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California Becomes First State to Protect LGBTQ Youth from Psychological Abuse

By Ryan Kendall NCLR Guest Columnist I was at home, deep into studying for my fall-semester class load at Columbia University in New York City, when I got the news that California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1172 into law, protecting young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth from the same type of psychological abuse that I endured at the hands of mental health professionals who tried to change my sexual orientation. It was a powerful thing to know that we had finally done...

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President Obama’s Record on LGBTQ Issues

The President’s announcement that he supports marriage equality has encouraged other high- profile leaders and organizations to express their support for marriage equality, most notably the NAACP, which decided in a near-unanimous vote to pass a resolution officially supporting marriage equality. The President also adds his voice to a growing chorus of people of faith who embrace equality not in spite of their religious beliefs, but because of them. It would be tempting to see this moment as...

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Inaugural Nike LGBTQ Sports Summit

For the last several months, OutSports.com’s Cyd Ziegler, GLSEN’s Changing the Game Sports Project Director Pat Griffin and I have worked with Nike representatives to organize the groundbreaking, strategy-building summit
that attracted dozens of leading organizations and people working to eliminate homophobia/ transphobia in sports. The summit—held June 14 to June 18—was based on the belief that collaboration, communication, and coordination will accelerate change in the culture of...

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Dynasty Young: A High School Student Harassed Because He is Gay Speaks Out

By Dynasty Young NCLR Guest Columnist Before last year, I had little to fear in high school. I came out a couple of years earlier when I was a freshman, and couldn’t imagine that people who didn’t even know me could have so much hate built up against me. But I soon learned that wasn’t true. After enrolling in Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, I faced constant name calling and threats just because I have a unique style and I’m gay. What made things worse is that the harassment...

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Protecting LGBTQ Families Across the Nation

Since NCLR’s founding 35 years ago, we have worked to advance family law for LGBTQ people and their families. NCLR has helped change the law in numerous states over the years, including prohibiting courts from taking custody away from a parent just because of his or her sexual orientation, allowing same-sex couples to adopt, ensuring that transgender parents are recognized and protected, and recognizing all non-biological and non- adoptive parents as legal parents of their children. Although...

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Victory…

I am elated beyond words! President Obama has been re-elected. Marriage equality prevailed in ALL four states—Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington—that faced ballot measures. AND Tammy Baldwin is now Senator Baldwin, the first out LGBTQ person voted into the U.S. Senate. So many victories, including the Iowa Supreme Court justice who supported marriage keeping his seat and a host of openly LGBTQ folks being elected to public office. Mark this moment. We see a new future. Anything is...

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“Quackery” No More—CA Gov. Brown Signs Bill Protecting LGBTQ Youth From Psychological Abuse

“Relegated to the dustbin of quackery.” When I read those words from California Governor Jerry Brown after he signed Senate Bill 1172— the bill protecting LGBTQ minors from deceitful mental health professionals who falsely claim they can change sexual orientation or gender expression—into law, I thought “FINALLY!” With that powerful and apt description, Governor Brown has intervened to save current and future generations of young people from being subjected to a discredited, denounced,...

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NCLR Analysis: Latest on LGBTQ Cases at the Supreme Court—What to Expect and When

As was widely expected, the Supreme Court today declined to take any action on three important cases involving the rights of same-sex couples, including the challenge to California’ Proposition 8 and one of several challenges to the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  (See my Huffington Post blog post for a preview of the Court’s LGBTQ cases this term.) At this point, we still do not have any information about whether the Court will take any of these cases, or whether it will let the...

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Contraception Legal Battle Impacts LGBTQ Community

On Friday September 21, the National Center for LGBTQ Rights attended a symposium at the Georgetown University Law Center on “Contraception and Conscience: A Symposium on Religious Liberty, Women’s Health, and the HHS Rule on Provision of Birth Control Coverage for Employees.” Anti-choice politicians and groups have tried to generate controversy around the contraception provisions in the preventative care regulations related to the Affordable Care Act. The regulations required that employers...

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A Mother’s Love: A Gay Student’s Mother Speaks Out to Protect her Son

Last month, NCLR filed a federal lawsuit challenging Indianapolis Public Schools’ discriminatory treatment and failure to protect openly gay former student, Dynasty Young, who faced severe and relentless harassment at school throughout the 2011-2012 school year. By Chelisa Grimes No parent ever wants to hear that their child is being tormented at school, with classmates not only hurling derogatory words, but spitting on their child as they walk down the halls and throwing glass bottles. So...

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