“Human Rights Ordinance 296” would have added six words— “sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression”—to the category of classes already protected by the city’s anti-discrimination law.

Attorney Carrington Meade, a supporter of the measure, was philosophical in defeat. “It’s ok, it’s not over,” he said. “You can’t expect to win easily the first time around.”

ACLU Wins Suit For Gay-Straight Alliance at Ocala High School OCALA – On August 14, a federal judge in Jacksonville ordered the Marion County School District to permit the formation of a Gay- Straight Alliance at Vanguard High School. The ruling settles a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of students, after School Superintendent Jim Yancey prohibited the club’s establishment. The suit accused school officials of violating the First Amendment’s rights of association, and the Equal Access Act.

CLIFF DUNN

I’m going to depart this week from my usual tones of conciliation and tolerance because, as my grandmother would say, My Irish is up. This sort of mood often accompanies casting caution to the wind, and speaking in broader generalities than with I am normally comfortable. So be it. My feeling as I write this is that anyone who decides to vote for a Republican U.S. House candidate come November must harbor some— realized or unknown—degree of homophobia, or at least a well-honed sense of Schadenfreude that is focused on one group, namely us.

(Note that I said “decides” to vote: I recognize that there are many factors that go into casting one’s vote, not the least of which are a predisposition to choose a political party based upon one’s parents’ voting habits, or one’s geographic region of birth, which also relates to the first. If you vote solely based on one of these criteria, I am hard-pressed to think of you as homophobic—more properly, you lack self-identity, or may just be lazy.)

In the reverse, any GOP House candidate who supports LGBT rights (to my present, captured-in-amberin- the-moment way-of-thinking) must be either a) insincere, or b) in the wrong party (but there’s redress for this). Sorry, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. I believe that 5 million guncontrol advocates should get together and join the NRA (which claims a membership of 4.3 million), vote out the hard core gun nuts (the ones who think Junior should get a howitzer for Christmas), and the next day add the Brady Law to its membership platform. (But, see “laziness,” above.) and I am not saying that there aren’t good Republicans—gay and straight—who want the same things for themselves and their families that I want for mine.

I was a very right-of-center member of the Grand Old Party during the mid-90s—a reaction, I realize now, to the entitlement and corruption that marked the early Bill Clinton years. I have since made peace with Clinton, and both my beliefs and my political self-discovery have matured into selfknowledge that I am left-of-center, with some traditionalist values (like a gay Mike Logan on “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” but less boozy). On Tuesday, July 31, U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant, in Hartford, Connecticut, issued a 104-page decision, in which she ruled that a provision in the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. This is the fifth federal judge to rule that DOMA is repellant to the U.S. Constitution.

Bryant—who was appointed to the federal bench by George W. Bush—ruled that the provision, which denies federal recognition of tax, health, and other benefits to married same-sex couples, “obligates the federal government to single out a certain category of marriages as excluded from federal recognition, thereby resulting in an inconsistent distribution of federal marital benefits.” She added that “many courts have concluded that homosexuals have suffered a long and significant history of purposeful discrimination.”

The ink on Bryant’s ruling was barely dry when the House Republican leadership—which has made itself the guardian of DOMA’s sacred screed since Attorney General Eric Holder decided last year to no longer waste tax dollars defending the indefensible—announced that it would continue to represent the interests of bigots and the narrowminded, by hiring outside legal counsel to fly to the nation’s far reaches when danger exists that American citizens might exercise their rights as free men and women. That sends a powerfuly bad message that is impossible to ignore.

Although I have no allegiance to the party of Jefferson, Jackson, FDR, and Obama, I would challenge any gay American to name another issue as important to the future of civil rights as marriage equality. I don’t think that civil unions are a terrible idea, but I understand the outrage of those who believe that a right for one should be a right for all. This is plain fairness. For House Republicans to throw ideological red meat to bigots and demagogues is an endorsement of hate, and in this moment, those gay Republicans who give their political or monetary support to GOP House candidates are endorsing hatred, plain and simple.

I don’t know if North Miami pastor Jack Hakimian hates gays as much as his words would indicate, but through his sermons, he is creating another generation of bigots and small-thinkers, and for what? A regular paying job? The satisfaction of being shepherd to the anchorless and rudderless? Maybe 5 million LGBT Americans should descend upon Chick-fil-A and order “Santorum shakes” to make the point that we may not like bigotry, but we think so little of it that we will ignore your narrow-mindedness, and show you true power, to forgive as well as to buy. But I would rather take my money—and my vote—elsewhere.

It also noted that Articles 10 and 19 of the EU Treaty, and Article 21 of the European Charter on Fundamental Rights, expressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation.” “Rights of LGBT people thus form an integral part of both the Copenhagen political criteria for accession, and the EU legal framework on combating discrimination.

They are closely monitored by the EU commission, which reports annually on the progress made by enlargement countries with regard to the situation of the LGBT community,” it read.

“Accession of a country will not be possible if certain [LGBT] rights are not put into law and into practice,” said Ulrike Lunacek, an openly-gay Austrian Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

“Non-discrimination in the field of employment, for instance, has become part of ” EU law, she added.

As more and more American businesses—and not just the Fortune 500—“come out” of the H.R. closet and begin to offer a full range of employee benefits to LGBT employees—and their partners—an entire new realm will come into focus, one where public policy meets the free market, and where captains of industry will become, in greater instances, required to put their portfolios where their mouths are.

Diversity experts point as examples to the CEOs of AT&T and “Big Four” professional services and accounting firm Ernst & Young, who serve on the Board of Directors of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Randall Stephenson, the Chairman and CEO of AT&T, and the telecom giant he helms both have strong records of supporting diversity and LGBT rights, as does Ernst & Young and its CEO, James Turley. Likewise, both companies have recently issued statements in support of LGBT rights. But neither CEO has hinted at leaving the Scouts over differences concerning LGBT rights, even though BSA policy forbids openly gay individuals from serving as Scout leaders, or from joining as members. Although the Scouts have recently agreed to review the ban on gay Scout leaders, officials say that a decision isn’t likely until 2013 at the earliest.

In 2001, Hollywood mogul Stephen Spielberg resigned from his seat on the BSA advisory board, citing conflicting views with the organization. “I thought the Boy Scouts stood for equal opportunity, and I have consistently spoken out publicly and privately against intolerance and discrimination based on ethnic, religious, racial, and sexual orientation,” Spielberg said when he resigned.

Although investment bank and securities titan Goldman Sachs is reported to have lost an anonymous client after CEO Lloyd Blankfein publicly endorsed same sex marriage, company officials say the bulge bracket house has no plans to change its policy supporting marriage equality. Retailer JCPenney was threatened with boycott by the conservative American Family Association and its offshoot, “One Million Moms,” after the chain selected Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson.

Experts on both the retail and public policy fronts say that culturally, there’s a growing intolerance among younger consumers for companies and brands that don’t support LGBT rights. When JCPenney was attacked for choosing DeGeneres, Facebook was bombarded with people who said they would shop at the retailer, and “1 Million People Who Support Ellen for JCPenney” on Facebook quickly overtook One Million Moms’ page. Both JCPenney and Gap have advertising campaigns depicting same sex couples.

Medical products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson has teamed with Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFFLAG) to end gay bullying. Target, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently began selling T-shirts to support a group that is trying to defeat the state’s same sex marriage ban. Food products giant and Fortune 500 Corporation General Mills, also based in Minneapolis, is another institutional supporter of LGBT rights.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama told LGBT supporters last week that they have a friend in him. During the annual White House “LGBT Pride Month” reception on Friday, the chief executive promised to continue to serve as an advocate for gay rights. “Americans may be still evolving when it comes to marriage equality, but as I’ve indicated, personally Michelle and I have made up our minds,” Obama told the gathering of around 500 guests.

“As long as I have the privilege of being your president, I promise you, you won’t just have a friend in the White House, you will have a fellow advocate,” Obama added. The president announced last month that his own evolving views on LGBT rights had led him to conclude that same sex couples should have the right to marry, after years of putting off the announcement, angering many gay advocates.

All those present on Friday night appeared to be fully supportive of the Obama’s handling of other important to gay rights issues, including the repeal of the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, and his Justice Department’s refusal to defend in court what the president believes to be an unconstitutional law, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

“Three years ago,” Obama added, “I also promised you this: I said that even if it took more time than we would like, we would see progress, we would see success—we would see real and lasting change. And together, that’s what we’re witnessing.”

The president acknowledged frustrations within the gay community at the perceived pace of progress and applauded LGBT advocates for demanding forcefully for change. “I’ve said before that I would never counsel patience; that it wasn’t right to tell you to be patient any more than it was right for others to tell women to be patient a century ago, or African Americans to be patient a half century ago,” he said. “After decades of inaction and indifference, you have every reason and right to push, loudly and forcefully, for equality.”

The chief executive acknowledged the struggle that remains. “We still have a long way to go, but we will get there. We’ll get there because of all of you. We’ll get there because of all of the ordinary Americans, who every day show extraordinary courage. We’ll get there because of every man and woman and activist and ally who is moving us forward by the force of their moral arguments, but more importantly, by the force of their example.”

Although the president’s remarks were well-received by activists, there remain questions unanswered about his current “whereabouts” on the LGBT “evolutionary scale. “As the president hosts LGBT advocates at the White House today to celebrate LGBT Pride Month, we call on President Obama to issue the executive order that we have been calling for since the beginning of the year—an Executive Order to bar discrimination by federal contractors based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” said Robin McGehee, the executive director of GetEQUAL.

The Awakening kicked off on Friday at Orlando’s Calvary Assembly megachurch with all the trappings of a religious revival meeting (with the giant tent substituted in favor of a gargantuan air-conditioned tabernacle). Billed as a “federation of multi-racial, multiethnic and multi-generational faithbased and policy organizations,” the mostly-white attendees were told about the importance of retaining the Latino vote within the conservative fold, although polling data suggests that Hispanics still favor Obama over a potential Republican rival. Latino pastors lectured about conservative values while stressing the need to show compassion towards immigrants (although not for gays).

On Saturday, the meeting broke into strategy sessions that focused on important issues, including “Winning the Battle” against gay rights, and “Families under Attack” from such familiar bogeymen as abortion rights, pornography, and sexual promiscuity.

Among those scheduled to speak at the event were Rep. Allen West (R-FL) and Rep. Jon Mica (R-FL), as well as Lou Engle, the Kansas City minister and head of The Call Ministries, who has applauded Ugandan lawmakers for their “courage” calling for capital punishment against persons with HIV/AIDS and those who engage in consensual gay sex. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) appeared via satellite from Washington.

Organizers said they expected about 1,000 people to attend the conference, which was sponsored by the Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal advocacy group that supports and litigates right wing causes. The group is affiliated with Lynchburg, Virginia-based Liberty University, which was founded by the late Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell as a training ground for future social conservative lawyers and public policymakers. “The trajectory we are now on is counter to the vision of our founding fathers, counter to the biblical principles on which our nation was founded,” said Matt Barber, vice president of Liberty Counsel Action.

LGBT rights groups along with Amnesty International and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union applauded the ruling, which they say underscores the ongoing struggle for LGBT rights in much of Eastern Europe, and Hungary in particular.

Officially, police refused permission to Budapest Pride organizers, claiming that the event would impair the flow of traffic. In addition, right wing organizations and Members of Parliament said that the parade would set “a bad example” for the nation’s youth.

Last week, the far right Jobbik party amended its parliamentary proposal to protect “public morals and the mental health of the young generations” from homosexuality, transsexuality, transvestitism, bisexuality, and pedophilia. The legislation’s sponsor, MP Adam Mirkoczki, says the measure would ban “promotion of sexual deviations.”

The study—“LGBT Acceptance and Support: The Hispanic Perspective,” released April 12 by Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS) and the Hispanic rights group National Council of La Raza—reports that Hispanic support for marriage equality stands at 54 percent. That compares with the results of a 2011 Gallup Poll, which showed that 53 percent of the general population supports same-sex marriage.

Other results of the study—which involved interviews last year with 1,001 Latinos 18 years and older—indicated that there is even wider support in the Hispanic community for equal protection in housing and employment for LGBT persons, as well as support for inclusiveness in military service and for strengthening hate crimes legislation.

The study was funded by the Arcus Foundation, a New York-based group which supports environmental and social-justice issues, including LGBT rights. The results stand in contrast to many prevailing attitudes about Latino social and political views. As reported last month in the Agenda, publicallyreleased internal documents of the conservative National Organization of Marriage (NOM) indicated that the group planned a radical social engineering campaign designed to capitalize on perceived anti-gay bias among Hispanics. Those documents reveal a NOM strategy to promote opposition to marriage equality as “a key badge of Latino identity.”

The SSRS data also showed that foreign-born Hispanics tend to be more traditional than those born in the U.S., and are less likely to support LGBT rights. Likewise, Hispanic men, Hispanic Republicans, and those who aren’t familiar with a gay person are more likely to oppose LGBT rights.

Although several thousand votes had yet to be counted according to the clerk for the Municipality of Anchorage, Proposition 5 trailed by almost 9,000 votes, despite earlier poll numbers that indicated the measure would pass. A similar ordinance that had been passed by the 11-member Anchorage Assembly was vetoed in 2009 by Mayor Dan Sullivan.

One Anchorage, the group that organized the Proposition 5 ballot initiative, included both prominent Democrats and Republicans, including the state’s U.S. Senators, Lisa Murkowski (R- Alaska) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska). The coalition— which received out-of-state support, including a $25,000 donation from Colorado billionaire Tim Gill, a regular benefactor of LGBT causes—outspent opponents more than 4 to 1, raising nearly $350,000.

These opponents included conservative Alaskan religious groups, among them the Roman Catholic Church. Most of the opposition was financed by the 2,500-member Anchorage Baptist Temple (ABT) and its pastor, Rev. Jerry Prevo. Prevo had argued against both previous efforts to enact an LGBT right ordinance: first in the late 1970s under Mayor George Sullivan, and later in 2009 under Sullivan’s son, Dan, who was elected to a second term by a wide margin during last week’s vote.

Prevo and ABT ran ads that evoked— inaccurately—several scenarios which would be permissible under the new ordinance, including one in which a church would not be able to fire a hypothetical cross-dresser who was employed in its day-care center.

NEW YORK, NY – The growing support for LGBT rights among American corporate leaders is turning into tangible results for the nation’s LGBT workers, with a growing number of blue chips and other companies offering non-fiduciary benefits and other forms of compensation to their LGBT workforces, and their partners: married, domestic, or what have you.

For example, Ernst & Young, one of the nation’s largest accounting firms, is one of about three-dozen companies that now compensate their LGBT employees because of a provision in the tax code that requires them to pay income taxes on their partners’ health benefits—an amount that straight married couples are not required to pay. Approximately three-dozen companies now offer the so-called “gross-up benefit,” which, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) reports, is close to three times as many that offered the benefit just twelve months ago.

HRC reports that other companies that began offering the benefit as of Jan. 1 include American Express, Bank of America, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Both HRC and legal experts say that the tax requirement is a federal issue, and therefore trumps even laws in states that recognize gay marriage. “Four letters,” says Chris J. Mancini, a Broward County attorney who has represented many LGBT clients on domestic partnership issues. “D-OM- A.” Mancini, a former federal prosecutor, notes that the federal Defense of Marriage Act does not recognize same-sex couples as being married, even in the eight states that have legalized marriage equality.

“Under DOMA and its federal spousal definitions, a man on his wife’s health plan doesn’t pay federal taxes on his share of benefits, but a man on his husband’s plan does,” Mancini explains.

“Big Five” accounting firm Ernst & Young has offered benefits to same-sex domestic partners since 2002. The matter of the tax inequity came up during a town hall meeting held in November by the company’s diversity department. According to HRC estimates, the gross-up benefit provides an extra $1,200 on average to an employee’s family. Competitors KPMG and Pricewaterhouse Coopers have likewise added the gross-up benefit gay employees and their partners.

Bank of America offered domestic partner health benefits beginning in 1998: the company added the tax benefit this year for both domestic partners of employees and eligible children.