How Will Biden Stand on GLBT Issues?

Rather quietly tonight, in my opinion, Sen. Barack Obama announced that Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) is his VP pick. I won’t bother repeating the fairly decent, if brief, summary that Waymon Hudson’s already put together over at the Bilerico Project of Biden’s voting record on LGBT (really queer… or really gay and lesbian…) issues.

Read more at bilerico.com.

The Advocate to Cut Publication in Half

The Advocate, one of the country’s oldest biweekly gay publications, will go monthly beginning in January.

Jon Barrett, the magazine’s new editor-in-chief, made the announcement during the luncheon plenary session of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association’s LGBT Media Summit under way in Washington, D.C.

“I don’t think there is a need for a biweekly magazine anymore with the Web,” Barrett said.

You can get more on this story at ebar.com.

National Gay Leaders Applaud Obama’s Platform

The release of the proposed platform for the Democratic Party’s national convention has leaders of homosexual advocacy groups thanking presidential candidate Barack Obama for helping create a platform that aligns with “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender” (or LGBT) activists’ vision of American values.

“It is a forward-looking platform in so many areas, including those relating to LGBT people,” said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in a released statement. “For the first time the platform explicitly calls for an end to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Read more at worldnetdaily.com Read more

Ontario Gays Push For Allegiance With Police

The Ontario cities of London and Peterborough are following Ottawa and Edmonton’s lead by attempting to forge closer ties with police through a queer liaison committee.

Ottawa’s liaison committee, the first of its kind, was formed nearly 20 years ago after seeming police indifference to the murder of a young man who was perceived to be gay.

“By bringing together this [queer] sector with the police, we can build on the good relationship we have with the GLBT community,” says Const Pete Testa of the London Police Service. The London liaison committee is in a very early stage, he says.

“All I’ve done is talk to some citizens of London and to my sergeant,” says Testa, a London police diversity officer. “I’ve talked to some citizens of London who were very supportive and might even want to be on the committee.”

Read more at xtra.ca.

ACLU of Florida Expands LGBT Advocacy Project

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida today announced the expansion of its statewide LGBT Advocacy Project with the addition of legal and field staff in its Tampa and Miami offices.

“Our LGBT Advocacy Project has worked hard for the past two years to become a leading statewide gay rights organization. We are thrilled to expand our staff so we can help more gay, lesbian, and transgender Floridians achieve full citizenship,” said Robert Rosenwald, director of the ACLU of Florida’s LGBT Advocacy Project.

Shelbi Day joins the ACLU of Florida’s LGBT Advocacy Project as a staff attorney based in the ACLU of Florida’s West Central Florida regional office, located in Tampa. She joins the ACLU after working for over a year as a staff attorney in the Southern Regional Office of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), where she advocated on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clients and their families through litigation, public education and outreach, and public policy advocacy.

“We’re happy to welcome Shelbi and her expertise to the ACLU of Florida’s LGBT Advocacy Project. Her legal skills will greatly enhance our efforts to significantly affect the lives of LGBT people in our state,” said Randall Marshall, Legal Director of the ACLU of Florida.

In addition, Dave Ganim recently joined the LGBT Advocacy Project as statewide field coordinator working on our ballot initiative fighting the proposed Constitutional Amendment #2. Dave will focus on marshalling the ACLU of Florida’s 30,000+ members and supporters to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment that claims to ban gay marriage, but in reality threatens to take away benefits and basic protection such as hospital visitation from all unmarried couples, whether gay or straight.

The ACLU of Florida’s LGBT Project serves Florida’s statewide LGBT community through litigation, public education, and grass roots advocacy. The Project has enjoyed victories, both legal and political, since its inception in December 2005. Project lawyers have prevailed in court, protecting the right of students to form a gay-straight alliance in Okeechobee County schools, the right to come out and to advocate for the rights of gay students in Holmes County schools, and the right of transgender students to a safe and secure education in Santa Rosa County Schools.

On the legislative front, the LGBT Advocacy Project has taken a leading role in ensuring that Florida’s representatives know that fair-minded heterosexual Floridians stand united with the LGBT community, seeking repeal of Florida’s ban on gay adoption, defeat of the proposed constitutional amendment on marriage, and passage of basic protection for LGBT students and adults from harassment and discrimination.

At the local level, LGBT Advocacy Project volunteers have successfully helped secure passage of Miami-Dade County’s new domestic partner registry ordinance and Pinellas County’s new law banning discrimination based upon sexual orientation.

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