Category Archives: Issues
New HHS final rule: a wolf in sheep’s clothing
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted the Trump administration’s new rule allowing religious bias in health care as an “open license” to discriminate against LGBT people.
Trump moves to undermine non-discrim regs in foster care
The Trump administration this month approved a request from South Carolina to funnel federal funds for foster care into agencies that discriminate on the basis of religion. The move is expected to jeopardize regulations barring sexual orientation and gender identity
Census deletion: An ‘error’ or ‘malicious’ snub?
Census Bureau director John Thompson said Wednesday that the deletion of "sexual orientation and gender identity" from a list of proposed Census survey questions in a document released Tuesday was simply correcting an error; the subjects were considered but never
Sparring continues among appeals courts as Supreme Court puts off marriage cases another week
The U.S. Supreme Court put off until at least this Friday (January 16) a decision on whether it will hear appeals challenging a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that said states can ban same-sex couples from marrying. Meanwhile,
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
Fourth Circuit panel votes 2 to 1 to strike Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban
It was clear from the oral argument that two out of three of the judges on a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel would vote on opposite sides concerning the constitutionality of Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage. The
First federal appeals court panel weighs in; finds Utah’s ban unconstitutional
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a 2 to 1 decision Wednesday, upholding a district court decision that Utah’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
Oregon becomes number 18, as openly gay judge rules ban is ‘completely irrational’
Oregon on Monday became the 18th state to allow same-sex couples to marry, bringing to 39 percent, the population of the U.S. now living in marriage equality states. The Oregon ban on same-sex couples marrying was struck down by a ruling
Fourth Circuit clash over Virginia ban: Whose children must the state protect with marriage laws?
The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals hearing Tuesday was, as Judge Paul Niemeyer characterized it, just one step along the way to an eventual U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether states, like Virginia, can ban same-sex couples from marrying.
United Church of Christ lawsuit in North Carolina challenges penalty for ministers
In a first of its kind lawsuit, a group of ministers filed a complaint in federal court Monday against North Carolina’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples, saying that the law’s penalties against clergy who conduct ceremonies for same-sex marriages
