Author Archives: Lisa Keen

White House names openly gay fundraiser as first male Social Secretary

The White House last Friday (February 25) announced the naming of an openly gay man to assume the position as President Obama’s Social Secretary. Jeremy Bernard, a senior adviser to the U.S. ambassador to France at the embassy in Paris, will

ENDA: Lost, pending, or obsolete?

Did Democrats squander an opportunity to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) last year? Should they even bother to re-introduce the bill this year? And does a bill like ENDA, focused only on workplace discrimination, still make sense?

Obama DOJ says DOMA is unconstitutional

The Obama administration made a blockbuster announcement Wednesday, saying it has concluded that one part of the Defense of Marriage Act will not be able to pass constitutional muster in the 2nd Circuit and that DOJ would not defend that

Olson-Boies ask 9th Circuit to lift stay on lower court ruling

Ted Olson, lead attorney for the lawsuit challenging California’s same-sex marriage ban, announced Wednesday that he is asking the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to lift a stay on a district court ruling that found Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

HHS rescinds Bush era reg that gave doctors a broad religious excuse to to refuse care

The Dept. of Health and Human Services said it "strongly supports" regulations which protect the rights of health care providers from being "compelled to perform or assist in an abortion." But what it did not say was of greater interest

House plays “chicken” with budget votes; seeks huge cuts in current year

The U.S. House of Representatives over the weekend passed a $1.2 trillion budget for the current Fiscal Year (FY 2011), one that includes significant cuts likely to impact the LGBT community and “massive” cuts to programs for people with HIV.

California high court will weigh in on Yes on 8 standing issue

The road to marriage equality in California just got a little longer. The California Supreme Court said today it would make ruling on whether Yes on 8 proponents have authority, under California law, to appeal a federal court ruling that

FY 2012 budget: ‘Could have been worse’…and might be still

There was relatively little for the LGBT and HIV communities to complain about in the proposed Fiscal Year 2012 budget released by President Obama Monday. And given the president’s proposed five-year freeze in non-essential domestic spending, there were some sighs

Bill seeks to block gender neutral language on fed documents

A Congressman from Virginia introduced a bill last week that seeks to require all government documents describing parents to identify the parents as either "mother" or "father."

A second big relationship case in 9th Circuit Monday

So much attention has been paid to the landmark challenge to California’s ban on same-sex marriage that another very important case regarding gay couples has gone almost unnoticed. And this latter case will be heard before the 9th Circuit U.S.