- Arizona Senator Paula Aboud (D-Tucson) said her state should extend marriage benefits to same-sex couples. She is a sponsor of a domestic partnership bill that would give registered domestic partners the same rights as married couples, regardless of their sexual orientation. The bill is not yet scheduled for a committee hearing.
- Two conservative groups in California have filed proposed ballots that would amend the California Constitution to define marriage as one man-one woman regardless of how the state Supreme Court rules.
- A Colorado lesbian couple, charged with trespassing when they staged a sit-in after being refused a marriage license, has filed a motion to strike down the state’s amendment defining marriage as one man-one woman.
- Broward County became the tenth municipality in Florida to ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression.
- According to a nonbinding opinion issued by the Idaho state attorney general’s office, the Moscow City Council’s decision to extend domestic partner benefits to city employees violates the state constitution.
- Activists rallied in Maryland in support of marriage equality. The Baltimore Sun leads off their coverage with a quote from the daughter of gay dads. The state Attorney General, Douglas F. Gansler, became the highest-ranking official to endorse marriage equality.
- The board of the Nevada Public Employees’ Benefits Program discussed regulations that would offer medical benefits to domestic partners. They are expected to approve the benefits in May, although it is unclear if the legislature and governor will decide to fund the measure.
- New Mexico’s legislature adjourned without passing a domestic partnership bill out of committee. The future of the bill looks bleak.
- Rhode Island House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox says he will sponsor a bill to allow same-sex couples married in other jurisdictions to become divorced in Rhode Island.
- Marisa Richmond became Tennessee’s first openly transgender person to win an election. She is now the Davidson County Democratic Committeewoman, representing District 23.
- Although Salt Lake City last week unanimously approved a domestic partner registry, the Utah Senate Health and Human Services Committee this week voted unanimously to send a bill blocking it to the full Senate for a vote. Opponents of the registry argued that it violates a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and domestic unions.
- Two women are seeking to have their Vermont civil union dissolved in their home state of West Virginia. They first tried through their county court, which said it did not have the jurisdiction. Now, they are trying in circuit court, which says that it does. (Leave it to the states, hmm? That’s all well and good until it drags us through more legal hoops than opposite-sex couples must face.)
Around the world:
- The United Nations Committee on NGOs refused observer status to LGBT rights groups from Spain, the Netherlands and Brazil. The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) says the committee repeatedly tried to link homosexuality and pedophilia.
- MPs in Bahrain are calling for measures against gay people in the country, including deportation of foreigners suspected of being gay.
- Ireland’s High Court ruled that the country’s birth registration laws, which do not allow transgender people to receive new birth certificates, are in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The government must now respond with how it intends to comply with the Convention.
- Israel announced that same-sex couples will now have the same adoption rights as opposite-sex couples. Previously, they could only adopt if one partner was the child’s biological parent. Mazal tov!
- Gareth Henry, an leading member of J-FLAG, Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, is seeking refugee status in Canada. He says 13 of his friends have been killed by homophobic attacks in Jamaica since 2004 He himself was attacked last year.
- Mariano Rajoy, a candidate to be Prime Minister of Spain, said that if he wins the March 9 election, he will move to ban adoption by same-sex couples.