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J.C. Penney stands behind Ellen DeGeneres as spokeswoman
February 3, 2012 | 5:45 pm
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Portia and Ellen DeGeneres
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As an openly gay couple, Portia and Ellen DeGeneres have faced plenty of challenges, but one worry they can safely put to bed is Ellen getting dropped by J.C. Penney.
The company has signaled that it is standing by DeGeneres as its spokeswoman, despite the group One Million Moms -- part of the American Family Assn. -- having launched a campaign to force J.C. Penney to end its association with DeGeneres and "remain neutral in the culture war."
In a statement Friday, J.C. Penney responded with support for the comedian, saying it "stands behind its partnership with Ellen DeGeneres."
GLAAD was understandably overjoyed with the news. A site the group had launched to show support for DeGeneres changed focus to show support for J.C. Penney over its decision. As of Friday afternoon, #StandUpForEllen had received more than 26,000 signatures.
"This week Americans spoke out in overwhelming support of LGBT people and J.C. Penney’s decision not to fire Ellen simply for who she happens to love," GLAAD spokesman Herndon Graddick said in a statement. "But while Ellen has the nation on her side, in 29 states today, Americans can still be legally fired just for being gay. Our elected officials should use this incident as yet another example of the support for legal protections for all hard working employees."
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CNN...
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Afghan police: Man kills wife for giving birth to daughter instead of son
By Nematullah Sarfraz, For CNN
updated 1:41 AM EST, Tue January 31, 2012
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File photo of women near the city of Kunduz, Afghanistan, where police say a man strangled his wife for not bearing him a son.
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: The mother of Sher Mohammed says her daughter-in-law committed suicide
Mohammed and his 22-year-old wife had three daughters
Police say Mohammed's mother helped beat the wife
The mother was arrested, but her son fled, authorities say
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Kunduz, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Police in the northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz are looking for a man they say strangled his wife after she bore him a third child that was not a son.
Sher Mohammed, 29, married his 22-year-old wife, Storay, four years ago, police said.
The couple had three daughters, the last of whom was born three months ago, said Khanabad district police chief Sufi Habib.
After the youngest daughter was born, Mohammed blamed his wife for not being able to deliver a boy, Habib said.
"Finally on Saturday, the man, with the help of his mother, first beat the woman and then strangled her to death," the police chief said. Khanabad is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Kunduz city.
Police arrested the mother, Wali Hazrata, and detained her at the Kunduz city jail. But her son fled.
In a jailhouse interview, Hazrata said her son's wife committed suicide out of guilt.
"My son did not commit the crime," Hazrata said. "... But after three daughters, Storay herself felt guilty and committed suicide."
The report comes weeks after Afghan police said they rescued a 15-year-old girl who was locked up in the basement of her in-laws' house, starved, and had her nails pulled out.
The girl, Sahar Gul, was married off to a 30-year-old man last year. Authorities in the northern Baghlan province said the girl reportedly was tortured after she refused to submit to prostitution.
Activists say women continue to suffer in parts of Afghanistan despite overall progress since the fall of the Taliban.
In the second quarter of last year, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) registered 1,026 cases of violence against women. In 2010, 2,700 cases were recorded.
In December, gunmen attacked and sprayed an Afghan family with acid in their home after the father rejected a man's bid to marry his teenage daughter.
In another case, a 21-year-old, identified only as Gulnaz for her own protection, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after she reported that her cousin's husband had raped her.
Her plight attracted international attention when it came out that she had agreed to marry her attacker to gain her freedom and legitimize a daughter conceived in the attack.
She was eventually freed, following the president's intervention.
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By David Edwards
Friday, January 13, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum suggested on Friday that President Barack Obama wanted a constitutional amendment to force the redistribution of wealth.
Wearing his infamous sweater vest, the candidate told a group of supporters in Rock Hill, South Carolina that Obama wanted to “manage the decline of America.”
“Remember the president of the United States saying when he was running for office earlier in his career, he was asked the question as a constitutional law professor, what change he would make, what deficiency there was in the Constitution?” Santorum explained. “His answer was there should be a provision for the redistribution of wealth.”
The former Pennsylvania senator may have been misremembering an often misinterpreted statement that Obama made to WBEZ-FM back in 2001.
“If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement, and its litigation strategy in the court, I think where it succeeded was to vest formal rights in previously dispossessed peoples,” the then-state senator said. “But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society. And to that extent, as radical as I think people tried to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical.”
Expecting an attack from Republican nominee John McCain’s campaign in 2008, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton preemptively responded.
“Obama was talking about the civil rights movement — and the kind of work that has to be done on the ground to make sure that everyone can live out the promise of equality,” Burton said. “In the interview, Obama went into extensive detail to explain why the courts should not get into that business of ‘redistributing’ wealth. Obama’s point — and what he called a tragedy — was that legal victories in the civil rights led too many people to rely on the courts to change society for the better.”
Santorum also highlighted remarks the president made at George Washington University last year, where he said that “we would not be a great country” without programs like Social Security and Medicare.
“You see, I don’t believe that,” Santorum continued. “I believe America was born great. … What makes the saying on the Great Seal — e pluribus unum — true? Out of many one, what is the one? It is that, that we are a people who are children of God.”
“We are seen as equal. I mean, the idea that all men are created equal, that was unheard of. Women created equal to men? No way! What society did that exist? Rights? Equal? No way. Why was that? Because we are children of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And we were all made in His image.”
Santorum’s assertion that the U.S. was “born great” with equality for all men and women does not exactly square with the history books.
African Americans were not considered full citizens until 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment rendered the three-fifths compromise moot. Women were not guaranteed the right to vote until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920.
Many would say that the Constitution is still far from perfect. The Equal Rights Amendment was approved by Congress, but was never ratified by the states by the 1982 deadline. The Constitution also does not prevent discrimination against LGBT people.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/13/santorum-obama-wants-constitutional-amendment-to-redistribute-wealth/
Watch this video from CNN, broadcast Jan. 13, 2012.
"What do you folks Make of this????"By David Edwards
Friday, January 13, 2012
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Two more states allow same-sex civil unions
By Josh Levs, CNN
updated 5:24 PM EST, Sun January 1, 2012
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Gay couples first civil unions in Hawaii
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Hawaii and Delaware began allowing same-sex civil unions Sunday
5 states recognize same-sex civil unions; 6 and DC recognize same-sex marriage
Opponents say civil unions are a springboard to redefining marriage
"It means that our state supports us," one member of a same-sex civil union says
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(CNN) -- Several same-sex couples came together in the first minutes of New Year's Day in Honolulu to become the first in the state's history to enter into civil unions.
"We really don't want to wait any longer because we have been together for 33 years waiting for the opportunity and our rights and everything that goes with it," said Donna Gedge, who was with her partner Monica Montgomery, speaking to CNN affiliate KITV. "So why wait?"
The couple told CNN last week about their plans to stay up late for the ceremony.
With Hawaii and Delaware joining the list Sunday, five states now recognize same-sex civil unions, while six other states and Washington, D.C., allow same-sex marriage, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island already recognize civil unions providing state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples, the NCSL says.
Marriage licenses are given to same-sex couples in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and the District of Columbia, the NCSL says.
California does not currently allow same-sex marriages to be performed.
In May 2008, the state's Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry in California. Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, passed later that year.
In 2010, a federal district judge ruled that Proposition 8 violated the U.S. Constitution, but enforcement of that decision was stayed pending appeal.
Delaware said its new law became effective at 10 a.m. Sunday.
In Hawaii, online application for civil union licenses was made available beginning at midnight, despite the fact that government offices are closed until Tuesday, the state government said.
The union becomes valid after a ceremony performed by someone licensed by the Department of Health.
"It means that our state supports us, and that's a really good feeling after all this time," Montgomery said at the ceremony.
The laws in Delaware and Hawaii followed heated debates in both states.
In 2010, then-Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican, vetoed a similar bill in Hawaii, saying the issue needed to be put to a referendum.
Some religious groups were among those pushing for the move. "We need you to mount a campaign to flood the governor's office with requests to veto the bill," Larry Silva, Catholic bishop of Honolulu, wrote on the Diocese of Honolulu's website at the time.
A group called the Hawaii Family Forum argued that "a vote for civil unions is a vote for same-sex marriage."
"Civil unions are a desperate and dishonest attempt to force same-sex 'marriage' on Hawaii," the group said. Despite the opposition, there was no referendum.
In both Hawaii and Delaware, the language of the law emphasizes that "it is not the legislature's intent to revise the definition or eligibility requirements of marriage."
Gedge and Montgomery told CNN last week they hope there will one day be federally recognized same-sex marriage.
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, signed the state's civil unions bill into law last February, calling it "a prime example of exercising civic courage. It is about doing what is right, no matter how difficult, no matter how much opposition."
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, signed his state's bill into law in May.
The Delaware Family Policy Council, which says its goal is to "educate, equip, unify and engage the citizens of Delaware in advocating for family values and preserving the integrity of the family as an institution," argued that civil unions "are a springboard to redefining marriage."
"You can't really talk about civil unions without talking about same-sex 'marriage' because there really isn't any difference," the group argued.
But Markell, at a signing ceremony last year, said, "This bill is about a new energy and excitement. It's about a moment in our history that came about because people came together to work for it, because it became clear that Delaware's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community is in fact part of every Delaware community. The greater good is served when we speak out and fight hard when we see that bias, prejudice or even outdated laws attempt to lessen any one of us."
Bonnie Limatoc, who was part of the midnight ceremony in Hawaii on Sunday, told KITV, "The historic part for me is to be one of the first to open that door so that the rest of them after us, there's others out there that want to do this. ... We can show them, "Hey, you love somebody, you have the right to be with them the rest of your life also.'"
"Our message is go for the gusto," her partner Lydia Pontin added. "Don't be ashamed."
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CNN's Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.
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Two more states allow same-sex civil unions
By Josh Levs, CNN
updated... more
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On this day, 33 years ago, former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White took a gun to City Hall....
The sentence sparked outrage in San Francisco’s Castro District, and protestors marched from the Castro to City Hall, chanting “Avenge Harvey Milk” and “He got away with murder.” Eventually the crowd swelled to over 3,000 and riots broke out — angry residents lit police cars on fire, shoved a burning newspaper dispenser through the doors of City Hall, and cheered as the flames grew.
But only hours after the riots had ended, police made a retaliatory raid on a San Francisco gay bar. Two dozen arrests were made during that raid and in the following weeks, gay leaders refused to apologize for the riots. This is what gave them political power and led to the election of Mayor Dianne Feinstein.
Feinstein then appointed a pro-gay chief of police who actively recruited gays into the city’s police force.
Dan White served five years of his seven-year sentence. Two years later, he was found dead after committing suicide in his garage by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Feinstein, now a U.S. Senator, is leading the way for LGBT equality by sponsoring the “Respect for Marriage Act,” which would repeal the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
http://tinyurl.com/6w7lds5On this day, 33 years ago, former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White took a gun... more
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Conan officiates the wedding of costume designer Scott Cronick & his partner David Gorshein in NYC. News stations everywhere put their own unique spin on Conan's same-sex wedding news. Congratulations Scott & David! You are awesome Mr. Conan O'Brien!Conan officiates the wedding of costume designer Scott Cronick & his partner David... more
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Now that this is starting to draw media attention, I wonder if this will change their decision.Now that this is starting to draw media attention, I wonder if this will change their... more
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By Chris Johnson on August 10, 2011
Raul Alvillar (photo courtesy of the White House)
The White House has designated a gay administration official as the interim point of contact for the LGBT community until a permanent liaison is named, the Washington Blade has learned exclusively.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, said Raul Alvillar, who currently serves as associate director for public engagement at the Office of the Vice President, will serve as a temporary replacement for Brian Bond, the current LGBT liaison. Bond, who’s leaving later this month for a position at the Democratic National Committee, is deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and handled LGBT outreach as part of his portfolio.
“Following Brian’s departure from the White House to his new position at the DNC, we will have a full-time liaison to the LGBT community in the Office of Public Engagement in October,” Inouye said. “In the interim, Raul Alvillar from the Office of the Vice President will serve as the point of contact for the LGBT community for OPE.”
Alvillar, 33, served for two-and-a-half years as the congressional relations officer for the Department of Housing & Urban Development. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Alvillar was western political director for Obama and assisted with LGBT outreach and LGBT super delegates at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
David Smith, the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president of programs, said in a statement HRC has heard “good things” about Alvillar.
“He has been with President Obama since the earliest days of the campaign,” Smith said. “Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Jon Carson, director of the Office of Public Engagement continue to shepherd our issues in the White House so we don’t anticipate these changes to cause any problems.”
Winnie Stachelberg, senior vice president for external affairs at the Center for American Progress, said she’s “thrilled” the White House has selected Alvillar as the interim LGBT liaison because of his work on LGBT politics and issues.
Debt deal could jeopardize HIV/AIDS funds
“He’s certainly got the ear of senior leadership in the White House, and it’s a good step,” Stachelberg said. “He’s got a sense of the policy from having worked in the legislative office. He’s worked in state politics, which I think is terribly important. He’s worked on the campaign. So, he’s someone who’s absolutely worked in a range of different positions, which I think will help him, and, ultimately, help the community to navigate these times and continue the progress that we’ve made on LGBT issues in the past two-and-a-half years.”
It’s unclear from the statement given by the White House whether Alvillar, or his permanent successor, will have the same role as Bond or if the position will be modified. Some LGBT advocates have been calling for the appointment of a more senior LGBT adviser who could more directly and consistently counsel Obama on LGBT issues.
Richard Socarides, president of Equality Matters, said the opportunity for the White House to create a more senior LGBT adviser still exists in the time period before a permanent replacement for Bond is named.
“What I think the community wants and deserves is a senior, full-time White House official at the special assistant or higher level whose sole responsibility is to represent the interests of the LGBT community at the White House and in the federal government,” Socarides said. “We deserve no less — and the time, the political moment calls for it. It should be clear to everyone.”
But Stachelberg maintained Obama already has a circle of senior advisers who counsel him on LGBT issues — including Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to the president; Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council, and John Berry, who’s gay and director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — and said the appointment of a senior LGBT adviser would be redundant.
“What the White House has with respect to LGBT issues is a senior leadership team to work on these issues,” Stachelberg said. “It’s important that it’s not just about a person, but that it’s about the senior leadership team that the president has around him that really deals with these issues all the time.”
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/08/10/breaking-white-house-names-interim-lgbt-liaison/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=story&utm_term=Washington%2BBlade&utm_campaign=Washington%2BBlade
"Looks like BO wants the LGBT votes after all...."By Chris Johnson on August 10, 2011
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By Eric Marrapodi, CNN
July 19, 2011 12:42 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Sen. Dianne Feinstein is proposing a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act
The act defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman
She says federal law denies hundreds of benefits to same-sex married couples
"It's unconstitutional, I believe, and wrong," she says at a news conference
Washington (CNN) -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, announced Tuesday a bill to repeal the federal law that defines marriage as a "legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife" and that allows states to reject legal same sex marriages from other states.
The Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, passed both the House and the Senate in 1996.
Feinstein said she is one of only 14 senators who voted against the legislation at the time. "I thought even then, this is unconstitutional and wrong. Well, today it's unconstitutional, I believe, and wrong," she said in a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.
She said her bill would "strike the Defense of Marriage Act from law and would free the government to allow for the same type of benefits they allow for married couples to also be applied to same-sex couples."
"Family law has been traditionally the preserve of state law," she said. "Therefore it varies from state to state and the federal government usually stays out of it." Marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance are all under the purview of individual states, she noted, adding that the federal government is involved only in relation to marriage.
"Believe it or not, there are over 1,000 federal laws and protections that are afforded to married couples but are not afforded to legally married same-sex couples in any of the states that have approved same-sex marriage," she said.
Kathleen Cumiskey and Robin Garber were among three same-sex couples who joined Feinstein at the news conference. They said they traveled from New York's Staten Island with a stack of papers they take with them nearly everywhere.
The couple was married in Toronto, Canada, in 2006 and their home state of New York legally recognized their marriage in 2008. But when they travel across state lines, they said, they have to bring with them paperwork in case of an emergency.
"We traveled from New York City last night and had to bring with us our box of documents," Garber said holding up a marbled-cover box. "Wherever we go we need to be able to prove the legal documentation of our relationship. We need to be able to prove that we are legally responsible for each other, that we have the legal right to make decisions for each other."
She added, "We find it really incredible that we can travel halfway around the world -- we can go to Spain, we can go to Ireland, we can go to South Africa -- and have our marriage recognized and respected, but when we travel 15 miles from our own front door that is not the case and we need our box of documents."
Feinstein's repeal bill has gained 27 Democratic co-sponsors. She noted in the hallway after her remarks that there has been no Republican support for the bill. "I think it's a hard time because of the tea party and the ideological bent, but I think that's going to change," she said.
She added that the bill would have a hard time getting through the House were it pass in the Senate, but "we're in this for the long march, not just the short hop."
In February, President Barack Obama ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.
The Senate Judiciary committee will hold a hearing on the repeal bill Wednesday.
"I do believe in fair and equal treatment on all issues, for everyone, I Wish Senator Feinstein, good luck toward this accomplishment..."By Eric Marrapodi, CNN
July 19, 2011 12:42 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Sen.... more
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ALBANY, New York | Fri Jun 24, 2011 10:13pm EDT
ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - New York Republican Senator Stephen Saland said he would support a bill to legalize gay marriage, giving the measure enough support to pass when the vote occurs later on Friday.
Two other Republican senators have already publicly said they will back the bill introduced by Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, while one Democratic senator opposes it. With Saland's support the measure will pass by at least one vote.
"My intellectual and emotional journey has ended here today and I have to define doing the right thing as treating all persons with equality and that equality includes within the definition of marriage," Saland said on Friday night.
"Hooray for New York!!!"
"It has just passed!!!!"ALBANY, New York | Fri Jun 24, 2011 10:13pm EDT
ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - New... more
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The Supreme Court on Monday threw out the largest employment discrimination case in the nation’s history. The suit, against Wal-Mart Stores, had sought to consolidate the claims of as many as 1.5 million women on the theory that the company had discriminated against them in pay and promotion decisions.
The lawsuit sought back pay that could have amounted to billions of dollars. But the Supreme Court, in a decision that was unanimous on this point, said the plaintiffs’ lawyers had improperly sued under a part of the class action rules that was not primarily concerned with monetary claims.
The court did not decide whether Wal-Mart had in fact discriminated against the women, only that they could not proceed as a class. The court’s decision on that issue will almost certainly affect all sorts of other class-action suits, including ones asserting antitrust, securities and product liability violations.
In a broader question in the Wal-Mart case, the court divided 5-to-4 along ideological lines on whether the suit satisfied a requirement of the class-action rules that “there are questions of law or fact common to the class.”
Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said the plaintiffs could not show that they would receive “a common answer to the crucial question why was I disfavored.” He noted that Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, operated some 3,400 stores, had an express policy forbidding discrimination and granted local managers substantial discretion.
“On its face, of course, that is just the opposite of a uniform employment practice that would provide the commonality needed for a class action,” Justice Scalia wrote. “It is a policy against having uniform employment practices.”
The case involved “literally millions of employment decisions,” Justice Scalia wrote, and the plaintiffs were required to point to “some glue holding all those decisions together.”
The plaintiffs sought to make that showing with testimony from William T. Bielby, a sociologist specializing in “social framework analysis.”
Professor Bielby told the trial court that he had collected general “scientific evidence about gender bias, stereotypes and the structure and dynamics of gender inequality in organizations.” He said he also reviewed extensive litigation materials gathered by the lawyers in the case.
He concluded that two aspects of Wal-Mart’s corporate culture might be to blame for pay and other disparities. One was a centralized personnel policy. The other was allowing subjective decisions by managers in the field. Together, he said, those factors allowed stereotypes to infect personnel choices, making “decisions about compensation and promotion vulnerable to gender bias.”
Justice Scalia rejected the testimony, which he called crucial to the plaintiffs’ case.
“It is worlds away,” he wrote, “from ‘significant proof’ that Wal-Mart ‘operated under a general policy of discrimination.’ ”
Nor was Justice Scalia impressed with the anecdotal and statistical evidence offered by the plaintiffs.
One of the plaintiffs named in the suit, Christine Kwapnoski, had testified, for instance, that a male manager yelled at female employees but not male ones and had instructed her to “doll up.” Justice Scalia said that scattered anecdotes — “about 1 for every 12,500 class members,” he wrote — were insignificant.
He added that statistics showing pay and promotion gaps were insufficient to show common issues among the plaintiffs, as discrimination is not the only possible explanation. “Some managers will claim that the availability of women, or qualified women, or interested women, in their stores’ area does not mirror the national or regional statistics,” Justice Scalia wrote. “And almost all of them will claim to have been applying some sex-neutral, performance-based criteria — whose nature and effects will differ from store to store.” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. joined Justice Scalia’s majority opinion on that broader point. But the court unanimously rejected the plaintiffs’ effort to proceed under a part of the class action rules concerned mainly with court declarations and orders as opposed to money, one that does not require notice to the class or provide the ability to opt out of it.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dissented in part. Justice Ginsburg said the court had gone too far in its broader ruling.
She said she would have allowed the plaintiffs to try to make their case under another part of the class-action rules. “The court, however, disqualifies the class at the starting gate” by ruling that there are no common issues, she wrote.
She added that both the statistics presented by the plaintiffs and their individual accounts were evidence that “gender bias suffused Wal-Mart’s corporate culture.” She said, for instance, that women filled 70 percent of the hourly jobs but only 33 percent of management positions and that “senior management often refer to female associates as ‘little Janie Qs.’”
“The practice of delegating to supervisors large discretion to make personnel decisions, uncontrolled by formal standards, has long been known to have the potential to produce disparate effects,” she wrote. “Managers, like all humankind, may be prey to biases of which they are unaware.”The Supreme Court on Monday threw out the largest employment discrimination case in... more
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Washington Blade...
BREAKING: Md. House passes trans bill
Staff reports | Mar 26, 2011 |
The Maryland State House of Delegates today passed a transgender protection act that would prohibit discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and credit. It passed 86-52.
The Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Act (HB 235) will now be considered by the state Senate.
Equality Maryland today praised the House for its vote.
According to Morgan Meneses-Sheets, Equality Maryland director, supporters of the bill in the State Senate, including gay Sen. Richard Madaleno (D-Montgomery County), are committed to take immediate steps to shepherd the bill through the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and the Senate floor.
Some transgender activists, including members of the group Trans Maryland, oppose the bill on grounds that it doesn’t include protection in the category of public accommodations. The bill’s author and lead sponsor in the House, Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel Counties), said she removed a public accommodations provision after determining it was the only way to obtain enough votes to pass the measure this year.
[Click on link above to read other comments]Washington Blade...
BREAKING: Md. House passes trans bill
Staff reports | Mar... more
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The New York Times...
February 24, 2011
Gay Marriage Seems to Wane as Conservative Issue
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s decision to abandon his legal support for the Defense of Marriage Act has generated only mild rebukes from the Republicans hoping to succeed him in 2012, evidence of a shifting political climate in which social issues are being crowded out by economic concerns.
The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that after two years of defending the law — hailed by proponents in 1996 as an cornerstone in the protection of traditional values — the president and his attorney general have concluded it is unconstitutional.
In the hours that followed, Sarah Palin’s Facebook site was silent. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, was close-mouthed. Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, released a Web video — on the labor union protests in Wisconsin — and waited a day before issuing a marriage statement saying he was “disappointed.”
Others, like Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, and Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, took their time weighing in, and then did so only in the most tepid terms. “The Justice Department is supposed to defend our laws,” Mr. Barbour said.
Asked if Mitch Daniels, the Republican governor of Indiana and a possible presidential candidate, had commented on the marriage decision, a spokeswoman said that he “hasn’t, and with other things we have going on here right now, he has no plans.”
The sharpest reaction came from Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, in an interview here during a stop to promote his new book, who called the administration’s decision “utterly inexplicable.”
A few years ago, the president’s decision might have set off an intense national debate about gay rights. But the Republicans’ reserved response this week suggests that Mr. Obama may suffer little political damage as he evolves from what many gay rights leaders saw as a lackluster defender of their causes into a far more aggressive advocate.
“The wedge has lost its edge,” said Mark McKinnon, a Republican strategist who worked for President George W. Bush during his 2004 campaign, when gay marriage ballot measures in a dozen states helped turn out conservative voters.
Mr. Obama’s move provoked some outrage, especially among evangelical Christians and conservative groups like the Family Research Council. In a statement Wednesday, Tony Perkins, president of the council, condemned the president’s decision as pandering.
But Republican strategists and gay rights activists said on Thursday that the issue’s power as a political tool for Republican candidates is diminishing. While surveys suggest that Americans are evenly divided on whether the federal government should recognize gay marriages, opposition has fallen from nearly 70 percent in 1996.
Prominent Republicans like Dick Cheney, the former vice president, and Barbara Bush, daughter of the former president, have defended the right of gays to marry. And Mr. Obama has been emboldened by the largely positive response to his recent, and successful, push for Congress to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military’s ban on gays serving openly.
At the same time, the rise of the Tea Party movement, and the success that Republicans had last year in attacking Democratic candidates on economic issues, has pushed the debate over abortion and gay rights to the back burner.
“I don’t think this is the issue that it once was,” said John Feehery, a Republican strategist. “I think that the economic issues are so big that this one pales in comparison.”
In his first two years in office, Mr. Obama drew criticism from gay rights advocates who thought he was dragging his feet on their issues. Those same advocates see the shift as evidence that with an eye on the 2012 campaign, the president has calculated that the benefits of responding to his base outweigh the risks of upsetting conservatives who wouldn’t be voting for him anyway.
Among them is John Aravosis, the founder of Americablog.com, who in a 2009 blog post called the administration’s first legal brief in a Defense of Marriage Act case “despicable” and “homophobic.” Mr. Aravosis said on Thursday he is “much happier” with Mr. Obama, adding: “I think the gay community got to him. I’m not convinced we got to his heart, but I think we got to his political head.”
Others, like Kerry Eleveld, editor of EqualityMatters.org, a new Web site, say Mr. Obama appears to be evaluating the politics of gay rights issues differently since the positive response to the don’t ask, don’t tell repeal from people on the political left, many of whom have criticized him over issues like health care, climate change and immigration.
“He got this big bump from it in terms of the progressive base, and didn’t get a whole lot of heat, and I think that has given him a little more heart in feeling like L.G.B.T. issues aren’t as toxic as a lot of people have been painting them for the past 20 years,” she said.
While Mr. Obama has changed his legal position on the Defense of Marriage Act, his personal views on same-sex marriage — he opposes it, but favors civil unions — have not changed, the White House says.
A big question is whether they will. Mr. Obama has said his views are “evolving,” and some expect he will announce his support for same-sex marriage as he campaigns for re-election. But that could complicate Mr. Obama’s efforts to appeal beyond his liberal base.
“It’s still part of Obama’s record now,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist, who has advised Mr. Romney. “It’s one where it looks like he’s changing his position.”
Ashley Parker contributed reporting.
Photo: Mike Huckabee called the administration's new position “utterly inexplicable.”The New York Times...
February 24, 2011
Gay Marriage Seems to Wane as... more
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Police: Gardener admits killing gay rights activist in Uganda
From Tom Walsh, For CNN
February 3, 2011 4:46 p.m. EST
Suspect Enock Nsubuga was paraded in front of journalists in Kampala, Uganda, on Thursday.
Kampala, Uganda (CNN) -- Ugandan police announced Thursday the arrest of a 22-year-old man who they say confessed to killing gay rights activist David Kato.
In a news conference at which suspect Enock Nsubuga was presented to the media, authorities said he admitted using a hammer to bludgeon Kato to death.
Nsubuga was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon, though police said they'd been tracking him for several days.
The head of Uganda's national police, Kale Kayihura, said Thursday in the capital, Kampala, that Nsubuga was an ex-convict who had been working in Kato's garden at the time of the activist's death.
After being detained, Nsubuga admitted to killing Kato and explained why he did so, according to Kayihura.
According to the suspect, Kato, 46, promised to pay Nsubuga money for having sex with him. But Kato never followed through. An angered Nsubuga told police that he then took a hammer from the bathroom and fatally beat Kato.
Kayihura said he believes the attack was not a hate crime, as has been widely reported, but rather stemmed primarily from Nsubuga's desire to get money from Kato. The police chief denounced elements within the public, as well as the media, for reports that he claimed had fueled aggression against Uganda's homosexual community.
He specifically mentioned a report from Rolling Stone -- a Ugandan tabloid that is not affiliated with the iconic U.S. music magazine by the same name -- that published a list late last year of the African nation's "top 100 homosexuals" with their photos, addresses and a banner with the words "Hang Them." Kato's name and picture were on the list.
According to Kato's lawyer, the activist had feared for his safety prior to his death, even alerting police about his concerns.
Late last week, human rights activist Naomi Ruzindana said she did not believe the killing was a robbery gone wrong. "I don't think it's a coincidence that it happened ... he had got threats over and again," she said.
Nsubuga had a long criminal history, including being jailed recently for stealing a cell phone, police said.
According to neighbors, Nsubuga was last seen leaving the activist's house on Tuesday of last week. Kato was found dead the following day.
Chaos ensued at his funeral last Friday, after a pastor rebuked homosexuals at the service in Mukono, a small hillside village outside the capital. Mourners took away the man's microphone and police whisked him away from the angry crowds. A sympathetic Anglican bishop stepped in to finish the ceremony.
Homosexuality is illegal in most countries in Africa, where sodomy laws were introduced during colonialism. In Uganda, homosexual acts are punishable by 14 years to life in prison, according to rights activists.
Ugandan lawmakers shelved a controversial "anti-gay" proposal introduced in 2009 that would impose tough penalties against homosexuality, including life imprisonment and the death penalty.
Even with Nsubuga's arrest and alleged confession, as well as the earlier detainment of Kato's driver, the police chief said Thursday that the murder investigation is continuing.
ORIGINAL SUBMISSION:
http://current.com/shows/upstream/92944985_ugandan-gay-rights-activist-bludgeoned-to-death.htm
Note: The photo above is of the alleged killer, not of the beloved David Kato.Police: Gardener admits killing gay rights activist in Uganda
From Tom Walsh, For... more
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http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/02/01/us/BUSH/BUSH-articleInline.jpg
The New York Times
January 31, 2011
Bush Child, in a Break, Endorses Gay Marriage
By MICHAEL BARBARO
The Bush dynasty is no stranger to generational conflict: father and son differed over deposing Saddam Hussein, raising taxes and the role of the United Nations.
Now it is father and daughter who find themselves at odds over a weighty issue.
Barbara Bush, one of the twin daughters of George W. Bush, will endorse same-sex marriage on Tuesday, publicly breaking ranks with a father who, as president, pushed for a constitutional amendment banning such unions.
Ms. Bush, 29, has taped a video calling on New York to legalize gay marriage. A bill to do that was defeated in the state in 2009. She describes the issue as a matter of conscience and equality.
“I am Barbara Bush, and I am a New Yorker for marriage equality,” she says in the brief message, sponsored by an advocacy group. “New York is about fairness and equality. And everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love.”
The video ends with Ms. Bush, who lives in Manhattan, imploring the state’s residents to “join us.”
Ms. Bush is the latest child of a prominent Republican leader to embrace same-sex marriage, long considered anathema to the conservative movement. Gay rights advocates have been quick to seize on the generational split as evidence that the acceptance of same-sex marriage is blind to party affiliation and family values.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, has become an outspoken supporter of same-sex marriage, despite her father’s opposition to it. And Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, has forcefully backed it as well — and is widely credited with helping to persuade her father to do the same.
In the case of Mr. McCain, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush, it is not just their children who have supported it. So, to varying degrees, have their wives. Laura Bush, in a television interview in May, said, “When couples are committed to each other and love each other” they should have “the same sort of rights that everyone has.”
Ms. McCain, a blogger and author, has said it is unhealthy for members of political families to paper over disagreements on issues of social justice merely to project an image of harmony. “Wives and children should be able to speak their piece,” she said in a television interview last year. “I think it shows healthy dynamics within a family. We shouldn’t all think one way, and think one thing.”
Barbara Bush, who started a nonprofit group focused on global health, rarely speaks out on American political issues, making her foray into the same-sex marriage debate so striking. But for years, those close to her say, she has surrounded herself with gay friends — at Yale, where she was an undergraduate, and in New York City, where she worked in the design world.
C. Brian Smith, a friend from college who is gay, recalled that the Yale Ms. Bush inhabited was filled with openly gay students and unbothered by questions about sexuality. “She had that mind-set,” he said. “She was loved by the gay community at Yale.”
Members of the Bush family seemed uneager to discuss her entry into the marriage debate. Ms. Bush declined an interview request. A spokesman for Mr. Bush said he had no comment. Her sister, Jenna Bush Hager, a correspondent for “Today,” has not publicly discussed the topic.
The Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group that made the video, plans to show it Saturday at an annual gala in New York City. Advocates said it would show elected officials and voters that, in many cases, young people are not following in their parents’ ideological footsteps.
“No matter what party they belong to, young Americans believe in basic fairness and equality,” said Brian Ellner, who is overseeing the Human Rights Campaign’s bid to legalize same-sex marriage in New York.http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/02/01/us/BUSH/BUSH-articleInline.jpg
The... more
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Supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment should give U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a standing ovation right about now.
In widely quoted comments in the current issue of California Lawyer, Scalia said the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender.
That boils down to the idea that women are not part of the Constitution.
Bravo! That's just what supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment, known as E.R.A., have been saying for years.
The E.R.A. is rather simple. It would guarantee the equality of rights under the law not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. It gives Congress the power of enforcement.
Those who follow Scalia's decisions barely raised an eyebrow at his latest comments. He showed his view on sex discrimination in 1996 when he cast the sole vote in favor of the Virginia Military Institute's ability to discriminate against female applicants. Overall, his statements are less alarming than the media have trumpeted.
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 as part of the Reconstruction Amendments and was the basis for the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, leading to the dismantling of segregation laws in the South.
Read the full story on Women's eNews: http://www.womensenews.org/story/washington-outlookcongresswhite-house/110106/justice-scalia-makes-the-case-era-ratificationSupporters of the Equal Rights Amendment should give U.S. Supreme Court Justice... more
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New York gubernatorial candidate slams gays
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/10/new.york.paladino.gays/index.html?hpt=T1
New York gubernatorial candidate criticizes gays
From Cheryl Robinson, CNN
October 10, 2010 11:44 p.m. EDT
Paladino: Homosexuality not valid
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Republican Carl Paladino says homosexuality isn't "equally valid" with heterosexuality
* "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual," his prepared remarks say
* A spokesman for Paladino's opponent says comments reveal "stunning homophobia"
* Remarks come as New York police respond to anti-gay hate crimes against 4 men
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New York (CNN) -- New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino criticized gays Sunday, saying he didn't want children "to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option," compared to heterosexuality.
"It isn't," Paladino said at a stop in Brooklyn, New York.
A prepared version of his remarks obtained by CNN from New York affiliate NY1 said that "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual," though Paladino did not wind up delivering that line.
"That's not how (God) created us," the prepared remarks continued, though Paladino did not say those words.
Paladino distributed copies of his prepared remarks to reporters at the event, an address to a group of Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood.
The candidate's remarks came a day after New York police announced the arrest of an eighth suspect in a series of brutal, anti-gay hate crimes against four men.
The incident last weekend involved three victims being held against their will by as many as nine assailants who beat them in a vacant apartment and sodomized two of them, police said. A fourth victim was beaten and robbed in connection with the attacks.
"Don't misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way," Paladino said Sunday. "That would be a dastardly lie -- my approach is live and let live."
"I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family," he said.
Paladino also slammed his Democratic opponent, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, for marching in New York's gay pride parade in June.
"That's not the example that we should be showing the children and certainly not in our schools," he said.
Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto responded to Paladino's comments Sunday.
"Mr. Paladino's statement displays a stunning homophobia and a glaring disregard for basic equality," Vlasto said in a statement. "These comments along with other views he has espoused make it clear that he is way out of the mainstream and is unfit to represent New York."
Paladino's remarks also drew fire from gay rights groups.
"Carl Paladino's comments would matter if they were coming from a serious political figure, however they are not," said Christopher Barron, chairman of the gay conservative group GOProud, in an email to CNN. "They are instead coming from the imploding campaign of a man with the personal baggage of John Edwards and all the electability of Alan Keyes."
But Paladino's campaign manager, Michael Caputo, stood by the gubernatorial candidate's comments on homosexuality.
"Carl Paladino's position on this is exactly equivalent to the Catholic Church," Caputo told CNN. "And if Andrew Cuomo has a problem with the Catholic Church's position on abortion and homosexuality, he needs to take it up with his parish priest."
CNN's Mark Preston contributed to this report.New York gubernatorial candidate slams gays... more
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