LGBT Youth to Call for Harvey Milk Day and More in Sacramento
The event is sponsored by Gay-Straight Alliance Network, Equality California Institute, BIENESTAR, Transgender Law Center, The Trevor Project, and the National Association of Social Workers California Chapter.
Learn more at www.gsanetwork.org
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/lgbt-youth-to…
Vermont mental health groups back gay marriage
(Burlington, Vermont) Vermont mental health professionals are backing legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The Vermont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Psychological Association, the Vermont Mental Health Counselor Association and the Vermont chapter of the National Association of Social Workers said in a joint statement that arguments by opponents of same-sex …
Tags: Association Of Social Workers, Burlington Vermont, Counselor Association, Gay Health, gay marriage, Legislation, marriage, Mental Health Counselor, Mental Health Groups, Mental Health Professionals, National Association Of Social Workers, Opponents, Psychiatric Association, Psychological Association, Psychological Health, Same Sex Couples, Vermont Chapter, Vermont Marriage, Vermont VermontVermont mental health groups back gay marriage
(Burlington, Vermont) Vermont mental health professionals are backing legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The Vermont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Psychological Association, the Vermont Mental Health Counselor Association and the Vermont chapter of the National Association of Social Workers said in a joint statement that arguments by opponents of same-sex …
Tags: Association Of Social Workers, Burlington Vermont, Counselor Association, Gay Health, gay marriage, Legislation, marriage, Mental Health Counselor, Mental Health Groups, Mental Health Professionals, National Association Of Social Workers, Opponents, Psychiatric Association, Psychological Association, Psychological Health, Same Sex Couples, Vermont Chapter, Vermont Marriage, Vermont VermontVermont mental health groups back gay marriage
(Burlington, Vermont) Vermont mental health professionals are backing legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The Vermont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Psychological Association, the Vermont Mental Health Counselor Association and the Vermont chapter of the National Association of Social Workers said in a joint statement that arguments by opponents of same-sex …
Tags: Association Of Social Workers, Burlington Vermont, Counselor Association, Gay Health, gay marriage, Legislation, marriage, Mental Health Counselor, Mental Health Groups, Mental Health Professionals, National Association Of Social Workers, Opponents, Psychiatric Association, Psychological Association, Psychological Health, Same Sex Couples, Vermont Chapter, Vermont Marriage, Vermont VermontProfessional groups back gay marriage BurlingtonFreePress.com
Same-sex marriage rights got an endorsement Monday from four Vermont professional organizations who cited research findings that “children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish.”
They also said gay and lesbian parents are as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to provide healthy environments for children and that “there is no credible scientific evidence” relating parenting effectiveness to sexual orientation.
Their statement, which comes as the Vermont legislature prepares to consider same-sex marriage legislation, was released at a news conference called by the Vermont Psychological Association, the Vermont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Association of Mental Health Counselors and the Vermont chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
Speaking on the organizations’ behalf, Jackie Weinstock, an associate professor in the department of integrated professional studies at the University of Vermont, said the groups wanted to “set the record straight” by rebutting contentions by gay-marriage opponents that children raised by single-sex parents fare less well than their counterparts in heterosexual families.
“No study has shown that outcomes for children of single-sex families are any less positive than outcomes for children in heterosexual families,” Weinstock said. She said contrary findings sometimes cited by opponents apply in part to children of divorced parents, not exclusively to children of single-sex parents. She acknowledged that national studies of children in same-sex parents have been limited by small research samples. See Professional groups back gay marriage BurlingtonFreePress.com
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/professional-…
ACLU Seeks Immediate Florida Supreme Court Hearing For Gay Adoptive Dad And His Children
MIAMI – The American Civil Liberties Union and lawyers for Martin Gill’s adopted children filed a request today in Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals seeking to expedite the appeal of last week’s court ruling that the ban on adoption by gay people violates the Florida constitution.
Everyone in this case agrees that prolonging a child’s stay in foster care is not in his best interest. The trial court found that these children are thriving in this home, and that there is no reason – scientific or other – that they should be denied the permanency and protections of adoption,” said Rob Rosenwald, Director of the ACLU of Florida LGBT Advocacy Project. “Today we ask the court to take the best interest of these kids into consideration and not make them wait the extra years it would take for the case to make its way through the traditional appellate process.”
On November 25, 2008, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Cindy Lederman granted adoption of two brothers, ages four and eight, to Martin Gill of North Miami, after a four-day trial that highlighted scientific evidence that proved gay and straight people make equally good parents. The decision overturned a 31-year-old discriminatory law banning gays and lesbians from adopting – the only such law in the U.S. – that was put on the books after the anti-gay campaign led by Anita Bryant in the 1970’s.
Lederman noted in her decision that the fact that parental sexual orientation has no impact on children’s well-being has “been accepted, adopted and ratified by” the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Child Welfare League of America and the National Association of Social Workers, and that it is “beyond dispute” that the exclusion of gay people from adopting does not protect the interests of children.
The state appealed the decision immediately after it was announced last Tuesday. If today’s request is granted, the case will go straight to the Florida Supreme Court instead of having to go through a lengthy appeals court process. The state has five days to file a response to today’s court filing, which is not available to the public because the document is part of a juvenile court record.
In addition to Rosenwald, Gill is represented by Leslie Cooper and James Esseks of the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project and Shelbi Day of the ACLU of Florida. The children are represented by Hilarie Bass and Ricardo Gonzalez of Greenberg Traurig, and Charles Auslander, an attorney and former District Administrator for Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF).
For more information on the case, visit http://www.aclu.org/gill
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/aclu-seeks-im…
