LGBT

The Senate Judiciary Committee is marking up the massive bill that leaders in both parties agree presents the best opportunity to reform immigration policy in decades. The bill contains many provisions sought by progressive groups, but lacks protections for LGBT families, specifically binational same-sex couples whose relationships are not recognized by the government.

While endorsing key provisions in the bill drafted by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight,” LGBT civil rights groups continue to urge the adoption of amendments that protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their families. Read more »

In June the Supreme Court is scheduled to issue rulings on two cases that are important to the LGBT community,Hollingsworth v. Perry (the Proposition 8 case) andUnited States v. Windsor (the Defense of Marriage Act case). The LGBT community and its allies hope that the resolution of these cases will be a watershed moment representing a significant advance in the rights of LGBT people. The fact that the Supreme Court is even hearing oral arguments in these cases at all is in no small part a result of the rapid growth and accelerating adoption of technology, the Internet, broadband and smartphones. Read more »

Finance firms can move fast when it benefits the bottom line. That’s why Wall Street, despite its rigid alpha-male reputation, has been remarkably progressive on the issue of gay rights. From the breadth of domestic partner benefits to Goldman Sachs (GS) Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein’s commercials in support of same-sex marriage, banks and brokerages have embraced this area of equality. Maybe that’s because of the industry’s war for talent, the spending power of gay clients, or Blankfein’s thesis that the market only cares about results. Read more »

NEW YORK, — Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) today released Health Equity and LGBT Elders of Color, a new report that examines health disparities faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older people of color, and offers policy solutions in 10 areas to address these challenges. The report’s release coincides with National Minority Health Month, an initiative of the federal Office of Minority Health to raise awareness about health disparities that continue to affect racial and ethnic minorities—among them a rapidly growing population of LGBT elders of color who are often underserved and largely rendered invisibly in public policy discussions. Read more »