Now that the Memorial Day weekend festivities are behind me and I’ve managed to sort through everything that came into the office while I was off enjoying some R and R, I thought I’d do a quick recap of some of the newsworthy happenings in the LGBT world in recent days.
The San Francisco Giants have joined the It Gets Better Project, aimed at helping LGBT youth. Kudos to the team!
The White House has launched its new web portal with the noble goal of “winning the future” for the LGBT citizenry. President Obama signed a proclamation in honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month that you can read here. Happy Pride Month everyone!
Minnesota is gearing up to legislate discrimination against lesbian and gay couples in the form of a ban on same-sex marriage. The legislature approved the ballot measure on May 21st. To combat the outright lies that the opposition is known to spread during such campaigns, proponents of same-sex marriage have released the following video:
Illinois civil unions for same-sex couples began today! Congratulations and much happiness to those who stood in long lines to obtained a license. Read: Gay couples line up for licenses as Illinois’ civil union law takes effect [Chicago Sun Times]
A giant BOO HISS to the Rockford, Ill., Catholic Diocese which announced last week (in advance of the Illinois civil union law going into effect) that it would discontinue adoption and foster care programs rather than be forced to serve same-sex or unmarried opposite-sex couples under the new civil unions law. Let’s all hate in the name of religion. Works for me. Here’s a scary quote from Bob Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois:
“We’re not bluffing. This is a serious issue. No diocese is going to willingly put a child in a same-sex household.”
Read: Illinois Catholic diocese ends adoptions, foster service over objections to new gay rights law.
Folks, that’s a lot of LGBT news!
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Disclaimer: The information, comments and links posted on the blog do not constitute legal advice. I will not respond to any specific legal questions in the comments section of this blog. Read my entire disclaimer.
copyright 2011 Irene C. Olszewski
Connecticut Lesbian and Gay Law 