May 14, 2012 – New York Times By JACQUELINE MROZ Sharine and Brian Kretchmar of Yukon, Okla., tried a number of medical treatments to conceive a second child. After a depressing series of failures, a doctor finally advised them to find a sperm donor. For more than a year, the Kretchmars carefully researched sperm banks and donors. The donor they chose was a family man, a Christian like them, they were told. Most important, he had a clean bill...

May 8, 2012 New York Times, By BRIAN STELTER On “Glee” this spring, a transgender character named Unique is competing in a sing-off. On “Grey’s Anatomy,” Arizona and Callie are adjusting to married life, having been pronounced “wife and wife” last year. On “Modern Family,” the nation’s most popular television show, Cameron and his partner Mitchell are trying to adopt a second child. What’s missing? The outrage. The cultural...

May 9, 2012 New York Times By ADAM NAGOURNEY President Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage on Wednesday was by any measure a watershed. A sitting United States president took sides in what many people consider the last civil rights movement, providing the most powerful evidence to date of how rapidly views are moving on an issue that was politically toxic just five years ago. Mr. Obama faces considerable risk in jumping into this debate, reluctantly...

Mombian.com May 3, 2012 Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) has just announced the publication of Transgender Family Law: A Guide to Effective Advocacy, “the first book to comprehensively address legal issues facing transgender people in the family law context and provide practitioners the tools to effectively represent transgender clients.” Co-editor Jennifer Levi, director of GLAD’s Transgender Rights Project, called the book...

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force – April 26, 2010 The Task Force applauds the U.S. Senate’s passage by a vote of 68-31 today of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization bill, which for the first time includes explicit protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) survivors of domestic violence. The 1994 federal law provides funds to enhance investigation and prosecution of violent crimes such as domestic violence...

March 23, 2012 New York Times By LOUISE RAFKIN WHEN Ellen DeGeneres married Portia de Rossi in 2008, people wanted to know two things: What did they wear? And was there a prenup? Regarding the first question, the couple wore Zac Posen. The second question — Ms. DeGeneres’s representatives did not respond when asked if she had a prenup or not — has become important for many other same-sex couples, who have discovered that all the new opportunities...

ThinkProgress.org, by Igor Volsky, February 24, 2012 Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) said that he respected Maryland’s right to decide the issue of marriage equality, just one day after that state passed legislation same-sex marriage. “The beauty of our regulators under the 10th amendment…is that states are the laboratories are democracy and innovation and they have the freedom to make different choices,” he said during a Politico forum...

WAVY.com, February 17, 2012 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – With little debate, a Senate committee has endorsed a House-passed bill allowing private child placement agencies to deny adoptions for gays or others who offend their religious or moral teaching. The measure heads to the Senate floor after an 8-7 party-line vote Friday in the Republican-dominated Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee. The Senate has already approved a similar bill and...

February 10, 2012 New York Times By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The State Senate passed legislation on Thursday allowing private adoption agencies to deny placements that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs, including opposition to homosexuality. The mostly party-line vote virtually ensures the Republican-backed bill will become law. The House has an identical bill, and Gov. Robert F. McDonnell says he will sign it. Virginia would become the second...

Aaron Vaughn, Web Producer FOX 13 News 11:24 a.m. MST, January 25, 2012 SALT LAKE CITY— If passed, Sen. Ross Romero’s Adoption by a Co-parent Bill would allow gay couples, or any unmarried couple living together, to adopt. “Some people may not want to marry or some people may not be able to marry, so this could apply with equal force if they were sisters,” says Romero, giving a hypothetical example. “One sister moved in with...