Tag Archives | LGBT rights

ACTION: Michigan GOP imposes its version of morality on the healthcare of women & others, Senate hearing Thursday

By on March 13, 2013 in Conservatives, GOPocrisy, LGBT, Michigan Republicans

It’s hard to swallow you shoving your religion down my throat

The Michigan Republicans are trotting out a “new” bill to further their War on Women and those who don’t share their narrow worldview. I say it’s “new” because it was a bill that died in the last legislative session. They call their bill the “Religious Liberty and Conscience Protection Act” but it’s nothing more than a backdoor way to limit Michigan women’s access to safe and legal abortion services across the state. What makes this legislation so insidious is that it may also restrict all Michigander’s access to things like birth control, vaccines, counseling and even HIV/AIDS treatment.

Details and actions you can take after the jump.


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UPDATED: Michigan woman fired by Boy Scouts for being a lesbian

By on March 11, 2013 in LGBT, Michigan

Legally fired for who she loves

Last week, Lauren Jasenak from Brighton, Michigan was fired by the Boy Scouts of America from her job at a Michigan BSA ranch for being a lesbian. Because of Michigan’s bigoted laws, the firing was legal and Jasenak has little to no recourse in what should, by all accounts, be a violation of her civil rights.

Details after the jump.


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Appeals Court rules against Michigan AG Schuette’s attack on state worker domestic partnership benefits

By on January 10, 2013 in LGBT, Michigan

If it’s a union-negotiated contract, it’s GOT to go

The Michigan Court of Appeals smacked down a lawsuit by Michigan Tea Party Attorney General Bill Schuette that attacked a union-negotiated contract that allowed for healthcare benefits for the domestic partners unionized state employees.

The contract does not specifically reference same-sex couples but they ARE covered by it so, of course, our AG felt the need to attack it. After all, anything that benefits both teh gayz and union members is not to be tolerated.

More after the jump.


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Happy Deathday, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

By on September 20, 2012 in LGBT

Amazingly, the sky is still up

One year ago today, President Obama oversaw the end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Today, we celebrate its death.

President Obama’s statement on the one-year anniversary of the repeal after the jump.


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Democratic Party set to place marriage equality for LGBT couples in the party platform

By on July 31, 2012 in Democrats, LGBT

Welcome to the real world

It’s a big day for LGBT rights in America today. First, a new Pew poll shows that a plurality of Americans support the rights of same-sex couples to marry. Then, on the same day, we learn that the Democratic Party are set to place support for same-sex marriage in the party’s 2012 platform.

Lots to cheer about after the jump.


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Astronaut and physicist Sally Ride passed away this week, her partner to receive NO federal benefits (UPDATED)

By on July 24, 2012 in LGBT

THIS is how we treat our heroes?

Astronaut and Stanford physicist Sally Ride passed away this week from pancreatic cancer. She was the first woman American* and the youngest American of either gender to travel into space. My family has a small but important (to us) connection with Dr. Ride. When my daughter was in grade school, she had a project where they dressed as their heroes and, during an open house, played the role of their hero, answering questions and chatting with the parents that visited. My daughter was there, dressed in a blue jumpsuit and sporting my motorcycle helmet, a third grade astronaut. Her picture even ended up in the local newspaper.

When Dr. Ride, a lesbian, passed away this week, she left behind her partner of 27 years, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy. Because of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), O’Shaughnessy will receive no federal benefits, benefits she would receive if she were a man. Despite their life-long partnership, she is treated as if she were just an acquaintance.

The two met when they were 12 years old.


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Newt Gingrich to the LGBTQ community: Vote for Obama

By on December 27, 2011 in Uncategorized

Yeah, well, at least Newt is honest about his position on LGBTQ rights:

Republican Presidential contender Newt Gingrich had one message for a gay Iowa man: Don’t bother with me, vote Obama.

Or so says a professor who met Gingrich at the Smokey Row coffee house in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.

“I asked him if he’s elected, how does he plan to engage gay Americans. How are we to support him? And he told me to support Obama,” Scott Arnold, an associate professor of writing at William Penn University told the paper.

“When you ask somebody a question and you expect them to support all Americans and have everyone’s general interest,” Arnold continued.

…


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Obama administration ramps up international efforts to protect the LGBT community

By on December 6, 2011 in Barack Obama, President Obama

This is unlikely to get much fanfare but it’s big new for the fight to protect the LGBT community all over the world. It’s an Presidential Memorandum mandating that U.S. Government agencies step up their efforts to protect the rights and safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people all over the world.

The memorandum directs agencies to:

  • Combat the criminalization of LGBT status or conduct abroad.
  • Protect vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers.
  • Leverage foreign assistance to protect human rights and advance nondiscrimination.
  • Ensure swift and meaningful U.S. responses to human rights abuses of LGBT persons abroad.
  • Engage International Organizations in the fight against LGBT discrimination.

…


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New Mich GOP law will override local laws, roll back LGBT protections – the lie of “small government”

By on October 10, 2011 in GOPocrisy, Michigan Republicans

Local control, local government, local self-determination. These are the hallmarks of the tea party Republicans and conservatives in general. Recent efforts by Michigan Republicans prove conclusively that this is a lie. They are not interested in local control; they are interested in conservative control. Period.

In September, I wrote about two bills passed by the House to limit domestic partner benefits for any public employees in the state.

Not that this is any surprise but Michigan Republicans are poised to make sure that schools, counties, cities and the state itself do not offer domestic partner benefits to their employees…

It’s obviously nothing more than a blatant effort to make sure same-sex partners are never afforded the same benefits their “different-sex” counterparts enjoy.

…


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Presbyterian church enters the 21st Century, ordains 1st openly gay minister

By on October 9, 2011 in Uncategorized

Hooray!

A Wisconsin man who left his Presbyterian ministry in California more than 20 years ago after telling his congregation that he is gay was welcomed back into the church leadership on Saturday as its first openly gay ordained minister.

In a quavering voice ripe with emotion, 56-year-old Scott Anderson told the hundreds of friends and backers who packed Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison for his ordination ceremony that he never thought the day would come.

“To the thousands of Presbyterians who have worked and prayed for almost 40 years for this day, I give thanks,” Anderson said. “And I give thanks for those who disagree with what we’re doing today yet who know that we are one in Jesus Christ.”

Slowly, drip by drop, bit by bit, the ship is turning.…


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