- The U.S. Labor Department clarified that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives an employee who assumes the role of caring for a child the parental right to family leave—regardless of the legal or biological relationship.
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at a State Department event commemorating Pride Month, and equated LGBT rights to human rights. Worth a read.
- The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law requiring public disclosure of the names of people who signed a petition to put an anti-gay referendum on the ballot in Washington State—but opponents of equality may try again with a different approach.
- Pedro Segarra, the president of the Hartford, Conn., city council, is set to become the first openly gay mayor of the city following the resignation of the current mayor on corruption charges.
Around the World
- The European Court of Human Rights ruled that European countries do not have to allow same-sex couples to marry, despite the “emerging European consensus” that same-sex partnerships should have legal recognition.
- The government of Ireland withdrew its appeal against a ruling by the High Court that Irish law on transgender rights violates the European Convention on Human Rights. This means the government could now propose legislation giving transgender people the right to new birth certificates with their identified gender.
- Australia now has its first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, who is against marriage rights for LGBT people, but seems open to other forms of relationship recognition.