Supporters of Proposition 8 have made child-rearing a focus of the trial. But no other group is prohibited from marrying because of parental abilities, or lack thereof. June 16, 2010 - LATimes.com It wasn’t surprising that the federal trial on Proposition 8 in January confirmed that the same-sex marriage ban is destructive to family life and discriminatory toward a group that has historically been subject to abuse. What did surprise us: Some...

Jun. 05, 2010 BY LEE LOGAN Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau When voters choose from among five candidates to be Florida’s next attorney general, their decision could have a profound effect on some of the state’s most highly charged issues, from gay adoption to healthcare reform. Florida’s unique gay adoption ban underscores how the state’s chief legal officer can use the position to advance a personal philosophy while adhering...

By Tomer Zarchin - May 18, 2010 www.haaretz.com - There are no legal obstacles to a paternity test that would establish whether Dan Goldberg is indeed the father of twins Itai and Liron, the Jerusalem District Attorney’s office informed Family Court judge Philip Marcus yesterday. The statement came in response to a request by Marcus for the district attorney and the twins’ court-appointed guardian to clarify their position on the test. The...

By Carlos Santoscoy Published: May 18, 2010Portugal’s gay marriage law specifically forbids married gay and lesbian couples from adopting children. On Monday, Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva announced he would ratify the gay marriage bill approved by lawmakers in January, making Portugal the sixth European nation to grant gay couples the right to marry. The president lamented his decision, saying he was only doing so because Social...

Advocate.com May 15, 2010 By Advocate.com Editors A lesbian couple are suing Iowa state officials for printing on their daughter’s birth certificate that she has only one parent and was born out of wedlock. Heather Lynn Martin Gartner, 38, and Melissa McCoy Gartner, 39, filed suit against two state health department officials on behalf of their daughter Mackenzie, who was born in September, because her birth certificate lists only Heather as the...

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald Religion News Service (RNS) The Archdiocese of Boston says that children of same-sex couples are welcome in its schools, after a local school rejected a student with lesbian parents. Superintendent of Catholic Schools Mary Grassa O’Neill said the archdiocese will develop a policy to eliminate any misunderstandings about its openness to children of gay parents. “We believe that every parent who wishes to send their...

May 5, 2010 - New york Times - by CLIFFORD J. LEVY   MOSCOW — After nearly a month of contradictory signals, a senior Russian official is now making clear that the government has not halted the adoption of Russian children by Americans. The official, Andrei A. Fursenko, the education and science minister, whose agency oversees adoptions, said Tuesday night that the Russian government had not formally put in place a legal suspension of these adoptions. Mr....

May 4, 2010 - New York Times - By JEREMY W. PETERS ALBANY — New York State’s highest court somewhat expanded the rights of gay and lesbian parents on Tuesday in a narrow ruling that said nonbiological parents in same-sex relationships should be treated the same as biological parents. But the high court, the Court of Appeals, declined to resolve two cases involving lesbian parents and instead sent both back to lower courts, saying that the question...

By Carlos Santoscoy Published: April 30, 2010 An immigration reform “framework” proposed Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and fellow Democrats includes gay families. The inclusion is likely to anger social conservatives and major immigration allies. Included in the “framework” are key provisions of the Uniting American Families Act. The legislation was previously offered as a standalone bill by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont...

April 8, 2010 New York Times By JOHN SCHWARTZ The scene was similar to one that plays out thousands of times a year in gyms and auditoriums around the country: a college fair. The folding tables, the school banners, the admissions officers with a student representative or two, and the brochures and tchotchkes laid out. The only thing that might have made this one appear out of the ordinary was the preponderance of handouts with rainbow designs, and...