• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Body
  • Daily Resist
  • POLITICS
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Film
  • TV
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Men
  • Marriage Equality
  • Space
  • Trans Rights
  • Books
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • TowleREAD

Tuesday Speed Read: Chuck Hagel, Human Rights Charter, North Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan, Boy Scouts

April 29, 2014 by Lisa Keen

BY LISA KEEN / Keen News Service

DOD SIGNS MORE INCLUSIVE CHARTER: Hagel

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel signed a “Human Goals Charter” Monday. “By signing this charter today,” said Hagel during the ceremony, “DOD’s civilian and military leaders commit ourselves – all of us – to making DOD a model for equal opportunity and [fair treatment] for all. …As the charter says, we will continue striving to make military service a model – a model of equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, or national origin.” SPART*A, an LGBT military organization, called the addition of “sexual orientation” to the charter a welcome “symbolic gesture” but only a “first step.” "The next logical step,” said SPART*A Policy Director Allyson Robinson, “is to amend related DoD directives to add sexual orientation to military equal opportunity and non-discrimination policies; only then will gay and lesbian service members be protected.” SPART*A noted that sexual orientation was added to the Human Goals Charter for DOD’s civilian force in 1998.

CHURCH CHALLENGE: Ucc

In a first of its kind lawsuit, a group of ministers filed a complaint in federal court Monday against North Carolina’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples, saying that the law’s penalties against clergy who conduct ceremonies for same-sex marriages violates their free exercise of religion. The lawsuit, United Church of Christ v. Cooper, was organized by the United Church of Christ and filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, in Charlotte. Jon Davidson, legal director for Lambda Legal, called the lawsuit “particularly promising” because North Carolina law makes it a misdemeanor for a “minister, officer or any other person authorized to solemnize a marriage” under North Carolina law to marry a couple without them having obtained a marriage license, which same-sex couples cannot obtain from the state.

N.C. AG OPPOSES RELIEF: R_cooper

The Democratic attorney general of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, filed a brief in another marriage equality lawsuit Monday, opposing a request to recognize a lesbian couple’s marriage in Massachusetts on an expedited basis to secure health coverage for their sick child. In the ACLU-led lawsuit, Fisher-Borne v. Smith, Cooper said the potential harm for the family is “outweighed by the harm to the public if State officials are enjoined from enforcing the democratically ratified State laws and Constitution.”

APPEALS COURT GRANTS STAY:

A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals April 5 granted Tennessee’s request for a stay of a district court judge’s ruling. District Court Judge Aleta Trauger denied the request for a stay on a narrow and temporary order she issued in Tanco v. Haslam in March requiring the state to recognize the marriage licenses of three same-sex couples who obtained marriage licenses out of state. The panel granted the stay and ordered that a hearing by a panel of the appeals court should be scheduled “without delay” to hear the merits of the state’s appeal.

AND ‘NO’ TO SKIPPING A STEP:

The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals also issued an order Monday, denying the state of Michigan’s request to skip over a three-judge panel and go straight to the full appeals court with its appeal of a district court ruling that its ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional. The one-page order stated simply that “no judge of this court” voted to send the case directly to the full bench.

BOSTON GLOBE ON BOYS SCOUTS:

A Boston Globe editorial Monday characterized the Boy Scouts of America policy banning gay scout leaders as “stuck in the past” and said “the organization itself exists in a 1950s time warp….[where] there are no merit badges for inclusiveness….”

© 2014 Keen News Service. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Boy Scouts, Michigan, Military, News Tagged With: Boy Scouts, Chuck Hagel, Chuck Hagel, gay marriage, Gay Marriage, Michigan, Military, News, north carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Tennessee

Recent Posts

  • Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

    Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

    12 hours ago
  • Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

    Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

    14 hours ago
  • It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

    It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

    15 hours ago
  • Maskless Leopard Print ‘Karen’ Goes Down Shrieking at Palm Beach Bagel Shop: WATCH

    Maskless Leopard Print ‘Karen’ Goes Down Shrieking at Palm Beach Bagel Shop: WATCH

    2 days ago
Previous Post: « ‘Camp’ Camp, the Summer Camp for LGBT Adults, is Back: VIDEO
Next Post: Roam The Arctic Seascape With Enigmatic Electro Artist iamamiwhoami: VIDEO »

Primary Sidebar

  • Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

  • Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

  • It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

Recent Posts

  • Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

    Lindsey Graham Tells Trump to ‘Keep Your Movement Alive,’ Urges Him to Resist Pardoning the Rioters: WATCH

    12 hours ago
  • Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

    Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Who Rallied Trump Insurrectionists, Claims He and Rep. Lauren Boebert Could Have Stopped Them After the Capitol Siege Was Underway

    14 hours ago
  • It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

    It’s Bottoms Up on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ [RECAP and RANKINGS]

    15 hours ago
  • Maskless Leopard Print ‘Karen’ Goes Down Shrieking at Palm Beach Bagel Shop: WATCH

    Maskless Leopard Print ‘Karen’ Goes Down Shrieking at Palm Beach Bagel Shop: WATCH

    2 days ago
  • Pete Buttigieg Confirmation Hearing Scheduled for Thursday

    Pete Buttigieg Confirmation Hearing Scheduled for Thursday

    2 days ago
  • Married Lincoln Project Co-Founder John Weaver Admits Sending Sexually Inappropriate Texts to Male Job Applicants, Says He’s Gay

    Married Lincoln Project Co-Founder John Weaver Admits Sending Sexually Inappropriate Texts to Male Job Applicants, Says He’s Gay

    2 days ago
  • Bill Maher Shoots Down Kellyanne Conway’s Defense of Trump’s Legacy, That Many Folks Are Better Off: ‘A Lot of Them Are Dead!’ — WATCH

    Bill Maher Shoots Down Kellyanne Conway’s Defense of Trump’s Legacy, That Many Folks Are Better Off: ‘A Lot of Them Are Dead!’ — WATCH

    2 days ago
  • Ralph Lauren Drops 7-Year Sponsorship of Pro Golfer Justin Thomas Over Homophobic Slur

    Ralph Lauren Drops 7-Year Sponsorship of Pro Golfer Justin Thomas Over Homophobic Slur

    2 days ago
  • James Lankford, Dolly Parton, Vaccine Rollout, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Palm Beach, The Big Lie, Joshua Bassett: HOT LINKS

    James Lankford, Dolly Parton, Vaccine Rollout, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Palm Beach, The Big Lie, Joshua Bassett: HOT LINKS

    2 days ago
  • Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Takes Down QAnon GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert After Accusations He Named Her as Member Who Gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of US Capitol Ahead of Trump Insurrection

    Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Takes Down QAnon GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert After Accusations He Named Her as Member Who Gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of US Capitol Ahead of Trump Insurrection

    3 days ago

Most Commented

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Footer

Copyright © 2021 · Log in