HRC Blog

Dear Mr. President: Tomorrow, my family and I will mark the 126th anniversary of my grandfather President Harry Truman’s birthday. There are many reasons we celebrate his life and contributions to our nation, but in particular we are proud of his decision to desegregate the U.S. Armed Forces in July 1948, which paved the way for future civil rights advancements. It was not easy.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro heard arguments in Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) brought by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders on behalf of eight married same-sex couples and three widowers. The plaintiffs have been denied a broad range of rights and benefits under federal law that other married Massachusetts couples, simply because they are different-sex, can take for granted. Yesterday, GLAD lawyers argued that DOMA’s denial of federal rights and benefits to lawfully-married same-sex couples violates the guarantee of equal protection under the U.S. Constitution and asked the court to grant summary judgment – in other words, decide just on the briefs filed and not conduct a trial – in the plaintiff’s favor. You can read more about GLAD’s case here. Carisa Cunningham, GLAD's director of public affairs and education provided this first hand account:

Lithuania’s first-ever pride was set to culminate in the first-ever “March for Tolerance” this Saturday in the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius. But, as of yesterday, that won’t happen. A Vilnius administrative court “temporarily” suspended the march on public security grounds —pending a full hearing after the march would take place on Saturday — despite police assurances that they are able to protect participants from counter-demonstrator attacks.

Like the nation's top private companies, colleges and universities are removing discriminatory transgender exclusions from their health insurance plans in order to provide more inclusive insurance for students and staff. On many campuses today, much of the activism is centered on transgender and genderqueer issues, such as adding gender identity to the school’s non-discrimination policy and implementing gender-neutral housing and locker room facilities. A newer area of focus is ensuring that health insurance policies provide transgender-inclusive coverage.

Dear Mr. President, My name is Anthony Moll and I am a bisexual veteran. I served for eight years under the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that has failed our nation. I left the service just 10 weeks ago, and I can now say: this is the time, Mr. President, to push ahead and end this law.