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Illinois Treasurer expands gay partner benefits for department employees
With six months left in his four-year term, Illinois state Treasurer (and candidate for U.S. Senate) Alexi Giannoulias signed an executive order on Sunday extending family-leave benefits to gay and lesbian employees in domestic partnerships. The new policy will allow gay and lesbian employees of his office to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid […]
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Missouri trooper’s death leaves longtime partner without state benefits
The recent death of a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper is once again putting the rights of same-sex couples under scrutiny. When Highway Patrol Cpl. Dennis Engelhard was killed in a Christmas Day traffic accident near Eureka, the agency described him as single with no […]
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Prop 8, Day 6: San Diego mayor tells how he came to support gay marriage
The second week of gay marriage on trial, the federal case challenging California’s Proposition 8, opened Tuesday with San Diego’s mayor as the star witness. Mayor Jerry Sanders, a Republican, testified he now supports gay marriage, saying his views evolved after learning one of his daughters was a lesbian who wanted to marry her partner. […]
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Rhode Island lawmakers override veto, allow funeral planning rights for gays
On their first day back at work, Rhode Island lawmakers Tuesday wasted no time in overriding 15 vetos by Republican Governor Don Carcieri, including the bill to grant funeral decision-making rights to same-sex couples. The House, and then the Senate, voted to override Carcieri’s veto of a bill grating domestic partners the right to claim […]
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Austria to allow civil partnerships for gay couples
Austria’s government agreed a new law Tuesday allowing civil partnerships for homosexual couples, although ceremonies at the civil registry’s office will still be banned, AFP reports. The compromise, achieved after weeks of wrangling between the ruling Social Democrats and their conservative coalition partner in government, will give gay couples equal rights to heterosexuals with regards […]
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Rhode Island governor open to domestic partnerships
PROVIDENCE — Two days after vetoing a bill giving domestic partners the right to make funeral decisions for each other, a conciliatory Governor Don Carcieri told a gay-rights activist group he is open to supporting a domestic-partnership law that bestows many if not all of the rights of marriage, without the right to marry, the […]
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Rhode Island governor vetoes funeral planning rights for gay partners
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — An opponent of same-sex marriage, Governor Don Carcieri has vetoed a bill giving domestic partners the right to claim the bodies of — and make funeral arrangements for — their loved ones, reports the Nashua Telegraph. The socially conservative Republican said the proposed protection represents a “disturbing trend” of the incremental […]
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DC council revises bill, expects to approve gay marriage this year
D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) released Monday a revised draft of the bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the nation’s capital, removing language that would have phased out city registration of new domestic partnerships, the Washington Blade reports. Mendelson, who chairs the Council committee that has jurisdiction over the bill, also broadened the […]
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Advocates press for gay marriage bill in NJ before governor leaves office
The battle over gay rights moves to New Jersey and the federal government, advocates said, after Tuesday’s narrow rejection of same-sex marriage by Maine voters. The Democrat-controlled legislature in New Jersey, which currently recognizes same-sex couples in civil unions, is under pressure to pass a bill authorizing gay marriage before Gov. Jon Corzine ends his […]
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Election night brings victory and defeat for gay candidates, issues across the nation
It was to be a night of hope and promise for the LGBT community, but instead the crushing defeat of Maine’s gay marriage law delivered another setback for gay rights advocates and overshadowed many other victories at the ballot box Tuesday. In Maine, voters on Tuesday rejected a law allowing gay marriage, a closely fought […]