By Melanie Nathan, June 30, 2015 Sen. Dianne Feinstein, my Democratic Senator from California, has been a consistent and stellar supporter of LGBT equality, both as a Senator and as a friend to many in our community. This week her Facebook page blazed in celebration after SCOTUS ruled in favor of marriage equality for all […]
Heroes and Zeroes 2013
An OBLOGDEE and Melanie Nathan account of the year 2013. By Melanie Nathan, December 30, 2013. As usual at the risk of being controversial, including, excluding, forgetting, remembering, here is my list of the year’s best and worst for 2013. Please feel free to weigh in! This was a year of reckoning for the religious […]
The Importance of the Military in the Struggle for Equality and Another “Duh” Moment
“If anything this should be a wake-up call to our President and to Congress to act in like, to go even further. ….our goal of Full Federal Equality” By Jennifer McGuire, September 05, 2013. It was announced yesterday that spouses of Lesbian and Gay veterans will be eligible for benefits. In the recent stream of […]
Baltic Pride 2013 wins court battle
The world is watching as Baltic Pride will March For Equality and it will be in city center By Cathy Kristofferson, July 23, 2013 Today, some happy news out of Lithuania. The Lithuania Tribune is reporting that the “Chief Administrative Court of Lithuania … ordered Vilnius Municipality to allow a gay pride parade through the Lithuanian […]
MA Art Museum celebrates DOMA win and loses Catholic Church funding
“We’re simply not going to support them institutionally as in the past.” By Cathy Kristofferson, July 02, 2013 Last week when the DOMA ruling was handed down by the Supreme Court, the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) excitedly posted and tweeted inviting all to marry at the museum. Their website reads almost as an advertisement: “The […]
GAY U.S.A. Marriage Equality Decision Day articles
By Melanie Nathan, June 27, 2013. Yesterday was an historic day for gay Americans when the Supreme Court of the United States gave tens of thousands of already married same-sex couples in a growing list of states equal access to all benefits that the federal government provides for those who are wed. A closely divided Supreme Court […]
DOMA Dies on Decision Day
Marriage Ventured Marriage Gained as Prop 8 Dies too By Melanie Nathan, June 26, 2013. The Supreme Court released its historic landmark decisions on the two same-sex marriage equality cases in what has been an exhausting quest for marriage equality in the United States of America. In both cases gay and lesbian America came out […]
Binational same-sex couples hard hit by SCOTUS wait
UPDATE: SCOTUS announced remaining decisions including marriage equality will be released tomorrow – Wednesday. By Melanie Nathan, June 25, 2013. Every moment counts for those who have not held a partner close – in some cases for years – as SCOTUS has yet to deliver its decision on marriage equality. Today binational same-sex couples are […]
Gay immigration detainee reunited with fiancé after detention ordeal
A young gay man who was detained in San Diego by immigration authorities — whose story was documented by San Diego Gay & Lesbian News and OBLOGDEE — has been reunited with his fiancé in New York City. Here is the follow up article after his release by our friends at SDGLN:- A happy ending? […]
Queerty Publishes Advance Article of a “Disappointing DOMA Ruling”
Predicting doom and gloom – or a publicity stunt for ratings – or a desire to jump the gun for SEO optimization- or an embarrassing mistake? By Melanie Nathan., June 11, 2013. In an over zealous attempt to be ahead, popular LGBT blog site QUEERTY, through writer Lisa Keen, jumped the gun by mistakenly hitting […]
DEAD WRONG LGBT Publisher Refuses to Tell Binational Story
We as a community cannot reject the most vulnerable amongst us | Binational same-sex couples have already paid the heaviest price By Melanie Nathan, May 28, 2013. I started my advocacy work and writing the stories about the horrendous plight of same-sex binational couples back in 2009, when faced with the possible deportation of my […]
Judge rules lesbian binational couple can challenge DOMA
By Melanie Nathan, April 21, 2013. In a case filed by Los Angeles-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, a Judge has ruled that a lesbian couple facing immigration discrimination has the legal standing to challenge the federal Defense of Marriage Act, otherwise known as DOMA, because it violates the constitutional rights of immigrants […]
Immigration Equality begs on backs of binationals | Failed strategy has its remedy in death of DOMA
Begging for money to fund a failed strategy for immigration inclusiveness is a waste of time, money and resources | It is too late because even if UAFA is included in CIR, it will be the demise of DOMA that get binational spouses their green cards. Immigration Equality has always described itself as the preeminent […]
Gay Man in San Diego immigration detention ailing and desperate to reunite with Fiancé
ASKING FOR HELP TO BRING MAX HOME TO DONALD The worst outcome of the unconstitutional DOMA is when it separates spouses and partners | If Max and Donald were a straight couple, this would not be happening By Melanie Nathan and Ken Williams, April 05, 2013. A 26-year-old gay man is being held in immigration […]
Activists ‘seeing red’ over HRC antics at SCOTUS hearings
as the Human Rights Campaign exhibits their typical lack of inclusivity… By Cathy Kristofferson, March 29, 2013. During the SCOTUS trials the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) convinced many in the Facebook world to change their avatars to red. Following the hearings many activists are seeing a different red now that two incidents – insulting both the […]
DOMA Day at SCOTUS
Article by Melanie Nathan – Cross postings – March 27, 2013. PHOTOS by Melanie Nathan and Cathy Kristofferson, Oblogdee© A majority of the Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and whether it created unequal classes of married couples by denying federal benefits to legally wed same-sex couples. […]
Historic Marriage Equality events underway across the United States
172 events start in all 50 states, with all eyes on Washington, D.C., as people start record breaking queue outside SCOTUS By Melanie Nathan & Cathy Kristofferson, March 24, 2013. 3/25 UPDATE: over 2500 people have gathered at events ranging from Casper, Wyoming, to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Cleveland, Ohio already. And tonight is the big “night […]
Headline Speakers Announced for Tuesday, March 26 Marriage Equality Gathering at Supreme Court
Civil rights, religious, Republican, military leaders and families to speak at historic event By Cathy Kristofferson, March 23, 2013 Supporters of marriage equality will gather at 8:30am Tuesday morning on the steps of the Supreme Court before the first of two marriage equality hearings. The speakers will include an impressive collection of civil rights activists, […]
Red White and Blue is for ALL as LGBT Americans prepare Marriage Rally Signs for SCOTUS
By Melanie Nathan, March 17, 2013. Further to our post yesterday, (http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2013/03/16/rallies-across-the-united-states-for-marriage-equality/) about the LGBT community and supporters converging on D.C. to attend the events surrounding the SCOTUS opening arguments for marriage equality in the DOMA and Prop 8 cases, and the 150 nationwide events, to rally in support of marriage equality and full […]
LGBT activists should be fighting for Supreme Court Justice Scalia to recuse himself from DOMA and Prop 8 Cases
By Melanie Nathan, February 28, 2913. Based on this latest news, noting that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has vented his belief through his skeptical questions about a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, a cornerstone of the civil rights movement that brought an end to Jim Crow-era racial discrimination at the polls in […]
Disney, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Adobe, New York Life and 273 other Employers file amicus brief to support marriage equality
By Melanie Nathan, February 27, 2013. A team of Bingham McCutchen lawyers today filed on behalf of 278 businesses, cities, and other employers and employer organizations an amicus brief in United States v. Windsor, the United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The brief, a copy […]
Links to Amicus Briefs filed in the Edith Windsor DOMA Case
United States v. Edith Schlain Windsor, in Her Capacity as Executor of the Estate of Thea Clara Spyer, et al. QUESTION PRESENTED: Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defines the term “marriage” for all purposes under federal law, including the provision of federal benefits, as “only a legal union between one man […]
U.S. Federal Appeals Court Rules Victory for Same-Sex Marriage
See the Judgment – ” we conclude that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act violates equal protection and is therefore unconstitutional ” By Melanie Nathan October 18, 2012 The issue of same-sex marriage as a constitutional right for all Americans has been decided by the the Federal Appeals Court, for the Second Circuit […]
Lesbian Mom Answers Oprah Hurt Me to Oprah’s Weekly Lifeclass Question
Oprah Invites Rick Warren to teach Lifeclass – “Oprah perhaps you do not understand the extent to which LGBT Americans are impacted by the denial of our basic civil rights,” Melanie Nathan By Melanie Nathan, Oct 07, 2012. That lesbian mom is me. Oprah’s Lifeclass site asks its usual weekly question “Are you hurting an […]
Gays can defeat Chick-fil-A and Dan Cathy employing true American Values
By Melanie Nathan, July 29, 2012 By now you have all read that the inventors of the chicken sandwich, Chick-Fil-A, have gone cuckoo, with clucked anti-gay cluck by owner Dan Cathy, who said the company was “guilty as charged” in its stance against same-sex marriage and equality. He made gay-hate comments which fueled protests by […]
Obama ‘s Reprieve for DREAMers While Same-Sex Binational Couples Languish as Exiles & Outcasts
By Melanie Nathan, June 15, 2012. The DREAM Act has yet to be passed, but those who could benefit from its passage may well have found some progress today in some good news emanating from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano who informed reporters of a new policy of “deferred action” for certain young, undocumented immigrants […]
GAY Politics Report this Week
Much gay and LGBT news for the past week and here are some reports you may find worthy of a read- From the LA Times to the Boston Globe, gay equality and related news abounds- Prop 8 case headed to Supreme Court The battle over the constitutionality of California’s anti-gay Proposition 8 shifted to the […]
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