree to which employers may use their personal religious beliefs to deny certain health coverage for employees. Neither case involves any LGBT-related health coverage; but the decisions

Speed Read: Crowd cheers rainbows

The crowd at Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade Sunday cheered a group of gay men who walked behind a "diversity" float, tossing rainbow-colored beads to observers. Sam Adams beer makers and Heineken withdrew their sponsorship of the parades for excluding

Tennesse judge’s ruling orders state to recognize marriages of three couples

In an important but narrow ruling, a U.S. district court judge in Nashville issued a preliminary injunction late Friday afternoon, barring the state of Tennessee from denying recognition of marriage licenses obtained by three same-sex couples in other states.

Speed Read: 55 years together

Lawsuits challenging bans on same-sex couples marrying have been filed in three mores states: Arizona, Indiana, and Florida. And Uganda says the U.S. has suspended a significant amount of its AIDS funding over the U.S.'s displeasure with Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act.

Speed Read: Lesbian on the front lines

The Mississippi House appeared to come up short of support Wednesday for a bill to allow religious bias; the House replaced its bill with one to set up a committee to study religious freedom in the state. Lesbian union leader

Dramatic turn of events as Mississippi House vote on religious bill

The Mississippi House vote 80 to 37 Wednesday evening to approve a dramatically altered “religious freedom” bill that simply calls for a joint House-Senate Judiciary committee to prepare a report “regarding proposed legislation that protects the religious freedoms of the

Speed Read: Mississippi maybe

Attorneys for the National Organization for Marriage will depose gay activist Fred Karger today in a lawsuit in which NOM accuses the Internal Revenue Service of unlawful disclosure of confidential tax information to the Human Rights Campaign. The ACLU of

How this year’s ‘religious freedom’ bills expand the clash with non-discrimination laws

The Mississippi House is expected to vote today (March 12) on a bill aimed at allowing a person to discriminate against others by asserting he or she has a religious motivation for doing so. The bill is the latest sign