By On Top Magazine Staff Published: January 22, 2012 Virginia lawmakers are set to consider opposing gay adoption bills, the AP reported. Democratic Senator Adam Ebbin is the sponsor of a bill that would bar the state from funding adoption agencies which discriminate against foster or adoptive parents based on sexual orientation or gender identity. “One major issue is whether charities that receive tax dollars should be able to discriminate,”...

New York Times December 13, 2011 By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD Since the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage, such couples are viewed as strangers in many spheres of their financial lives. They need to file separate federal tax returns, for instance. And sometimes, that can come with certain advantages. Take the adoption tax credit. If you adopt your spouse’s child, you cannot claim the credit. But since same-sex married couples are...

By Lauren Smiley Mon., Oct. 17 2011 SFWeekly.com Some social conservatives have bizarrely charged that making LGBT history a part of the state-mandated curriculum is just a veiled lesson on how to be gay. But for a small percentage of San Francisco kids, that classroom instruction won’t just be history lessons about a marginalized minority group — that coursework will help them define their own families. Four percent of students in...

By On Top Magazine Staff Published: October 03, 2011 The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) on Monday criticized Colorado Rep. Jared Polis’ announcement of his son Caspian Julius. On Friday, Polis and his domestic partner, writer Marlon Reis, announced the birth of Caspian, making Polis, who is serving his second term in office, the first openly gay parent in Congress. “Baby and parents are doing well, [and] baby has learned to cry...

SDGLN.com Staff September 29th, 2011 Editor’s note: These estimates include only couples where one partner is identified as being the spouse of the person who owns or rents the house. SAN DIEGO – California leads the nation with the most same-sex couples, according to the 2010 Census. The Golden State had 98,153 same-sex couples, followed by New York with 48,932, Florida with 48,496 and Texas with 46,401. North Dakota had the fewest same-sex...

Sunday, August 14, 2011    Last updated: Sunday August 14, 2011, 5:24 PM BY HARVY LIPMAN AND DAVE SHEINGOLD STAFF WRITERS The Record By the 2000s, though, they had noticed a dramatic rise in the number of gay couples living in the suburbs, a trend confirmed by new census numbers released last week. According to those figures, culled from the 2010 census, the number of households in North Jersey headed by same-sex partners grew by 30 percent in...

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage by Nancy Polikoff An Ohio trial judge granted Julie Rowell temporary visitation with the daughter she raised for five years with her former partner, Julie Smith. The child was conceived through donor insemination while the couple was together. When Smith refused to allow the court-ordered temporary visitation, the trial judge held her in contempt of court. Last week, an Ohio appeals...

June 3, 2011 New York Times By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES (AP) — The case of the doctor who lost his license for helping “Octomom” bear the world’s largest-surviving brood of babies has rattled the field of fertility medicine — a $3 billion industry with little regulation. When the Medical Board of California revoked the license of Dr. Michael Kamrava on Wednesday, it was a rare outcome that came more than two years...

Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage – Nancy Polikof – May 14, 2011 Timo Miller, the Christian missionary and Mennonite pastor arrested last month for aiding and abetting the international kidnapping of Isabella Miller-Jenkins by her biological mother, Lisa Miller, has set up a website telling his side of the story and seeking funds for his defense. A Vermont court ordered a change of custody after Lisa repeatedly defied the court orders...

Michigan Messenger – By Todd A. Heywood | 05.11.11 After the state legislature failed to override the Michigan Civil Service Commission decision to offer insurance benefits to unmarried partners of state employees, Republicans are trying a different tack. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has filed a lawsuit to void that decision. The key issue here is whether the state’s anti-gay marriage amendment, passed in 2004, forbids such benefits...