Category Archives: A closer look

Problems linger over religious exemptions to flagship civil rights legislation

This is a bad year gone worse for ENDA – the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Even though it might pass the Democratic-controlled Senate, the bill will have no realistic chance of passing the Republican-controlled House. Now, on the same day ENDA

Senate committee prepares to square off over LGBT immigration status

In front of an unusually combative U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, former Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe urged members on Monday (April 22) to “fix” the current immigration reform bill by adding language to help LGBT citizens with foreign partners or

Kennedy’s questions: Clouds linger over standing in DOMA and Prop 8

Now that legal activists and experts have had a chance to go back over the U.S. Supreme Court arguments in last week’s two big marriage equality cases, most are predicting victories but only incremental ones.

Marriage cases preview, Part 4: Court day guide to the arguments

Part 4: Courtside guide. The avid reader’s guide to who and what to watch for at the Supreme Court on marriage argument days. The following is the last in a four-part series to prepare readers for what to expect March 26

Marriage cases preview, Part 3: Weighing the friendly advice

When the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to tackle a major legal controversy, such as next week’s marriage equality cases, it typically invites advice from groups and legal experts. These people are not a party to the litigation itself but have

Marriage cases preview, Part 2: The presidential punch

How strong a position did the Obama administration take in its briefs on the Supreme Court marriage cases—and can it make a difference? The following is the second in a four-part series to prepare readers for what to expect March

Marriage cases preview, Part 1: Standing in the way

It is hard to overstate the potential impact of the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court cases concerning marriage for same-sex couples. The primary questions posed by the two cases—Hollingsworth v. Perry involving Proposition 8 and U.S. v. Windsor involving the Defense

Cliff hanging: LGBT and HIV centers brace for a domino effect

When Thelma and Louise drove off the cliff, the only people who got hurt were Thelma and Louise. But when Congress drives off the fiscal cliff, everybody’s going to feel the pain—especially those who depend on government-funded programs and organizations

Massive survey finds twists in the urban assumptions about LGBT people

There’s a kind of urban myth that most LGBT people live in large urban areas on the west coast and the northeast region of the country and that they’re mostly gay, male, young, and white. But a new study out

LGBT support for Hagel remains split, but OutServe-SLDN is ‘comfortable’ with nominee

The LGBT community’s position on Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary remains quietly split as Hagel approaches his first key Senate vote, perhaps as early as Thursday, February 6. No LGBT organization, not even the Human Rights Campaign or OutServe-SLDN, has met