Tag Archives: Congress

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."

Re-match likely in Massachusetts for 2012

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) announced Thursday that he will be a candidate for re-election in 2012. The announcement is unusual for its timing. It is more routine for even the most veteran elected officials to wait until just before time

Shooting prompts calls for a more civil Congress

The 112th Congress went barreling into all-out partisan warfare, as expected, in its opening week, and then the unexpected took over. A man gunned down a member of Congress in broad daylight.

Field of zeros and shattered hopes

For two years, Democrats held the White House and the majority in both chambers of Congress. The window of opportunity for eliminating federal laws that treated the LGBT community as second-class citizens was open. The window of opportunity for passing

House mid-terms: A sinking feeling

The mid-term election for Democrats is beginning to sound like the Titanic. The gigantic wonder that set sail in January 2009 is now sinking, the passengers are in a state of panic, and the rich corporations have taken all the

Big push building for DADT, ENDA votes

It is the end of April. Spring has sprung and all hell is breaking out in Washington, D.C. Not wishing to be left behind in this biennial political morass, LGBT activists have stepped up their pleas to be heard.

DADT reports: Study or stall?

A “study” in the nation’s capitol is special kind of political capital. It can buy rationale with which to justify a change in policy or it can buy time to stop a change. President Obama

DADT repeal teeters on the mid-term elections

Google “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and you’ll get more than 2 million links. Add the word “repeal” to the search, and you’ll get about half a million. Add the words “this year,” and you’re down to 135,000. That’s probably a good

Rep. Frank: ENDA will get House vote this month

Legislation can be like a train: It runs on a track, makes certain stops along the way, and is often attached to other trains. But, in Congress, the train doesn’t run on time. Last October, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said the

DC marriage law in effect but trouble could lie ahead

A new law takes effect today in the nation’s capital, granting equal rights in marriage licensing for gay couples. Washington, D.C.’s marriage equality legislation becomes law in spite of a Herculean effort by opponents to block its implementation.