Author Archives: Lisa Keen

All arguments now in on Prop 8 appeal; challengers expect decision could come quickly

There was some drama in the courtroom as attorneys litigating Proposition 8 in a San Francisco federal appeals court Thursday took their last swings. The normally staid somewhat flustered

Cautionary notes on LGBT foreign initiative

Republican presidential long-shot Rick Perry was one of the first to criticize the Obama administration’s newly announced initiative to push for the human rights of LGBT people around the world. But there were some cautionary notes from the LGBT international

Obama adviser meets Gaga re new project

Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Obama, met Tuesday, December 6, with pop icon Lady Gaga to discuss Gaga’s new Born This Way Foundation.

Finances at ‘turning point’ for groups

How well the LGBT groups are doing financially may well depend on whether one sees a glass as “half empty” or “half full,” but a new report, released Tuesday (December 6) by an independent think tank, certainly provides some facts

Obama steps up global push on LGBT rights

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today (Tuesday, December 6) called on the governments of all nations to ensure that their LGBT citizens are treated with respect and dignity. In doing so, she also announced that President Obama was

One advocate for “protecting marriage” departs

It was one week after Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain told The Hill newspaper, “I think marriage should be protected at the federal level," that allegations began emerging to suggest Cain himself had not been protecting marriage at the personal

Senate includes watered-down amendment

The U.S. Senate passed a defense spending bill on Thursday (December 1) with only a much watered-down amendment seeking to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act against same-sex marriages.

Frank: Leaving the arena but not the fight

Something changed for U.S. Rep. Barney Frank between February and November of this year. In February, he announced he would seek re-election in 2012, to a 17th term in office. And on Monday, November 28, he announced this current term

Gingrich would cut funding over adoption issue

Newt Gingrich, the current Republican presidential frontrunner, used a right-wing Christian forum Saturday afternoon to claim “the left” is trying to “drive out the existence of traditional religions…and use the government to repress the American people against their own values.”

California court says Prop 8 proponents have standing in fed court

In what amounts to a bump in the road for opponents of Proposition 8, a unanimous California Supreme Court told a federal appeals court November 17 that California law “authorizes” the proponents of the initiative to defend it in federal