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- LGBT, African-American groups teaming up on issues
Leaders of LGBT and African-American civil rights groups are increasingly working together to help advance each other’s agenda items, and the partnership has resulted in black leaders stepping up their support for marriage equality, according to this article. LGBT groups recently joined an effort to protest New York City police policies that some say target black and Hispanic people. “It’s become clear that, just as [civil rights leader] Bayard Rustin admonished us all, that we would either stand together or die apart,” said Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the NAACP. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)
(6/9)     
| Politics and Policy | | |
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- Favorable polling no guarantee of victory in ballot fights
Ballot fights in numerous states this year will test whether evolving public opinion on marriage will translate into voter support for allowing same-sex couples to legally wed. Voter turnout is key, say LGBT advocates. “Just because there's majority support for marriage in all of these states, doesn't mean we're going to get all of these voters out to the polls,” said Michael Cole-Schwartz, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign. Rolling Stone
(6/8)
- Man walks across U.S. to support sweeping LGBT law
Fifteen months after setting out from California, Richard Noble completed a 2,700-mile walk across the U.S. Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla. Noble, who carried a rainbow flag the entire way, said the effort was aimed at building support for a comprehensive federal law that would ban LGBT discrimination. “We need to get behind one bill,” Noble said. The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)
(6/10)
- Carrie Underwood comes out for marriage equality
"American Idol" winner and country superstar Carrie Underwood has told a British newspaper that she strongly supports the rights of same-sex couples to marry, saying her faith led her to conclude, “Above all, God wanted us to love others.” The move could rile her fan base in the U.S., but one LGBT activist said younger evangelicals are increasingly supportive of marriage equality. The Independent (London)
(6/9)
- U. of Pittsburgh rebuts transgender bias complaint
University of Pittsburgh officials say a LGBT group’s complaint that the school discriminates against transgender people is without merit, noting that the complaint did not identify any individual who has been subject to discrimination. The school’s restroom-use policy equates gender and sex, which could force those who identify as and appear to be women to use men’s restrooms, according to a vice president of the campus group Rainbow Alliance. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(6/11)
- New parenting study flawed, critics say
 A new study that finds that adult children of parents who have had
same-sex relationships do not fare as well as those raised in homes
with married, opposite-sex parents is being challenged as deeply
flawed, with one researcher saying the author's methodology appears to
have been designed to find bad outcomes. Mark Regnerus, a University
of Texas researcher with a history of producing controversial studies,
denied a political motive behind the paper, but LGBT groups responding
to the study pointed out it was largely funded by conservative groups
that have ties to anti-gay organizations such as the Family Research
Council and the National Organization for Marriage. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)
(6/11), BuzzFeed
(6/11), Towleroad
(6/12)
- Jeb Bush: LGBT families can be examples
 Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said in an interview this week that while
he is opposed to marriage rights for same-sex couples, he believes
LGBT families are worthy of recognition. "I don’t think people need
to be discriminated against because they don’t share my belief on
this, and if people love their children with all their heart and soul
and that’s what they do and that’s how they organize their life that
should be held up as examples for others to follow because we need
it," Bush told Charlie Rose. The Miami Herald (free registration)
(6/9)
| Opinion | | |
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Generally speaking, what issues will be most important to you in deciding how you'll cast your vote this year?
 | Economic issues such as jobs and government spending |
| Social issues such as LGBT rights and abortion |
| National security and international affairs |
| None of the above |
| I'm not sure |
| Beyond Politics | | |
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| Editor's Note | | |
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Clarification
Because of an error in a source article, a summary in Friday's Gay Politics Report incorrectly stated that New Mexico state legislative candidate Jacob Candelaria will become the first openly LGBT person to serve in the Legislature. Candelaria will be the only out legislator serving, but he will not be the first.
| SmartQuote | | |
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 | "We don’t believe in discrimination. The constitution is a statement to limit the role of government in people’s lives, not to increase it.""
--Jim Elliott, chairman of the Montana Democratic Party, explaining the party's embrace of marriage equality, as quoted by the Helena Independent Record
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