Category Archives: A closer look

Key mid-term race to watch is the Kentucky senate, where prospects for ENDA could hinge on McConnell

Most of the pundits are saying Republicans will take over the U.S. Senate and keep the House in the November 4 elections. If they’re right –and there is some room for doubt—the Employment Non-Discrimination Act will likely have to undergo

Supreme Court: Which case makes the best case for marriage equality?

The U.S. Supreme Court could announce as early as Tuesday (September 30) which marriage equality case –or cases— it will accept for review this session. But, while the Court has seven marriage equality cases to choose from during its private

Sixth Circuit GOP judges: Why not let the voters decide who gets to marry?

The three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seemed to signal pretty clearly where they’re headed on the six marriage equality lawsuits they heard arguments in Wednesday: toward the first federal appeals ruling to undo lower court

June 26: An historic date marking victories that almost didn’t happen

Three important U.S. Supreme Court decisions have made June 26 the most historic date on the LGBT civil rights movement’s calendar. But the powerful impact of two of those decisions has almost obscured the fact that they were narrow victories.

Supreme Court: Another June of ‘major moments’ pending

June is the final month of the U.S. Supreme Court’s current session and, while anticipation is not nearly so great this year for the LGBT community as it was last year, there is some concern in the air. This year,

Houston: Celebrating new law and bracing for the next battle

In a battle she characterized as “very personal” and “about me,” Annise Parker, the openly gay mayor of the fourth most populous city in the United States, won a victory last Thursday. She convinced the Houston City Council to establish

Two edges of the same sword: Lessons from the Becker Book, Part 2

New York Times reporter Jo Becker's book paints an angry confrontation in May 2009 between the board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights and and four key LGBT civil rights legal activists when AFER unveiled its plans for a

Driving Rosa Parks: Lessons from the Becker Book, Part 1

Now that the great public gnashing of teeth has subsided over New York Times reporter Jo Becker’s history of the Proposition 8 litigation, Forcing the Spring, it appears the idea of dubbing Chad Griffin as the Rosa Parks of the

Utah marriage cases cued up before the Tenth Circuit today, and next week

The Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today will become the second federal appeals court to tackle the question of whether statewide laws banning same-sex couples from marrying violate the U.S. Constitution. A three-judge panel will scrutinize the decision last

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