The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization, has released a guide that aims to provide human resource and other employment professionals with best practices for transgender workplace inclusion—from discrimination and benefits policies to internal practices that reflect how gender is expressed and integrated in the workplace—as well as the state of legal issues encompassing gender identity in employment situations. "Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace" covers topics such as appropriate terminology with which to discuss gender identity and expression, the creation of policies that protect transgender workers from discrimination, and the ...

Jacob Reitan of the Harvard College LGBT Political Coalition,  announced at a forum on the electability of GLBT people to office at Harvard on Tuesday, April 22 that his organization will launch "Right to Serve," "a ground-breaking" bus tour protesting "Don't ask, don't tell." From May 24 through May 31, students from Harvard College will embark on a week-long journey "to highlight the injustice of 'Don't ask, don't tell'," according to information at the Harvard College of Democrats Web site (harvarddems.com).  Harvard Students Poised to Protest DADT ...

Adoption bill may move 'off the table' this legislative session Referred to summer study committee by Jerry Jones With the support of thousands of emails sent in by Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) members and other concerned citizens, a bill that would have banned unmarried, cohabiting couples (gay and straight) from adopting, has been referred to a summer adoption study committee by the bill's sponsor.   ...

You’re there at least 40 hours a week, and that’s a big chunk of time to spend in the closet – especially if you’re out the other 128. In a perfect world, sexuality wouldn’t matter to our coworkers and our bosses, same-sex partners could be added to our employer-provided health insurance policy and our retirement benefits could be passed on to them without question. But anyone who has ever played the pronoun-switching game at the water cooler, altered the truth about the weekend’s activities or hoped our partners didn’t need to visit the doctor without insurance knows the world ...

Day of Silence Observed in 8,500 Schools Resistance by the nation's most vehemently antigay groups could not keep the National Day of Silence from garnering a record number of participants this year. More than 8,500 middle schools, high schools, and colleges in the United States participated in the 12th annual day of action on April 25, which is coordinated by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network to promote safe school environments for LGBT and ally students.  Read the full story ...

For a university professor, Francisco J. Ayala spends a lot of time on the road. An evolutionary biologist and geneticist at the University of California, Irvine, he speaks often at universities, in churches, for social groups and elsewhere, usually in defense of the theory of evolution and against the arguments of creationism and its ideological cousin, intelligent design. Usually he preaches to the converted. But not always. As challenges to the teaching of evolution continue to emerge, legislators debate measures equating the teaching of creationism with academic freedom and a new movie links Darwin to evils ranging from the ...

European court: sisters can not have the same tax benefits as civil partners Two elderly British sitters have lost their case in the European Court of Human Rights to allow them to avoid inheritance tax when one of them dies. They argued that British law treats them less favourably than a lesbian couple in a civil partnership.   ...

Washington, D.C.—The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute (GLLI) today announced the launch of the Presidential Appointments Project, a non-partisan effort designed to help grow the pool of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) professionals who would be qualified and ready to accept politically appointed positions in the next U.S. presidential administration.  In concert with other leading national LGBT groups, GLLI will identify, recruit and vet openly LGBT applicants for thousands of executive branch positions that will be filled with political appointees after the next president is sworn in.     “Our goal is to make sure all Americans ...

Harris Interactive® today announced that it has once again teamed up with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., the leading gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) strategic marketing and communications agency to conduct the Second Annual GLBT Travel Study. This year’s study – expected to be released in June/July 2008 -- will again examine the preferences, attitudes, spending patterns and behaviors regarding destination and brand choices for leisure travel (domestic and international) and contrast those findings with the opinions of heterosexual adults. This study will break important new ground by looking at the impact of GLBT microsites, the importance of ...

Luke & Noah, the young gay couple on CBS' daytime soap As The World Turns, finally kissed last week after 7 action-free months and it didn't take long for hatemongering religious groups to come out of the woodwork to complain about it.  The American Family Association (AFA) has issued an action alert to get their members to contact P&G, the show's producer, to stop future gay affection on the soap: "Procter & Gamble has resumed using explicit, open-mouth homosexual kissing in their soap opera, "As the World Turns." P&G decided to include this type of content as a commitment ...

More than two years ago, I wrote "Portrait of an Open Marriage" for Tango magazine. It was reprinted here and in Cosmopolitan (Germany). It got a number of comments on Huffington Post and continues to get comments to this day at tangomag.com. But a lot of those comments are irrelevant now because my situation has changed so drastically. Readers of my new book, Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage will have the opportunity to get the whole story. In the meantime, Tango magazine has commissioned me to write an update on the process ...

Report reveals disturbing divide in treatment of transexuals in the EU The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA)-Europe and TransGender Europe have published a comprehensive report on the experiences of health care by transgender people in European Union.   ...

One of Canada’s largest Christian ministries dedicated to caring for the disabled was fined $23,000 recently by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario for allegedly discriminating against a former homosexual employee. Connie Heintz claimed discrimination against Christian Horizons after she said she was “subjected to a poisoned work environment” and pressured into quitting her job after she entered a homosexual relationship – which was in violation of her work contract back in 2000. In line with its Christian foundation and principles, the ministry requires that all its employees sign “morality statements” vowing to abstain from immoral behavior, ...

DENVER, Colo., -- A Wednesday reception in Denver is the first stop in a three city tour of Colorado communities organized by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), the nation's only non-profit legal services and policy organization dedicated to ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  The organization's visit is part of an initiative aimed at educating Coloradans about efforts to repeal the ban on military service by lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans.  The Denver kick-off will be followed later this week by events in Boulder and Colorado Springs. "In order to get people involved in the movement to repeal of 'Don't ...

Proctor and gamble is giving you the opportunity to vote to keep the gay storyline on As The World Turns.   Just call 800-331-3774...it's option (2) two to get to the poll and 1 (one) to keep the Gay Storyline.   And as a more formal announcement says,   In response to heat they're getting from the American Family Association, P&G is conducting a phone poll to see if people are for or against the Luke/Noah storyline on As The World Turns. Even if you don't watch the show, please consider taking a quick moment to support boy kissing ...

Gay rights groups across America have breathed a sigh of relief after the homophobic ‘Day of Truth’ failed to make an impact on American schools. Gay news group, GoodasYou.org described that events failure: "The so-called "Day of Truth" went by yesterday with less than a whimper. "While last Friday's pro-acceptance, anti-bullying 'Day of Silence' attracted considerable attention, there was barely a mention of Monday's anti-gay endeavour on either mainstream or "pro-family" news sites, and none of the usual social conservative groups issued so much as a press release celebrating the event. Anti-gay 'Day of Truth' fails to make ...

THE Federal Government changing a raft of laws to remove same-sex discrimination. Attorney-General Robert McClelland said gay people would gain equality in the move. "The changes will provide for equality of treatment under a wide range of commonwealth laws between same-sex and opposite-sex de facto couples," Mr McClelland said. The changes would cover tax, superannuation, social security, health, aged care, veterans entitlements, workers compensation, employment entitlements, and other areas. Mr McClelland said the changes were long overdue and followed a landmark report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission entitled Same-Sex: Same Entitlements, which focused on financial and ...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The highest court of the U.S. Presbyterian Church has lifted a censure placed on a retired minister for presiding over two same-sex unions, the church announced on Tuesday. The ruling said the Rev. Jane Adams Spahr, an activist for gay and lesbian causes who lives in San Rafael, California, performed "ceremonies" and not actual marriages in two instances in 2004 and 2005. Both cases involved lesbian couples. "A same-sex ceremony is not and cannot be a marriage" under the laws of the 2.3 million member church, said the ruling from the Permanent Judicial Commission of the ...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------I've been seeing that Database edit of George Benson's "Turn Your Love Around" quite a bit on the blogs. While I'm excited about REWIND, Buffetlibre's '80s cover and remix project, I didn't really get into this contribution. So why, you ask, am I excited about this project? Three words, two groups: Anoraak, Purple Crush. I wrote about Anoraak a while back, praising their laid-back electro tune "The Wizzard". Having heard quite a bit more from them since then, I've fallen deeper in love. Whether they're doing a remix or cover, I'm sure it'll have me ...

Efforts are growing to find a gay Maryland man who disappeared last year following a breakup with his partner. John Morris was last seen July 30 leaving a friend’s home in Dickerson, Md., a town of about 2,000 people 45 miles northwest of Washington. His family and friends are working this spring to expand their search along the eastern seaboard. Madeline Morris, the man’s mother, said she’s relying on help from the public. “I just wish if they knew where he was, just to have him call me to let me know he’s OK,” she said. Jeanette Wright, a ...