Sexual Orientation and the Law Blog

US Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) has introduced the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (H.R. 4806). According to the ACLU, the legislation would aim to help reduce the number of children languishing in state-run facilities by restricting federal funding to...

Matt Coles, director of the ACLU's LGBT rights project, analyzes the possible outcomes in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal challenge being litigated by Ted Olson and David Boies to California's Prop 8, which bars marriage equality for same-sex couples. Coles...

Mexico City's law legalizing same-sex marriage took effect last week, and hundreds of gay and lesbian couples applied for marriage licenses at civil-registry offices, reports journalist Rex Wockner. The first weddings are expected as early as tomorrow when the couples'...

A rural Mississippi school district has called off a high school prom rather than allow a lesbian student to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. -SS

Students in Virginia -- more than 660 at latest count -- are organizing online to protest a statement by the state's socially conservative Republican attorney general that anti-discrimination policies at the state's colleges and universities based on sexual orientation and...

The March issue of Professor Art Leonard's indispensable Lesbian/Gay Law Notes is now available. The lead story features coverage and analysis of the opinion by Maryland's Attorney General that there was no impediment under Maryland law to the state recognizing...

SCOTUSBlog reports that "[t]he Supreme Court, taking on the emotionally charged issue of picketing protests at the funerals of soldiers killed in wartime, agreed Monday to consider reinstating a $5 million damages verdict against a Kansas preacher and his anti-gay...

Several weeks ago, an executive order by Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell reversed protections that his predecessor, Democrat Tim Kaine, had provided to state employees against discrimination based on sexual orientation. As a follow-on, the state's socially conservative attorney general,...

Veteran PBS journalist devoted his Bill Moyers Journal program Feb 26 to the federal court challenge to Proposition 8, including an interview with lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies. Video, transcript, and podcast are available on the show's web site....

On Wednesday, Washington, DC, joined Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont as the jurisdictions licensing marriages for same-sex couples. Congress could have overturned the will of the city's government, but its 30-day period for doing so expired yesterday. By...