HRC Blog

Late last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released two funding announcements on sexuality education that included language focused on LGBT and questioning youth. For the first time, language in the funding announcements for federal sexuality education dollars encouraged states to consider “the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth” and asked states to ensure that programs funded with these dollars are “inclusive of and nonstigmatizing toward” LGBT and questioning participants.

Today, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to include protections for same-sex partners and spouses. The bill, the Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act, is almost identical to legislation that has been introduced in the House for the past three congresses by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and is the first of its kind to be put forward in the Senate. The FMLA, a statute enacted in 1993, grants legally married spouses up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave from work to care for a seriously ill spouse, parent or child.

Earlier this week, the HRC Foundation announced the winners of the 2010 Generation Equality Scholarship for LGBT and allied students who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to achieving queer equality. The $2000 scholarships are part of HRC Foundation’s Youth and Campus Outreach Program, which aims to provide tools, facilitate connections and empower young people to fight for LGBT equality on campus and beyond.

Justice has finally been served for Constance McMillen. Itawamba Agricultural High School in Mississippi had its 15 minutes of infamy this spring when it denied Constance the chance to bring her girlfriend to the school prom. The ACLU intervened and a judge ruled that the school could not forbid Constance from bringing the date of her choice. The school responded by cancelling prom completely and Constance faced harassment and alienation from her peers because of it. The ACLU sued the school district for violating Constance’s civil rights and yesterday the case was settled with the school district adopting a non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy covering sexual orientation and gender identity. The district also agreed to pay $35,000 in damages.

This post is from Kim Westheimer, HRC's new director of the Welcoming Schools Project: During the last election, a 6-year-old child who I adore heard her mother and me talking about a Senate candidate, and she hesitantly asked, “He thinks that two women shouldn’t get married, right?” When her mom said, “Yes,” the girl replied, quietly, “That makes me sad.” Her plaintive response kind of broke my heart.