Living in a Post-DOMA World

NCLR.org, June 26, 2013

The Supreme Court victory on June 26, 2013  in United States v. Windsor striking down the discriminatory federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) affirms that all loving and committed couples who are married deserve equal legal respect and treatment from the federal government. The demise of DOMA marks a turning point in how the United States government treats the relationships of married same-sex couples for federal programs that are linked to being married. At the same time, a turning point is part of a longer journey, not the end of the road. There is much work ahead before same-sex couples living across the nation can enjoy all the same protections as their different-sex counterparts.

LGBT organizations have developed fact sheets on what the decision means for you.

Click here to read the fact sheets.

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Louisiana House gives final approval to surrogate parenting bill that would bar unmarried, gay couples

By Lauren McGaughy, NOLA.com The Times-Picayune

June 03, 2013

Unmarried and gay couples in Louisiana will be blocked from becoming surrogate parents if Gov. Bobby Jindal signs a bill approved by the House on Sunday. The bill would set up surrogacy contract rules in the state as well as define who is eligible to enter into such contracts.

The final version of Senate Bill 162 defines “intended parents” as “married persons,” thus barring unmarried partners and same-sex couples from becoming parents through surrogacy. However, much of the opposition to the heavily amended bill came from religious and conservative groups who consider all surrogacy “anti-life.”

Louisiana law currently states any surrogate contract in the state is “unenforceable” and absolutely null and void, which proponents of the bill says has led to problems surrounding the legal rights of surrogate mothers, their spouses and the intended parents.

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The Affordable Care Act and LGBT Families: Everything You Need to Know

By Heron Greenesmith, Andrew Cray, and Kellan Baker | May 23, 2013

Center For American Progress

President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ACA, into law on March 23, 2010. Many Americans have already benefited from the ACA, and millions more will benefit as the law fully comes into effect. By January 1, 2014, the law’s provisions will be underway, ensuring that millions of Americans will be able to afford the health care that they need.

This guide will help couples and parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, understand how the ACA benefits LGBT people and their families. The guide provides a basic overview of the Affordable Care Act, a review of how the act helps you and your family, and an explanation of how you and your family can access affordable health insurance.

Health Insurance Marketplaces

The Affordable Care Act established online Health Insurance Marketplaces, and starting January 1, 2014, each state will offer its own Marketplace system. Some Marketplaces will be run by the state itself, some through a partnership with the federal government, while others will be run by the federal government alone.

The Marketplaces will act as a one-stop shop for health insurance. Every American will be able to buy insurance directly through his or her Marketplace website, hotline, or physical office and receive assistance from unbiased consumer-assistance agents called “Navigators.”

An overview of the Affordable Care Act

The ACA requires nearly all Americans to have access to affordable health insurance starting in 2014. If you cannot get insurance for yourself or your family through your employer, you will be able to buy insurance through your state’s Health Insurance Marketplace.

Click here to read the entire article.

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LGBT: Portuguese parliament approves right to adoption – Portugal

May 17, 2103 – Portugese-Amercian-Journal.com

Portuguese parliament has approved Friday two bills that will allow gay couples to adopt children. The bill was approved with 99 votes in favor, 94 votes against, and 9 abstentions.

The bills were supported by the ruling center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the progressive Socialist Party (PS).

The Portuguese parliament had approved the right to same-sex marriages in 2010, but without adoption rights. The law allowed gay couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples, including taxes, inheritance and housing, but didn’t offer the right to adopt children.

Portugal is among the first 10 counties in the world to allow same-sex marriage. As recently as 1982, homosexuality was a crime in Portugal.

Today, Portugal has wide-ranging anti-discrimination laws and is one of the few countries in the world to contain a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation in its Constitution.

The first same-sex marriages in the world took place in the Netherlands on April 1, 2001. The countries that followed were Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina and Brazil.

Click here to read the entire article.

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Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee Signs Gay Marriage Bill

Ontopmag.com, by Carlos Santoscoy – May 2, 2013

Moments after a gay marriage bill cleared its final legislative hurdle on Thursday, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, an independent, signed it into law on the steps of the State House.

The measure cleared the Senate last Wednesday with the help of all 5 of its Republican members.  It returned to a House committee on Wednesday to reconcile some language differences between a version approved three months earlier in the House.

House lawmakers approved the legislation with a 56-15 vote, a better outcome for supporters than the previous 51-19 vote.

Click here to read the entire article.

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Delaware Becomes the 11th State to Allow Same-Sex Marriage

By Eric Eckholm, May 7, 2013 – New York TImes

Delaware on Tuesday became the 11th state to permit same-sex marriage, the latest in a string of victories for those working to extend marital rights to gay and lesbian couples.

The marriage bill passed the State Senate by a vote of 12 to 9 Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s a great day in Delaware,” said Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, who signed it within minutes of passage before an overjoyed crowd of activists. “I am signing this bill now because I do not intend to make any of you wait one moment longer.”

Same-sex couples will be eligible for marriage licenses on July 1.

Adoption of same-sex marriage by Delaware came just five days after a similar decision in Rhode Island and followed ballot-box victories last fall in Maine, Maryland and Washington.

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Iowa, USA: State Supreme Court Rules in Landmark Gay Adoption Case

The Iowa state Supreme Court ruled that the state must issue birth certificates to same-sex couples showing both spouses as parents. Lambda Legal reports:

In the decision, Justice Wiggins wrote, “By naming the nonbirthing spouse on the birth certificate of a married lesbian couple’s child, the child is ensured support from that parent and the parent establishes fundamental legal rights at the moment of birth. Therefore, the only explanation for not listing the nonbirthing lesbian spouse on the birth certificate is stereotype or prejudice.”

“The Court meant what it said in the Varnum decision: same-sex couples and their families must be treated equally under the law,” said Camilla Taylor, Marriage Project Director in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional Office based in Chicago. “Same-sex couples and their children do not get marriage-lite. Marriage is marriage and equal is equal. We take for granted that a husband is the father of a child born to his wife through reproductive technology – regardless of whether he is his child’s genetic parent. The same marital protection for both parents’ relationships to their child holds true for same-sex couples and their children.”

Click here to read the entire article.

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Paul Ryan Reverses Course On Gay Adoption; Says He Regrets 1999 Vote

By    On Top Magazine Staff            Published:    May 01, 2013

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan on Monday reversed course on gay adoption, saying that he regrets a 1999 vote.

During a Wisconsin town hall, Ryan was asked to explain his long record of voting against gay rights.  Ryan rates a zero percent by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) for not co-sponsoring any of the 11 gay rights-related bills currently before Congress, including the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and Uniting American Families Act (UAFA).

Ryan said he would undo a 1999 vote against adoption for gay and lesbian couples in the District of Columbia.

“Adoption, I’d vote differently these days. That was I think a vote I took in my first term, 1999 or 2000. I do believe that if there are children who are orphans who do not have a loving person or couple … I think if a person wants to love and raise a child they ought to be able to do that. Period. I would vote that way,” he said.

 

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Push to Include Gay Couples in Immigration Bill

April 30, 2013
New York Times

This has been a good year for gay rights advocates — with public opinion shifting in their favor and same-sex marriage advancing in the states — but not when it comes to immigration.

An 844-page bill introduced in the Senate in mid-April by a bipartisan group of eight lawmakers includes measures to make legal immigration easier for highly skilled immigrants, migrant farmworkers and those living here illegally. It has no provisions that would help foreigners who are same-sex partners of American citizens to become legal permanent residents.

Gay advocates were sharply disappointed to find that same-sex couples were excluded from the legislation, since the Democrats who wrote it included two of their most consistent champions, Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second highest-ranking Senate Democrat. Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the Democrat who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, where the bill is under consideration, has offered, since as far back as 2003, a separate measure that would allow immigrants in long-term same-sex relationships to obtain residency with a green card.

But in the lengthy closed-door negotiations that produced the overhaul proposal, the four Republicans in the bipartisan group made it clear early on that they did not want to include such a hot-button issue in a bill that would be a challenge to sell to their party even without it, according to Senate staff members. The Republicans are Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Jeff Flake and John McCain of Arizona, and Marco Rubio of Florida.

Many Republicans in both houses of Congress oppose any recognition of same-sex unions.

Now, with the immigration bill scheduled to advance next week toward a vote in the Judiciary Committee, Democrats are in a quandary about whether to offer an amendment that would give green cards to same-sex partners.

Republican sponsors of the overhaul warned on Tuesday that such an amendment would sink the entire measure.

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Australian Bill Seeks To Recognize International Marriages Of Gay Couples

By    On Top Magazine Staff                                 Published:    April 18, 2013

An Australian senator is expected to propose legislation which would recognize the international marriages of gay and lesbian couples.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said she would introduce the bill next month.

The move comes a day after nearby New Zealand approved a gay marriage bill.

“Australia same-sex couples are now lining up to get married in New Zealand and the sad thing is they are not going to be recognized here,” Hanson-Young told ABC News 24. “They shouldn’t have to leave their marriage at the customs gate.  Let’s recognize overseas marriage here in Australia.”

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