The Albany gay marriage back room

Gay City News reports that a high-stakes meeting that included the governor, senior Democratic lawmakers and top gay advocates offered “the best sign yet that marriage equality may become a reality by New Year’s Day.”

Says Gay City News:
Shortly after 8 p.m., Paterson, four senior Senate Democrats — Jeffrey Klein of …

Report: Mixed court views on gays in military

(Washington) Conflicting Supreme Court rulings on gay rights make it difficult to predict whether any new laws protecting gays who want to serve openly in the military would be upheld, a congressional report concludes.

The legal analysis by the Congressional Research Service comes as Democratic lawmakers push legislation to repeal the …

House Dems urge Obama to halt gay discharges from the military

WASHINGTON _ In the most vocal plea for the White House to take the lead in allowing gays to serve openly in the military, 76 Democratic lawmakers today urged President Obama to use his executive powers to order a halt to military discharges under the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law and work aggressively with Congress to pass new legislation to overturn what they describe as a discriminatory policy that harms national security.

“We urge you to exercise the maximum discretion legally possible in administering Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell until Congress repeals the law,” states the letter, organized by Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Democrat of California. “To this end, we ask that you direct the Armed Services not to initiate any investigation of service personnel to determine their sexual orientation, and that you instruct them to disregard third party accusations that do not allege violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”

A recent study by the Palm Center, a public policy think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara, argued that Obama has the authority as commander-in-chief to suspend the gay discharge process through an executive order.

See House Dems urge Obama to halt gay discharges from the military

Boston Globe

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