LGBTQ Nation – News & Issues relevant to today’s LGBTQ community

Obama criticizes Uganda’s ‘odius’ anti-gay legislation at prayer breakfast

President Barack Obama on Thursday sharply criticized the proposed anti-gay laws in Uganda that has drawn international condemnation for its severely penalties for homosexual behavior. "We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are -- whether it's here in the United States or, as Hillary (Clinton) mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda," Obama said in his remarks this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. The president's comments came after protests at his attending the prayer breakfast, an ...

U.S. Military’s top brass ready to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

The nation's top military officer said Tuesday that he supported allowing gays to openly serve in the U.S. armed forces, invoking the words of President Obama in calling it "the right thing to do". [caption id="attachment_5741" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Mullen (right) and Gates, before the Senate Armed Services Committee.Department of Defense photo by Cherie Cullen."][/caption] Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff added a powerful and influential voice to the controversial issue of gays in the military, as the Pentagon announced steps to prepare for ending its 17-year-old policy referred to as "Don't ...

Testimony concludes in historic legal challenge over gay marriage ban

Testimony concluded Wednesday in the landmark case against California's Proposition 8, with attorneys for the two same-sex couples who mounted the challenge confident, and Prop 8 defenders hopeful that the gay marriage ban will prevail. Legal experts following the trial expect Chief U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker to find that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. Even the "Yes on 8" legal team has intimated in recent days they are bracing for a decision favorable to the plaintiffs. Whatever Walker decides, the ruling almost certainly will be appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and eventually to the U.S. ...

Prop 8 trial: Final defense witness concedes no harm caused by gay unions

Opponents of same-sex marriage in California rolled out their star witness Tuesday, an author and advocate who, at first, predicted that allowing gays and lesbians to wed would discourage heterosexual marriage and might lead to legalized polygamy, but then seemed to contradict his entire position. The final defense witness in the legal challenge of California's Proposition 8, David Blankenhorn of the conservative think tank Institute for American Values, began his testimony asserting that the best environment for children is a marriage between a man and a woman. Blankenhorn said he believes "leading scholars" share his view that same-sex marriage would erode traditional ...

Defense witness calls gays a ‘politically powerful force’ as plaintiffs rest case

The defense team opened their case in federal court Monday in the challenge against Proposition 8, arguing that gays and lesbians are a politically powerful force, with strong allies in high office, unions, corporations and the media. The testimony was intended to counter arguments by plaintiffs seeking to overturn California's ban on gay marriage, that the measure discriminated against a persecuted, powerless group and thus was unconstitutional. Claremont McKenna College professor Kenneth P. Miller, the first witness for defense, was called to the stand to rebut a plaintiff's expert who testified that gays were politically powerless. The question of power is part of ...