Political articles/news from local authors
Senator Ted Cruz of shut-down-the-government fame is introducing the companion bill to a House measure that would stop the federal government from recognizing same sex marriages in states that ban the practice. The Washington Blade reports: Tea Party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced legislation on Thursday in the U.S. Senate to prohibit the federal […]
Amid rising momentum in favor of legalizing gay marriage, Bob Vander Plaats, the Iowa conservative activist who helped both Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum win the last two Republican caucuses in his state, said he would strongly oppose any Republican presidential candidate who backed same-sex unions and predicted such a person would not be able
A US congresswoman from California is re-introducing a proposed ban on reparative or conversion therapy for gay youth. LGBTQ Nation reports: U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) on Wednesday reintroduced a resolution asking the U.S. House of Representatives to encourage states to take steps to prevent minors from being harmed by controversial and discredited gay-to-straight conversion
Senate Democrats are considering offering an amendment to include gay and lesbian binational couples to the immigration reform bill on the floor instead of in committee. The Washington Blade explains: Late Thursday, Politico reported that Democrats are asking the White House to tell Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to withhold amendments for bi-national same-sex couples until
President Obama stepped into the immigration reform controversy around binational couples today. Pink News reports: US President Barack Obama has said that he thinks recognising gay couples in a broad immigration bill currently pending in Congress is “the right thing to do”. The President did not specify whether or not he would sign legislation, if
Two US Senators, a Democrat and Republican, are introducing a bill that would help level the tax playing field for LGBT citizens. LGBTQ Nation reports: U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Monday introducing the Tax Parity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act, a bill that would end the taxation of employer-provided health
Just as US Senate Democrats opposed to marriage equality quickly dwindled last month, House Democrats are doing the same. The latest – California representative Jim Costa. Towleroad reports: “In the San Joaquin Valley, family always comes first but what that family looks like is not always the same. While I respect the opinion of those
Will the next Republican nominee for President support gay marriage? It is a question that was unthinkable years ago, but amid a rapid shift in public opinion and demographics, it is being seriously considered in GOP circles. “At the rate this issue is changing within the party, I think it’s not out of the question,”
Why has the last month seen such a rush of Senators supporting marriage equality? Nate Silver, our community’s statistics guru, explains. From 538.com: The hypothesis implied by the model is that this timing reflects when same-sex marriage began to reach a national majority (or at least a plurality) in some polls. Otherwise, it is hard
There’s lots being written out there today about and by the GOP on marriage equality. Let’s start with this charming quote from Rush Limbaugh, as reported in Gay Star News: Limbaugh asked his caller, ‘What do you say to people who say – “you know what … you’re old fashioned, you’re stuck in the past.
