Family Equality Council Blog

VICTORY- House Passes Health Care Bill Containing Key LGBT Provisions

Tina Walker-Morin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:24:49 +0000

On Saturday, November 7, the House passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act, H.R. 3962, by a vote of 220 to 215. This is a great step forward towards improving health care for ALL Americans, particularly the un-and under-insured, which includes the LGBT community. The calls you made to your Representatives made a difference! [...]

Family Equality Council Welcomes Emily Hecht as Senior Legislative Counsel

Tina Walker-Morin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:56:53 +0000

Family Equality Council is pleased to announce the hiring of Emily Hecht as Senior Legislative Counsel. Emily will be based in Family Equality Council’s new Washington, DC office, where she will work to advance Family Equality Council’s priorities within federal agencies and in Congress on issues including health care, adoption and foster care, safe schools, [...]

ACTION ALERT: Help Ensure Health Care Reform Includes LGBT Families!

Tina Walker-Morin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:36:18 +0000

Tell Your Representative to Vote YES on the Affordable Health Care for America Act We are at an unprecedented point in the process of national health care reform: the House of Representatives plans to vote TOMORROW, November 7, on its reform bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962). It is crucial for LGBT families that [...]

Washington State Voters Approve Statewide Domestic Partnership Law

Tina Walker-Morin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:06:45 +0000

Today the voters in the state of Washington approved Referendum 71. By voting “approve,” voters retained the domestic partnership laws that were passed on May 18, 2009 during the legislative session. This domestic partnership law provides legal protections for same-sex couples and seniors who are in committed relationships in the State of Washington. These laws are [...]

Kalamazoo vote prompts Michigan to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes

Family Equality Council — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:03:20 +0000

The passage of the nondiscrimination ordinance in Kalamazoo sparked the Michigan House Judiciary Committee to send legislation to the full House to amend state civil rights laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes. Below is the full article from The Michigan Messenger. This is a prime example of the ripple effect [...]

Maine Voters Overturn Marriage Equality

Tina Walker-Morin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:18:54 +0000

The battle for marriage equality took a hard hit today. Yesterday voters in Maine stripped marriage away from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals. “In the long march to full equality, today we pause to grieve with and for the families and children who have temporarily lost the promise of equality under Maine law. Our [...]

Nondiscrimination Ordinance Passes in Kalamazoo

Tina Walker-Morin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:19:02 +0000

Today 65% of voters in Kalamazoo, Michigan passed Ordinance 1856. Originally approved twice by the City Commission of Kalamazoo, opponents forced a public referendum on the Ordinance. The Ordinance revises the City’s existing non-discrimination law to include LGBT people. With the passage of this legislation, LGBT individuals in Kalamazoo are provided legal protection from discrimination at [...]

Help Identify Issues Facing Older LGBT Adults!

Tina Walker-Morin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:13:25 +0000

As part of Family Equality Council’s commitment to serving LGBT families along the continuum of their lives, we are proud to help a coalition including Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) and the National Senior Citizens Law Center to raise awareness of the issues facing older adults who are LGBT and live in nursing [...]

Working to Protect Maine Equality

Tina Walker-Morin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:27:38 +0000

Family Equality Council continues to support efforts to preserve marriage equality in Maine. Today through November 4, Volunteer Manager, Sara Leckey will be working on the ground in the final days of the No on 1/Protect Maine Equality campaign. Election Day is a pivotal day for equality in Maine. The statewide ballot contains [...]

ENDA is Next; ENDA is Now

Kara — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:24:05 +0000

Yesterday was a truly historic day for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and our allies. President Obama signed into law the first federal protections in U.S. history for LGBT people. The new LGBT hate crimes law carries the powerful message that hate-motivated violence against LGBT people has no place in the United [...]