United States, North America

Owing to the United States' federal system and the diversity in attitudes toward LGBT rights, the status of LGBT civil rights in the U.S. is at present a patchwork. At the federal level, there is no recognition of same-sex unions and no laws forbidding employment discrimination against LGBT persons. Some states have enacted such laws, however. State legislatures in Connecticut (2005), California (1999), Hawaii (1996), Maine (2004), New Jersey (2006), Washington (2007), New Hampshire (2007), Oregon (2007) Vermont (1999) and the District of Columbia (2001) have enacted either civil unions or more limited domestic partnership options for same-sex couples. Since 2004 marriage is open to gays in Massachusetts; Connecticut made it available in 2008. More states are debating it currently. For more, click here.

 

News & Reports:

 

US Government Team To Discuss Human Rights With Uganda’s Museveni

The US deputy Secretary of State Ambassador William Burns, is leading a high profile delegation to Uganda Friday to discuss human rights with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. The delegation is also understood to deliberate on a range of bilateral issues, including regional security and good governance with the Ugandan government. Ambassador Burns is the top… Read more »

Barack Obama Includes Gay Troops In SOTU

President Barack Obama included the contributions of gay troops in his State of the Union address delivered Tuesday evening. An overarching theme in Obama’s speech, titled An America Built to Last, was lessons that could be gleaned from the military’s spirit of inclusion and teamwork. “Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and… Read more »

Gay bishop documentary takes center stage at Sundance

It’s been years since the incident, but Bishop Gene Robinson’s heart still races when he sees it on film. Robinson, the Episcopal Church’s first openly bishop, was preaching in London when a man in the audience stood and began yelling at him. The heckler waved a motorcycle helmet in his hand as he ranted. Robinson… Read more »

Groundbreaking Global Report on LGBT Tourism Released Created Through UNWTO-IGLTA partnership

The United Nations World Tourism Organization unveiled its first report on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) tourism today during FITUR, Spain’s leading international tourism trade fair. Created in partnership with the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, the inaugural 40-page “Global Report on LGBT Tourism” includes case studies and commentaries documenting the economic and… Read more »

All 100 Firms On Fortune’s Best Companies List Protect Gay Workers

All 100 Firms On Fortune’s Best Companies List Protect Gay Workers Gay workers are for the first time protected at all 100 firms on Fortune’s Best Companies To Work For list, CNN.com reported. In 2008, 95 of the companies on the financial glossy’s top 100 list included non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation. That number… Read more »

Telenovelas, Erections, and Raising Sexually Healthy Teens

When Enrique first joined our family, we agreed to one hour of television per night. He was 13 and had been used to non-stop TV, so this was a big change. He didn’t resist, but I realize now that to him, one hour was a shocking restriction. Spanish was still his dominant language, and he… Read more »

No Asians!

Navigating the pitfalls of anti-Asian sentiments in online hookup sites. I more or less forgot about the Internet tricking grind. I’m happily settled with a man, and we don’t have one of those one-eye-over-the-shoulder relationships where we each wait for the other to leave the apartment and then hit the web for the day’s hookups.… Read more »

Two lesbian contestants make history at Miss California USA

Two women competing in Miss California USA this weekend are the first openly gay contestants in the pageant’s 60-year history. Not one but two lesbians are competing to win the Miss California USA beauty pageant. According to local media reports which describe their participation as history in the making, beauty queens Mollie Thomas, 19, and… Read more »

Critics assail crime laws aimed at people with HIV

New York(AP) — A man in Texas is serving a 35-year prison sentence for spitting at a police officer — because he has the virus that causes AIDS and his saliva was deemed a deadly weapon. In Michigan, an HIV-positive man who allegedly bit a neighbor during an argument faced a bioterrorism charge. Charges for… Read more »

Delaware, Hawaii To Ring In New Year With Civil Unions For Gay Couples

Delaware and Hawaii will become the two latest states to recognize the relationships of gay and lesbian couples with civil unions on New Year’s Day. The civil unions laws take effect at the stroke of midnight Saturday in Hawaii and at 10AM on New Year’s Day in Delaware. The fight for gay couples to tie… Read more »

Bishops Say Rules on Gay Parents Limit Freedom of Religion

Roman Catholic bishops in Illinois have shuttered most of the Catholic Charities affiliates in the state rather than comply with a new requirement that says they must consider same-sex couples as potential foster-care and adoptive parents if they want to receive state money. The charities have served for more than 40 years as a major… Read more »

Editorial…Sailor’s gay kiss is a milepost on a long road of change

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta’s homecoming kiss to her girlfriend shows progress in the military. But more is needed. When the USS Oak Hill pulled into its Virginia port this week after a three-month deployment, the sailor who stepped off and bestowed the customary first homecoming kiss on a waiting loved one made history.… Read more »

HIV Is Not a Crime… Or Is It?

View Video here Do you think people living with HIV should have to register as sex offenders? Do you believe people living with HIV should be sentenced to 25 years in prison for a sexual act that did not result in transmission of the HIV virus? Would the fact that an individual did not disclose… Read more »

Christopher Hitchens dies after cancer battle, aged 62

Atheist author and journalist Christopher Hitchens died last night, aged 62, at a hospital in Texas after suffering from pneumonia brought on by oesophageal cancer. In 2009, Hitchens, a vocal supporter of gay rights, revealed in his memoirs he had gay liaisons at Oxford with men who later became Tory politicians. Hitchens, who studied at… Read more »

UN publishes first global report and recommendations to tackle gay rights abuses

The UN’s Human Rights Council has published for the first time a report detailing rights abuses against LGBT people around the world, through violence and discriminatory laws, and a set of recommendations all countries should adopt to protect their citizens. The document says global governments “have often overlooked violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation… Read more »

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Gay Travel

The results of an annual Gay and Lesbian Travel Survey have just been released, courtesy of the San Francisco-based Community Marketing, Inc. And while some of the results will be less-than-shocking (gay New York City gets high scores, as does gay Miami and gay New Orleans), there are still a few surprises in the 40-page… Read more »

Senate GOP filibusters nominee over pro-gay editorial

Senate Republicans successfully filibustered on Monday the confirmation of an ambassadorial nominee, citing a pro-LGBT editorial she wrote as one reason to vote against her. The cloture vote to advance the nomination of Mari Carmen Aponte for the position of U.S. ambassador to El Salvador failed by 49-37 on a mostly party-line basis. Aponte has… Read more »

Gay rights activists at UN call for end to bullying, violence

UN — Activists called on governments around the world to end homophobic bullying and violence, saying Thursday that gay rights are human rights that must be respected by all. Judy Shepard, the mother of a young man murdered in an anti-gay crime in the U.S. in 1998, told the United Nations gathering that people with… Read more »

Hillary Clinton: Being gay is not ‘a western invention, but a human reality’

Hillary Clinton has delivered a groundbreaking speech to a United Nations summit in Geneva following the US’ declaration that its agencies will challenge the criminalisation of gay acts and LGBT identity overseas. The Secretary of State said gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people were “human beings born free and bestowed equality and dignity, who have… Read more »

Obama: Foreign Aid Could Be Tied To Gay Rights

President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced his administration would consider gay rights in making decisions about foreign aid. The president issued a memorandum directing all agencies engaged abroad to make certain U.S. aid programs “promote and protect” the rights of gay people. “The struggle to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons… Read more »

Rights or righteousness?

Editor’s note: To the casual observer, Evangelical Christians, the Vatican, African Anglicans and Muslims in half the planet are united in a hard line approach to “deviant” behavior (men who have sex with men MSM, intravenous drug use and commercial sex work) that may lead to higher risk for HIV infection. The institutional response has… Read more »

The Future of HIV Prevention Among MSM in Europe

Towards better sex with less harm for gay and bisexual men in Europe Good Morning The title of our conference asks us to consider the future, and I hope over the next two days we will all be looking forward. The future is inevitable. But what it looks like is not. The evidence base for… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2011 Aug-Dec

1 Monogamish 8/11 2 Crimes against LGBT community are up 8/11 3 American Indian tribe approves gay marriage 8/11 3a HIV Epidemic Fastest Among Black Gay and Bisexual Men 8/11 4 APA calls for legalization of same-sex marriage 8/11 5 San Francisco married gay couple lose immigration case 8/11 6 ACLU Sues School System for… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2011 Apr-Jul

1 Group alleges abuse of gay, transgender prisoners 4/11 1a Rep. Frank: Antigay Hatred Losing Steam 4/11 1b Therapy Matters – Reflections of a young clinician 4/11 2 Delaware approves civil unions for gay couples 4/11 2a Growing Up Gay and Transgendered in Appalachia 4/11 3 Two Gay Men Raising 12 Children In Arizona 5/11… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2011 Jan-Mar

New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News 1 Gay or Straight, Youths Aren’t So Different 1/11 2 Congress gets 4th openly gay member 1/11 3 ‘Lead With Love’ Guidance Video for Parents… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2010 Nov-Dec

1 Gay Couples to Sue Over U.S. Marriage Law 11/10 2 Iowa judges unseated for gay marriage support 11/10 3 First openly gay Episcopal bishop to retire, citing stress, death threats 11/10 4 CA elects nation’s first openly transgender judge, Victoria Kolakowski 11/10 5 Illinois senate approves civil unions 12/10 6 Gay and homeless: In… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2010 Sep-Oct

1 Seymour Pine Dies at 91; Led Raid on Stonewall Inn 9/10 2 NY Governor Signs Gay-Inclusive Adoption Bill 9/10 3 Florida ends ban on gays and lesbians adopting 9/10 4 Almost half of HIV-positive gay men unaware, US study says 9/10 5 U.S. Television Getting More Gay Friendly 9/10 6 Transgender teen stripped of… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2010 May-Aug

1 Gay Couples Challenge Defense Of Marriage Act 5/10 2 Undocumented gay immigrants speak out 5/10 3 A Heaven-Sent Rent Boy 5/10 4 U.S. Episcopal Church consecrates lesbian bishop 5/10 5 Gay immigrants savor freedom 5/10 6 Harvey Milk Honored by LGBTQ Community 5/10 7 Huge news: U.S. House votes to repeal "Don’t Ask, Don’t… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2010 Jan-Apr

New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News 1 US HIV travel ban lifted today 01/01 2 54 Gay Couples Marry On 1st Day Of New Hampshire Law 01/10 3 New Jersey Senate… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2009 Nov-Dec

1 Maine voters overturn state’s new same-sex marria1ge law 11/09 2 Washington voters approve expanded gay rights 11/09 3 Mormon Support of Gay Rights Statute Draws Praise 11/09 4 A Sapphic Victory, but Pyrrhic 11/09 4a Help for Gay Caregivers Who Look After Elderly 12/09 5 World’s Largest AIDS Conference to Finally Return to the… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2009 Sep-Oct

1 Gay marriage now legal in Vermont 9/09 2 How Fierce Is Your Light? 9/09 3 Marriage Equality and Sept 11: The Connection You Might Have Missed 9/09 4 Unbelievable: As a Lesbian Mother, I Have to Pay More For Health Care 9/09 5 Top Scientists Get to the Bottom of Gay Male Sex Role… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2009 Jun-Aug

1 U.S. grants asylum to gay Cuban: HIV immigrant ban stalled approval 6/09 2 President hails gay pride month 6/09 3 Nevada overrides governor’s veto to provide domestic partnerships 6/09 4 Nevada Lawmakers Approve Gay Partner Bill 6/09 5 Harvard to Endow Chair in LGBT Studies 6/09 6 New Hampshire Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage 6/09 7… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2009 Apr-May

New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News 1 Iowa marriage no longer limited to one man, one woman 4/09 2 Gay Rights Groups Celebrate Victories in Marriage Push 4/09 3 Faith Groups… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2009 Jan-Mar

1 Portland becomes largest US city to have gay mayor 1/09 2 111th U. S. Congress convenes with new gay member 1/09 3 2 charged in Seattle with gay immigration fraud 1/09 4 Obama press secretary pledges end to ban on gays in the military 1/09 5 Gay Bishop Invited To Prayer At Obama Inauguration… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2008 Aug-Dec

New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News 1 H.I.V. Study Finds Rate 40% Higher Than Estimated 8/08 1a U.S. grants asylum in Indonesian transgender case 8/08 2 Former prisoner gets legal backing… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2008 Jun-Jul

New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News 1 Texas gay couples heading to California for licensed marriages 6/08 2 Gay basketball hero to be Olympic ambassador 6/08 3 New Hampshire’s ‘turbulent priest’… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2008 Jan-May

New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News 1 New Hampshire Gay Couples Civil Unionized 1/08 2 Task Force Action Fund Hails Passage of NJ Bill 1/08 3 US gets first black lesbian… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2007 Nov-Dec

New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News 1 Gay teenagers are homecoming couple 11/07 2 Study: Same-Sex Couples Becoming More Visible In All Parts Of Country 11/07 3 CBS to make news… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2007 Aug-Oct

New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News 1 US Democratic Candidates in gay rights spotlight 8/07 2 Democratic presidential candidates address gay rights in TV forum 8/07 3 Lutheran congregation keeps gay… Read more »

Gay USA News & Reports 2007 Jun-Jul

New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News 1 Psychologists to revisit gay topics 6/07 2 CDC turns to web to rally gay men against HIV 6/07 3 Gay Inmates to Be Granted… Read more »