House Democratic leaders put off a vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) for the second week in a row, raising further doubts about the future of the legislation.- A slew of LGBT supporters of John Edwards released a letter explaining why they think he is the best candidate.
- Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is trying to position himself as the only leading candidate to support a federal constitutional amendment against marriage equality, ignoring the similar position of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
- The Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church was ordered to pay $10.9 million to the family of a slain soldier whose funeral they protested. The Church says American deaths in Iraq are punishment for our country’s tolerance of gay people. As Good As You points out, however, the ruling may have gone too far in limiting free speech. As much as we may hate that speech, the ruling could backfire on us.
- The Massachusetts anti-LGBT group MassResistance is criticizing the local grocery store chain Roche Brothers for their support of a nearby high school’s dramatic arts program. Why? The school is staging The Laramie Project, which details the Matthew Shepard murder. As it happens, the show stars the lesbian daughter of a MassResistance member. (Thanks, PageOneQ.)
- Meanwhile, MassEquality, the marriage-equality coalition that led the fight in Massachusetts is debating what its mission should be now. Some say it should broaden its goals to include other LGBT issues; others feel it should stay focused on marriage and help advocates in other states; and some question its long-term viability. (See also this article on a survey of MassEquality supporters.)
- New Jersey’s civil union law “has been a failure,” concluded the state’s Civil Rights Director Frank Vespa-Papaleo, who chaired a commission to investigate the impact of the new law. “It is not working as effectively as if the word ‘marriage’ were used.”
- The school board of Syracuse, New York approved a benefits package that will give same-sex partners of teachers in the Syracuse school system the same benefits as married spouses.
- Mary Wiseman, a former Dayton city commissioner, has become the first openly lesbian or gay judge in Ohio.
- Rhode Island’s General Assembly overrode the governor’s veto of legislation to give domestic partners of public employees the same pension and retirement benefits as spouses.
- Ralph Becker and Dave Buhler, mayoral candidates in Salt Lake City, Utah, answered a debate question about whether they would support the development of a growing “gayborhood” of gay-owned businesses in the Marmelade district. Buhler said he would support small businesses anywhere in the city; Becker, however, spoke of his plan for a domestic partnership registry and the extension of retirement benefits to city employees’ partners, as well as his endorsement by the state’s gay legislators and Equality Utah.
- A new statewide poll shows that 47% of adults in Vermont favor allowing same-sex couples to marry, while 41% oppose it.
Around the world:
- After he found out his adopted daughter is a lesbian, Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, is filing a civil court case to disown her. He said, however, he was not discriminating against gay people and asked others to respect them. “Most of them are good people and are not doing alcohol, drugs or racing vehicles,” he said. (Thank heavens. It wouldn’t be any good to have lesbians drag racing down the middle of Phnom Penh.)
- The Irish government has announced plans for legal recognition of same-sex couples, although questions remain over what to call the unions or if the bill would allow adoptions by same-sex couples.
- Six of Sweden’s seven political parties now support full marriage equality for same-sex couples, with only the small Christian Democratic Party opposed.
- An ex-magistrate in the U.K. has lost his appeal after claiming he was forced to resign because his Christian beliefs forbid him from placing children for adoption with same-sex couples.