Thursday, March 28, 2013
State Sen. Adam Ebbin, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner among those who have changed their profile pictures.
You probably have seen a red square with a pink equals sign on it in your Facebook, Twitter and other social media feeds lately — a symbol that stands for marriage equality. It stems from an effort by the Human Rights Campaign that coincides with oral arguments being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this week regarding the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA, as it is known, allows the federal government to discriminate against same-sex couples. The equality symbol signifies that marriage really is all about love, according to the Human Rights Campaign. "It's nice for people on Facebook to see their Facebook friends standing up, and seeing so many people doing that," said state Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria. Ebbin, who is…
Thursday, February 14, 2013
A Virginia House subcommittee killed a non-discrimination bill this week.
A Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee this week tabled a bill that would have prevented the state government from discriminating against someone based on their sexual orientation, essentially killing the matter for this legislative session. "What it means is that it's still perfectly legal to fire somebody because of their sexual orientation," state Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, told Patch. Ebbin and Sen. Don McEachin, a Richmond Democrat, were the primary sponsors of the bill, which passed the Senate late last month 24-16. Tysons area legislators Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) and Barbara Favola (D-Vienna) voted for the bill. Most of Virginia's top 25 employers have nondiscrimination policies in place that include sexual orientation, …
Thursday, May 31, 2012
What do you think of the court's ruling?
A federal appeals court in Boston ruled Thursday that the Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage as between one man and one woman — is unconstitutional because it denies benefits to same-sex couples that heterosexual couples receive. The justices stayed the ruling pending an anticipated decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on this case or a similar case. The ruling applies to four New England states and Puerto Rico, which are covered by the circuit court’s jurisdiction, Bloomberg reported. According to the Huffington Post: "The court didn't rule on the law's more politically combustible provision, which said states without same-sex marriage cannot be forced to recognize gay unions performed in states where it's legal. It also wasn'…
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to sign into law a bill that would allow state-funded private child-placement agencies the right to deny services based on their religious or moral beliefs.
Greg Greeley grew up in a large family and knew that one day he would want to start his own. "When I decided to start a family, and began reaching out to adopt, I was a single father," said Greeley, who moved to Virginia in 1987. He was in the Air Force and stationed at the Pentagon. As a single, gay man, Greeley faced many challenges before successfully navigating the state's adoption process. He started the process in 2001. A year later, after locating a progressive child-placement agency in Virginia, he adopted his first child from Ukraine. "It was a hard process and I was lucky," said Greeley, who lives in Arlington and now has a second adopted son from El Salvador. "The first question I asked each agency was, 'Do you work with single …
anne snyder
8:14 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
read the paragraph--the largest employers have rules in place. you got laws on your laws. enough! and i note the hurry to blame those with common sense. do you really think any business is going to hire and fire knowing the costs of today's law suits? more ›