Author Archives: Lisa Keen

Virginia attorney general won’t defend marriage ban in court

The attorney general of Virginia announced this morning that his office will no longer defend the constitutionality of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Speed Read: Lesbian Assembly Speaker

San Diego’s Democratic Assemblymember Toni Atkins won election Wednesday as California’s new Speaker of the Assembly. Openly gay Republican Richard Tisei announces today his second bid for a U.S. House seat from Massachusetts. The Indiana constitutional ban on same-sex marriage

Speed Read: Hell freezes over

President Obama and Russian President Putin talked Tuesday about the Olympic Games but apparently nothing about concerns for LGBT civil rights supporters visiting the country. Indiana's House Speaker took the highly unusual tact of moving an ant-gay bill to another

Putin’s remarks continue to fan controversy over anti-LGBT law

President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone Tuesday on a number of issues facing both nations, including the threats being made on the upcoming Olympic Games in Sochi. But they didn't talk about --at least not according

Speed Read: Continents of difference

Ugandan president ponders what to do with "abnormal" people. Russian president implores gays to "leave children" alone. U.S. president promises no collection of intelligence targets based on sexual orientation. And more...

Prisoner with GID has right to accepted medical treatment, says fed appeals court

A federal appeals court Friday affirmed a district judge’s order that a state prison violated the constitutional rights of a prisoner with severe gender disorder when it refused to provide sex reassignment surgery.

Speed Read: Nightmare in Nigeria

Authorities in Nigeria are using aggressive tactics to identify and punish gays, and the Human Rights Campaign has urged the State Department to use every tool it can to intervene. President Obama named an African American lesbian to a federal

Speed Read: ‘One stroke of his pen’

When President Obama promised to start using his authority to sign executive orders to get things done in Washington, NGLTF Executive Director Rea Carey reminded him that the LGBT community has been pleading for an executive order to ban discrimination

Speed Read: Another one bites the dust

Another ban bites the dust: a federal judge in Oklahoma says the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. But he delays implementation of his decision until the Tenth Circuit can address appeals. A Virginia senate committee tables an attempt

Oklahoma ban ‘insulting’ to same-sex couples, says federal judge

In yet another stunning victory for marriage equality, a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled Tuesday that the state’s ban on same-sex couples obtaining marriage licenses is unconstitutional.