Blogs

Now that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of Defense, and Gen. Colin Powell are on board with the commander in chief in allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal advocates must take advantage of this new opening. This week was huge. But even more hard work is needed, particularly since our opponents, like Rep. Duncan Hunter, Jr. and Sen. John McCain, are all over the airwaves making their case. Now the U.S. Senate has to act, and we need to do our part to make that happen.

In an extraordinary policy change, the Census Bureau recently announced that when gay and lesbian couples indicate they are married on the 2010 form, the Census will count them as married. The Census is the first Federal agency to recognize marriage of gay and lesbian couples, even though it does not ask anyone about their sexual orientation.

Several days ago, we commented on President Obama's long-awaited announcement to move toward a repeal of the U.S. military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. Today, we have word from top defense officials that the military will no longer, according to the Washington Post, "no longer aggressively pursue disciplinary action against gay service members whose orientation is revealed against their will by third parties." 

In case you didn't hear, last night's State of the Union address contained a brief but important sentence, in which President Obama promised to seek a repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy this calendar year.

For those of you who might have missed it, Cindy McCain -- wife of 2008 Presidential candidate John McCain -- has publicly decided to stand with supporters of marriage equality in a new ad campaign.

If you haven't seen this article from Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors (on today's edition of Huffington Post), it's worth a read. It provides a strong sense of not only how California proponents of LGBT rights are responding to the current court proceedings in San Francisco, but how what's happened this historic week is contributing to the national movement toward equal rights in marriage.

Late last week, there was a disappointing outcome in the New Jersey Senate, which voted not to uphold its constitutional obligation to provide equal protection to same-sex couples, as mandated by that state's Supreme Court in 2006. However, as Garden State Equality notes on its website, in statements made at a press conference following Thursday's vote, the organization is partnering with Lambda Legal to go back to court.

We're proud to be part of an event coming up in a little over two weeks put on by our friends at Equality Texas.

For those who have been following the Houston mayoral election -- and the victory of Annise Parker -- yesterday was a particularly joyful day.

Is the heading on this blog entry puzzling? It's not quite what you'd think (or perhaps hope for), but it's an interesting twist on what's happening with the legalization of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia, still on track to be officially law by late January 2010. An anti-gay marriage group took out ads on the city's Metro system calling for D.C. residents to be able to vote on gay marriage -- a strategy employed in Maine this past November to overturn its legislature's passage of a same-sex marriage bill.