Justice Department

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department launched a program Thursday to train local police departments to better respond to transgender individuals, a population authorities say is disproportionately harmed by violence. [ Read more → ]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told a Human Rights Campaign audience in New York Saturday that, beginning Monday, he “will – for the first time in history – formally instruct all Justice Department employees to give lawful same-sex marriages full and equal recognition, to the greatest extent possible under the law.” But there have been some mixed assessments of how big this news really is. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- In an assertion of same-sex marriage rights, Attorney General Eric Holder is applying a landmark Supreme Court ruling to the Justice Department, announcing Saturday that same-sex spouses cannot be compelled to testify against each other, should be eligible to file for bankruptcy jointly and are entitled to the same rights and privileges as federal prison inmates in opposite-sex marriages. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday extended federal recognition to the marriages of more than 1,000 same-sex couples in Utah that took place before the Supreme Court put those unions in the state on hold. [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against a Texas recreational vehicle park for alleged discrimination against a transgender woman. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says the Supreme Court's decision declaring the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional is an "enormous triumph" for equal protection under the law for all Americans. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Departments of Justice at State celebrated LGBT pride this week, with events attended by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State John Kerry, respectively. [ Read more → ]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that marriage equality for gays and lesbians is the next big civil rights issue. [ Read more → ]

LOS ANGELES -- A lawsuit brought by a lesbian U.S. Army veteran and her wife over the denial of disability benefits can move forward over the objections of the Department of Justice, a federal judge in California ruled Monday. [ Read more → ]

The Obama administration on Friday filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing why it considers the federal Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional. [ Read more → ]

The Obama administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to make the case of an 83-year-old New York lesbian who had to pay $363,000 in estate taxes its highest priority among the pending lawsuits challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. [ Read more → ]

All eyes are on the Supreme Court, with a big marriage showdown shaping up on the horizon. Two county clerks in Illinois have won right to defend the state's marriage ban. And equality gets a thumbs up from Methodists, and a thumbs down -- for now -- from Presbyterians. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) attorneys on Friday formally appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court an appeals court decision determining the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, according to a Democratic aide. [ Read more → ]

FORT SMITH, Ark. -- An Arkansas university has changed its restroom policies after a transgender student filed a complaint with the U.S Department of Justice. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House voted late Wednesday night in favor of a measure that aims to stop the Obama administration from taking any action in violation of the Defense of Marriage Act — even though the administration continues to enforce the law. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- A Republican-led House panel may intervene as soon as next week against litigation that aims to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act on the grounds that it unfairly prohibits gay troops from obtaining benefits for their same-sex spouses. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Friday in a letter to Congress that the administration would no longer defend in court a law barring married gay troops from receiving spousal benefits. [ Read more → ]

From the repeal of "Don't Ask-Don't Tell," a policy which had banned gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U. S. military, to winning strategic battles in gaining civil unions and full marriage equality for same-sex couples in several states, victories in a significant series of elective offices across the country, 2011 ended on an upbeat note for the nation's LGBTQ community. [ Read more → ]

Bullying of LGBT youth is making up a growing number of discrimination complaints received by the Obama administration, according to Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. [ Read more → ]

Judicial Watch announced Wednesday it has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the Family Research Council, seeking records related to the Obama Administration’s decision not to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. [ Read more → ]

In a sharply worded editorial, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune this week criticized the Anoka-Hennepin School District, calling the state's largest schools district "gutless" for it's neutrality policy on LGBT issues. [ Read more → ]

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted an emergency order Friday night, temporarily reinstating its original stay of an order that had prohibited the government from enforcing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. [ Read more → ]

The Obama administration on Thursday asked a federal appeals court to reconsider an order that requires the immediate end to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the policy banning gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. [ Read more → ]

A federal court on Monday ordered the Obama Administration to reveal whether it intends to defend the constitutionality of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the military's ban on openly gay service members. [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Department of Justice has withdrawn its appeal of a recent U.S. Bankruptcy Court ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. [ Read more → ]