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The new edition of the Human Rights Campaign's so-called Congressional Scorecard has found an increase in both supportive and unsupportive legislators.HRC said the findings reveal a "stark polarisation.""A strong and devoted group of anti-LGBT legislators continues to stymie the progress LGBT people deserve," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "The fact that the first ever vote to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the House of Representatives was countered by a filibuster in the Senate illustrates the landscape."In the House, 145 members received a pro-gay score of 90 percent or better, compared to 128 members in the previous Congress. Senators scoring 90 percent or better this year rose from 32 to 36. However, the number of senators receiving a zero score from HRC climbed as well, from 16 to 32. The number of House zeros remained unchanged."As more and more Americans support equality for
Fundamental change usually proceeds from the bottom up, which is why it often blindsides most politicians and much of the media.For example, the "tea party"-style rage that is this election cycle's defining characteristic grows out of a broad, if inchoate, sense that the American economy no longer apportions prosperity or opportunity in anything close to an equitable fashion. As David Cay Johnston reported Monday, last year the 74 highest-paid Americans each earned an average of $519 million annually — or about $10 million a week. That was up from $92 million the year before. At the same time, every measure of ordinary Americans' pay — total, average and median — fell from the previous year. Adjusted for inflation, median pay was actually less than it was 10 years ago.Marriage equality is another question on which change is pushing up from the grass roots, with polls showing that increa
Not that Giannoulias doesn't deserve HRC's endorsement, or your vote. He sounds like he does!: "As the next senator from the great state of Illinois, I will lead the fight for equality — for marriage equality, for an end to DOMA, for employment non-discrimination, and for immigration reform that treats same-sex couples fairly."

If you can't count on the Human Rights Campaign to effectively lobby lawmakers to actually effect change, at the very least you can, say, use their Corporate Equality Index to decide whether your contribution to climate change should be backed by the gay-friendly Chevron or the gay-hating ExxonMobil. And then there's HRC's recommendations for who you should vote for, which, with Rep. Mark Kirk, it just proved you shouldn't really trust either.
On Sunday, March 21st 2010, the Human Rights Campaign staff, members and volunteers will rally side by side with our many coalition partners in
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama did not support marriage equality, but he did support the repeal of the so-called "Defense of Marriage" Act (DOMA), a 1996 law that bans any federal recognition of gay and lesbian families and allows states to deny marriage rights even to same-sex couples who have been legally wed in their home states. Obama also spoke of supporting some sort of legal provision to allow same-sex families access to civil unions on a national level.

Pro-family parity lawmakers have a bill that would strike down DOMA. They call it the Respect for Marriage Act; if passed into law, the bill would protect marriage--all marriages, that is--by granting federal-level recognition to families, gay or straight, who had been married in any jurisdiction.

Some family equality advocates do not support the bill because it applies only to married couple
When it comes to immigration rights, detail the rampant fraud associated with religious workers visas and point out that there is no threat from same sex binational couples. With the LDS Church, point out their racist past and point out ...

At rallies today in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Fresno marking the somber first anniversary of the passage of Proposition 8 in California, organizers will announce the launch of the first major fundraising campaign to place a marriage equality initiative on the California ballot in November 2010.

Organized by Yes! on Equality and TruthandHope.org, in collaboration with Restore Equality 2010, the goal of the “Million for a Million” campaign is to raise the $1 million necessary to fund getting the more than one million signatures needed to place a marriage equality initiative on the ballot.

Undaunt
How does Obama the President compare to Obama the candidate on gay rights? It's no secret that GLBT advocates have expressed disappointment and frustration with decisions by the White House to avoid pressing for gay rights during the first year of the administration. No executive order to halt the discharges of gay troops; no bold leadership on passing non-discrimination legislation; no mention of a ballot initiative in Maine to reverse marriage equality that might have made a real difference in the loss there Tuesday. We helped elect him with our votes, money, and time because we were promised change. But in our lives as GLBT people, that's not what's being delivered.
And now we're in a pickle. Most are...

The Sunday Star-Times (via Stuff) reported that the longtime aide to former Prime Minister Helen Clark, Heather Simpson, has married her partner, Sue Veart, in a civil union at their home in Wellington. Clark, whose government created civil unions, did not attend.

The article talked about Simpsons political power during Clark’s Labour-led government, before moving on to how Simpson had her “arm twisted” to work for Clark at the United Nations in New York City. Apparently Veart recently left her job so she could join Simpson.

The article said: “One acquaintance said she believed the civil union would make it easier for Veart to live in the US.” Personally, I doubt that’s true, given Simpson’s well-known political nous. She would know that no foreign or domestic legal recognition of same-sex relationships—whether civil unions or marriages—are recognised by the US
President Obama gave a speech to the HRC last night, and, as usual, it was wonderfully crafted and moving.

However, that’s where the positive things I can say stop.

President Obama has promised everything he can to the LGBT community: a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, ending Bush’s horrid HIV travel ban [Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 212(a)(1)(A)(i)], creating equality for gay couples, ending employment discrimination, etc.

He hasn’t done anything on any of those issues. Nothing at all. In fact, this paragraph is pretty much just filler, because there’s absolutely nothing to talk about with Obama’s track record (or lack thereof) of sticking to his word on matters that affect the gay community. He’s done nothing but give pretty speeches.

To top it all off, Joe Solmonese, president of the HRC, is all but fellating the Pre
Good news on the DOMA front. Human Rights Campaign looks to be getting serious about repealing DOMA. They're now starting a campaign to make it happen. 50,000 of you took our survey on how the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) harms families. And with Congress back in session this week, we personally delivered your responses – and thousands of heartfelt comments – to help build the case for repealing this discriminatory law. Now is the time to really put the pressure on and tell Congress it’s time to Repeal DOMA Now (which is coincidentally the name of our new campaign).

In the past year, tens of thousands of loving same-sex couples have legally been married in Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont. And with new laws soon to take effect in New Hampshire and Maine, thousands more will surely join them. Enacted in 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act purports to
“Now is the time to let Congress and President Obama know that DOMA must go. The introduction of a bill to repeal DOMA with this unprecedented momentum behind it will mark a tidal shift in this fight,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “This hurtful and discriminatory law denies millions of Americans federal recognition of marriage and the critical rights and benefits that come with it – Social Security survivors’ benefits, equal treatment under U.S. immigration laws, the right to take leave to care for a spouse, and more. It is more important than ever to push for repeal of DOMA.”
Apparently, HRC's "No Excuses" campaign was met with considerable skepticism from the LGBT community. Not only did they fail to raise a mere $200K for the campaign, they couldn't even find enough people to fill out their DOMA survey.

When words came out that HRC secretly asked Congress to NOT prioritize some of the more controversial gay rights issues such as DADT, there was a huge backlash against them with many elite members withdrawing their support. Hence the birth of the "No Excuses" campaign attempt to reverse HRC's image of inaction.

I belong to the camp that's willing to support this initiative with a healthy dose of skepticism. Yes, I .... It's a good thing that HRC is changing direction under pressure, and ...
Risking irrelevance in the face of brave grassroots movement such as the Dallas Principles , HRC has finally come around. They just announced the launch of the "No Excuses" campaign, urging members to meet with lawmakers in their districts to push pro-LGBT legislations.

The agenda didn't mention UAFA by name but it's No. 4 on the list. HRC has always been vocal in their support of the legislation, so it's not surprising. "End the painful separation of families by recognizing permanent same-sex couples under immigration laws."...

After urging their members to talk to their lawmakers about the LGBT agenda (DOMA Repeal chief among them) during the August Recess, HRC has followed with a survey intended to show congress the damage DOMA is doing to LGBT families.

Like many others in the community, I have always been skeptical of HRC in their ability and willingness to speak for the grassroots. But if this time they truly put their weight behind the DOMA repeal, I'm more than willing to open my wallet and donate money. Joe Solomonese can have as many galas as he likes if my family can enjoy some real rights.
Feingold is an interesting choice since Wisconsin will have a limited domestic partnership law in place by October, but his constituents won't be able to benefit from the DOMA Repeal as it will only recognize marriage, but not civil union/domestic partnership. So I don't know how enthusiatic he'd be in pushing a DOMA repeal. Granted, it may allow people living in states where gay marriage is not legal to get married in states where it is and enjoy federal benefits.

Now, if it doesn't pass in this session (2009), I don't see how it can get picked up by the next session, where midterm election will be on everyone's mind and controversial topics are avoided at all costs.

But we should take comfort in the fact that progress is happening, albeit at a much lower pace than we'd like. That's the political reality....

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Promoting public awareness of the need for fairness in immigration policy particularly as it relates to the rights of same-sex bi-national couples in the United States who seek equal immigration rights; Providing information regarding political issues relating to gay immigration equality issues, rights and policy.