Tag Archives: Group: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

Pioneer Press (AP): The Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced the drive Thursday. They are looking for volunteers willing to spend a full week in one of the four states, or just a weekend.

Lisa Keen writes at theWindy City Times: It is possible—just as happened in California—that some other entity might attempt to mount its own defense of DOMA in the pending cases. Last October, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, filed a motion in the two First Circuit cases, seeking to be named intervenor-defendant. Smith, aided by the right-wing Alliance Defense Fund, said at the time that the Justice Department was providing “no defense at all” for DOMA. He withdrew his motion a few weeks later, without comment. [this report contains a lengthy list of responses from homosexual groups]

Pioneer Press: “The National Transgender Discrimination Survey will be released this morning. It was commissioned by the task force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.” | Exec. Summary and Report

LGBTQ Nation: “The nation’s largest LGBT legal group –- Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund — took in $17 million in its most recent fiscal year, 2009, compared to $677,360 in 1987 and $26 million in 2008. By comparison, the right-wing’s largest political group -– Focus on the Family — expected $100 million in 2010 and the largest right-wing legal group – the Alliance Defense Fund — has an annual budget of $32.7 million in 2009, according to its website.”

Concord Monitor: “The Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to repeal gay marriage in New Hampshire. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders in Boston is promising to do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop them.”

Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, writing at The Hill: “Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) recently introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010. It includes the Uniting American Families Act, which allows citizens to sponsor their same-sex partners, and the DREAM Act, which would give young people who came to the U.S. as children a chance to achieve citizenship through completing two years of college or spending two years in the military.”

Michael Foust writes at Baptist Press: “What legal arguments will Prop 8 supporters make during their appeal? Attorneys for ProtectMarriage.com and the Alliance Defense Fund argued at the lower court that children need mothers and fathers and the state has an interest in fostering that relationship . . . Opponents of ‘gay marriage’ warn that religious freedom will suffer if the ruling is upheld, impacting everything from what is taught in public schools to how private businesses operate to the tax exempt status of religious organizations and perhaps even churches.”

Chicago Pride: “‘It’s not radical for more than 7 million Californians to protect marriage as they’ve always known it,’ ADF Senior Counsel Brian Raum said. ‘What would be radical would be to allow a handful of activists to gut the core of the American democratic system and, in addition, force the entire country to accept a system that intentionally denies children the mom and the dad they deserve.’”

Vancouver Sun (LA Times): “[Austin R. Nimocks], senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund who fought to uphold Proposition 8 in Walker’s court, said the group would appeal. ‘We’re obviously disappointed that the judge did not uphold the will of over 7 million Californians who made a decision in a free and fair democratic process.’”

Baptist Press: “‘They were trying to show that religions during the Prop 8 campaign were pandering to prejudicial stereotypes to motivate the voters,’ [Jordan Lorence], an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which supports Prop 8, told Baptist Press. ‘That feeds the fires that those who take an orthodox Christian view on the definition of marriage are the equivalent of Ku Klux Klan bigots that need to be driven to the margins of our society.’”

OneNewsNow: “So [Tim Wildmon, President of the American Family Association] . . .  is calling on all members of the House of Representatives who respect the Constitution to launch impeachment proceedings against this judge. Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney Sarah Tappen thinks people are tired of judicial activism. Considering the fact that more than 52 percent of voters approved Proposition 8, she finds it ‘clear that whenever the people have been given an opportunity to vote, they have voted to uphold marriage as one man and one woman. Americans in numerous states have affirmed this, and we are prepared to fight all the way to the United States Supreme Court if necessary to see this decision overturned.’”

UPI: “[Austin R. Nimocks], senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund — which argued on behalf of Proposition 8 in the court case — said plaintiffs will appeal the ruling. ‘We’re obviously disappointed that the judge did not uphold the will of over 7 million Californians who made a decision in a free and fair democratic process,’ Nimocks said.”

Los Angeles Times: “Updated at 2:28 p.m.: . . . [Austin R. Nimocks], senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund who fought to uphold Prop 8 in Walker’s court, vowed to appeal, saying ‘We’re obviously disappointed that the judge did not uphold the will of over 7 million Californians who made a decision in a free and fair democratic process.’”

Religion Clause: “On June 18, thirty national organizations comprising the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination, sent a letter (full text) to the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee urging it to hold hearings on the current status of the Faith-Based Initiative.”

Phoenix Business Journal: “Gay rights groups are joining boycotts of Arizona over the state’s controversial new immigration law. Twenty-three gay rights and advocacy groups said Tuesday they would join economic and meeting planner boycotts of the state already imposed by labor unions and Hispanic activists including the National Council of La Raza. The Arizona law gives police greater ability to question and detain suspected illegal immigrants.”

More than 20 left wing organizations have signed this letter posted on the Anti-Defamation League website. It begins: “On the one year anniversary of your Executive Order establishing the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the undersigned religious, education, civil rights, labor, and health organizations write to urge that you take additional actions to prevent government-funded religious discrimination and protect social service beneficiaries from unwelcome proselytizing . . . ”

Arizona Republic: “Gay-rights groups believe 2010 will be the year they finally persuade Congress to pass a landmark law protecting workers from being fired or denied jobs or promotions because of their sexual orientation. With Democrats in the majority in the House and Senate and President Barack Obama promising to sign the bill, this is the best chance for victory that supporters of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act have ever had, said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force . . . After delays last year that frustrated gay-rights leaders, the lead sponsors of the bill say they expect a vote in the House in the first quarter of this year.”

AP: “If voters uphold the law, it will be the first time the electorate in any state has endorsed marital rights for same-sex couples, energizing activists nationwide and deflating a long-standing conservative argument that gay marriage lacks popular support.”

New York Times: [A] march planned for Sunday on the Washington Mall is exposing deep divisions among gay rights advocates around the country as they grapple with whether to continue pushing for gains state by state, or embrace a more aggressive strategy to pressure the Obama administration and Congress for federal action.”

Touro Law Center Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity: “In particular, in response to Bowers, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force established the Privacy Project to repeal sodomy laws on a state-by-state basis. From 1986-1991, the Privacy Project did not successfully persuade any state legislatures to repeal existing sodomy laws. However, it was able to establish and expand the reach of statewide LGBT organizations, bring together gay and lesbian individuals, educate the public about gay rights issues, and put a ‘human face’ on the gay rights movement.”

ACLU: “We are very surprised and deeply disappointed in the manner in which the Obama administration has defended the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in a brief filed today in Smelt v. United States, a lawsuit brought in federal court in California by a married same-sex couple asking the federal government to treat them equally with respect to federal protections and benefits.”

One News Now: . . . Passage of the ordinance caused an uproar because, in essence, it permits people to use public facilities — restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms — based on their inner feeling about their gender.

The ACLU has issued this press release: New Web Campaign, Tell-Three.org, Encourages People to Talk About What it Means to be LGBT Join the Impact has partnered with other national LGBT groups to develop a web based public education campaign, …

The Fresno Bee: There’s a party mood at the nation’s largest gathering of gay activists after the inauguration of President Barack Obama . . . Some 2,000 members of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force erupted in whoops and …

Salt Lake Tribune reports on a “gay-rights” conference being held in Denver and sponsored by The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. About the conference: http://www.thetaskforce.org/events/creating–change.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has issued this press release that reports: The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation’s Institute for Welcoming Resources (IWR) and five partner organizations have been awarded a total of $1.2 million from …

“We need to start with states where we have the best odds of winning. When we’ve won in a critical mass of states, we can turn to Congress and the federal courts.”

The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute, the Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Stonewall Democrats have formed The Presidential Appointments Project.