All Blog Posts
Imagine a School Culture of Dignity and Respect for All
Yesterday I testified on behalf of GLAD in front of the General Court’s Joint Committee on Education in support of a comprehensive bill to prevent school bullying. The bill before the committee, H. 483, is an excellent starting point and has the potential to ultimately result in a law that would create safer schools for Massachusetts students, including those who are LGBT.
A Governor’s Heartless Veto
In my work, I encounter seeds of homophobia in subtle and insidious ways all the time. But I have to admit to being floored by the actions of Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri last week. On November 10, Gov. Carcieri vetoed a bill that would have provided same-sex couples a critical, discrete protection in a time of complete vulnerability and tragedy. The bill would have allowed a surviving same-sex partner the ability to claim the remains of his or her partner, and decide how he or she will be laid to rest. To be eligible to do this, the surviving partner would have to demonstrate that their relationship met the definition of “domestic partnership” that has been a part of Rhode Island law for over eight years.
Connecticut’s 1st Anniversary of Marriage Equality
GLAD is in Connecticut today celebrating 1 year of marriage equality!
Seeking Stories: Gender Transition and Health Insurance Coverage
GLAD is collecting stories about people’s experiences with health insurance coverage related to gender transition, to help us determine how we can best address legal concerns in this area.
On the ground in Maine today
Today, Mainers are deciding whether the hard-won marriage equality law passed in May and signed by Governor Baldacci will finally go into effect.
GLAD is committed to this fight, working with our coalition partners on public education efforts throughout the state to ensure all Maine families the security, protection, and respect they deserve.
Several GLAD folks are in Maine today and will posting at twitter.com/gladlaw throughout the day (you can also see the posts at www.glad.org). And check back here for photos from the ground as they come in.
Real Life and the Law
I finally made it to the stage just as the panel was about to start.
That was About Equality: Talking Marriage in Maine
I’ll admit that, when I see a person zero in on me with a clipboard and a smile, I do pretty much anything to avoid them. “I’m sorry I’m late for a dentist appointment; there’s something in my eye; and I need to tie my shoe…over there.” On a city block, if a canvasser doesn’t manage to pin you down, he will have a hundred other opportunities over the next minute to grab someone else. And I always let this inform my decision to avoid eye-contact and keep walking: someone else will care.
So I signed up to canvas in Maine with the No on 1, Protect Maine Equality campaign with the knowledge that I had years of bad canvassing karma on my back.
In Vermont “A Historic Victory” Replaced, Finally, With True Equality
As same-sex couples begin marrying today in Vermont, we are thrilled to retire our very first publication on state-based legal relationship rights for lesbian and gay couples (Vermont Civil Unions: A Historic Victory), replacing it with the latest in our growing series of “How to Get Married” publications. Also, a nod to a powerful and positive response to hate by students at Montepelier High School.
In Maine, No One Tells Anyone Else How to Live
“You know, in Maine, no one tells anyone else how to live,” says Dan Lawson of Monroe. Alexander Johnston of Cape Elizabeth, standing with his wife and two daughters, says, “Everyone should be able to marry the person they love.”
Saving All Our Children: Reflections on the MA Transgender Rights Bill Hearing
“A day without human rights is a day without sunshine.” That is what the t-shirt said that I got at one of the first gay rights rallies I attended in 1977, a rally was organized to try to defend a newly passed sexual orientation non-discrimination law in Dade County, Florida. I was one of the children that Anita Bryant’s Save Our Children campaign was ostensibly trying to protect. But I was also a kid who had an emerging sense that I was not like the other kids both in terms of my gender and my sexual orientation.