News Briefs 1/11/2009
Obama names gay man as director of Office of Management and Administration, GayPolitics.com.
Gay HIV-positive man named to South Africa’s High Court, The Advocate.
Louisiana to appeal gay parent ruling, 365gay.com.
Arkansas battles suit to strike down restrictive adoption law, 365gay.com.
Push for gay marriage meets election concerns [in New Jersey], The New York Times, Caren Chesler.
New federal law protects retirement savings of gay couples, 365gay.com.
New LGBT equality laws go into effect in California, 365gay.com.
Op-Ed: No defending the Defense of Marriage Act, The Los Angeles Times, Bob Barr. An interesting and well thought-out opinion piece on DOMA from the legislation’s author. Recommended.
Excerpts from the above headlines follow:
Obama names gay man as director of Office of Management and Administration
Brad Kiley has been named as the director of the Office of Management and Administration by President-elect Barack Obama. Kiley, who is openly gay, is currently the director of operations for the Obama-Biden Transition Project and was a former vice president at the Center for American Progress.
Gay HIV-positive man named to South Africa’s High Court
South Africa has appointed a gay HIV-positive man to the country’s highest court, reports South African newspaper The Star.
President Kgalema Motlanthe named vocal AIDS activist Edwin Cameron to the post on New Year’s Eve.
Louisiana to appeal gay parent ruling
The state of Louisiana is preparing to appeal a federal court ruling that both names of a gay couple must appear on the birth certificate of their adopted son.
Arkansas battles suit to strike down restrictive adoption law
More than a dozen families are challenging a new Arkansas law banning unmarried couples living together from becoming foster or adoptive parents.
Push for gay marriage meets election concerns [in New Jersey]
Gov. Jon S. Corzine; Richard J. Codey, the State Senate president; and Joseph J. Roberts Jr., leader of the Democratic-controlled Assembly, have all recently stated publicly that gay marriage is an idea whose time has come. Echoing the sentiments of a state commission report released last month, some state officials said that civil unions — the closest thing to marriage available to gay couples in the state — were woefully inadequate and that the legalization of gay marriage in New Jersey was not a matter of “if” but “when.”
But with the governor and all 80 members of the Assembly up for re-election in November, most of the officials say the “when” may not be for some time.
New federal law protects retirement savings of gay couples
A new law signed by President Bush will protect domestic partners who inherit retirement savings.
The Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 – known as WRERA – contains technical corrections to the Pension Protection Act of 2006.
The Pension Protection Act, or PPA, made it possible for employers to allow any non-spouse beneficiary of an employee’s retirement plan—including an employee’s same-sex partner—to roll inherited retirement benefits directly to an individual retirement account and avoid immediate taxation.
New LGBT equality laws go into effect in California
Three new laws broadening protections for California’s LGBT community have gone into effect. The laws protect seniors in assisted living and young people in schools and foster care.
Op-Ed: No defending the Defense of Marriage Act
In effect, DOMA’s language reflects one-way federalism: It protects only those states that don’t want to accept a same-sex marriage granted by another state. Moreover, the heterosexual definition of marriage for purposes of federal laws — including, immigration, Social Security survivor rights and veteran’s benefits — has become a de facto club used to limit, if not thwart, the ability of a state to choose to recognize same-sex unions.
