Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, kicked off San Francisco’s annual gay pride parade Sunday by splitting with her husband over support for legalized same-sex marriage. I don’t know why someone else’s marriage has anything to do with me, Mrs. Edwards said at a news conference before the parade started. ”I’m completely [...]

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Walmart Shuns Gay Groups

June 22nd, 2007

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has decided to curb its support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) organizations after conservative Christian groups threatened a boycott, and after some of its own employees expressed disapproval. The move comes a year after Wal-Mart had put on a gay-friendly smile. The company joined the National Gay and [...]

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Under heavy police guard, gay activists marched in a Pride parade in downtown Jerusalem on Thursday, sparking a noisy counter-demonstration by ultra-Orthodox Jews and denunciations by Muslim and Christian leaders. A 32-year-old ultra-Orthodox man carrying what police called “a homemade explosive device” was arrested before the parade’s kickoff, and city officials forced the cancellation of [...]

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The Democratically-controlled New York State assembly passed Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s bill to legalize same-sex marriage Tuesday night in a decisive 85-61 vote. Gay rights advocates hailed it as a victory even though the bill stands almost no chance of being voted on in the state senate, where Republicans hold a slim two-seat majority. “The assembly [...]

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Sen. Hillary Clinton went a long way this month toward neutralizing her one lingering Achilles’ heel with LGBT voters when she shifted her stance on the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 bill signed into law by her husband that grants state governments the right not to recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions performed in [...]

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Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York federal court late last week on behalf of a same-sex couple after the self-described “America’s #1 home loan lender” refused to add one partner to the other’s existing mortgage and then threatened to foreclose on their home. “Everyone from kids to creditors knows [...]

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

June 18th, 2007

“There are some things that we were able to discuss that we weren’t able to discuss with Rosie, like heterosexual sex.” —Barbara Walters to Ryan Seacrest on his KISS-FM radio show On-Air with Ryan Seacrest Wednesday, about how The View had changed since Rosie O’Donnell’s departure.

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In a key victory for the marriage rights movement, the Massachusetts Legislature Thursday narrowly defeated a bid to place a marriage ban on the 2008 ballot. The 151-45 vote against the proposal means marriage opponents could not place another ban on the ballot until 2012.

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Massachusetts lawmakers blocked a proposed ballot measure Thursday that would have let voters decide whether to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage in the only state that allows it. The narrow vote was a victory for marriage equality advocates and a blow to efforts to reverse the historic court ruling that legalized same-sex [...]

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Ending Unfair Tax Treatment

June 13th, 2007

Under federal tax law, same-sex couples who receive domestic partner benefits have to pay taxes on those benefits — but opposite-sex couples get their spousal benefits tax-free. To end this injustice, a new bill has been introduced in Congress, the Domestic Partner Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act.

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