Florida Agenda

BOSTON, MA – Last week, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) told CNN’s Piers Morgan that the gay marriage debate has been “settled” in Massachusetts, and said that opponents of marriage equality should “move on” and focus on economic matters.

“It’s settled law in Massachusetts. Quite frankly, everybody’s moved on,” said Brown on the March 19 broadcast of “Piers Morgan Tonight.”

In the past, Brown has said that he opposes marriage equality, but he has never made it a campaign theme. The Republican split with his party in supporting President Obama’s repeal of the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy.

“We’ve moved on. I encourage everyone else to move on,” Brown told the CNN host. “It should be decided state by state basis. I’m focusing on those other things.”

Democrats say that Brown’s record on LGBT rights leaves much to be desired. They point to his opposition of non-discrimination legislation for LGBT persons, and his refusal to take part in an anti-bullying video.

“If Scott Brown thinks marriage equality is settled law in Massachusetts, he should talk to the thousands of gay couples whose marriages aren’t recognized by the federal government,” said Kevin Franck, spokesman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

Brown is in a re-election race for his U.S. Senate seat, the one formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy.

His presumed Democratic opponent, Harvard law professor and former U.S. Treasury Department official Elizabeth Warren, has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign.

BOSTON, MA – Three members of the Iowa Supreme Court who voted to legalize marriage equality have been selected to receive the 2012 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Former Iowa Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and former justices David Baker and Michael Streit joined a unanimous 2009 decision that struck down the Hawkeye State’s ban on gay marriage.

The ruling caused outrage among the state’s political and religious conservatives, and a campaign, supported by future Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, was initiated and succeeded in voting the judges out of office the following year.

Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of America’s 35th President and the CEO of the foundation named in his honor, applauded the fortitude and determination of the jurists.

“When Justices Baker, Streit, and Ternus joined a unanimous decision to overturn a law denying same-sex couples the privileges of marriage, they sacrificed their own futures on the court to honor Iowa’s Constitution and the rights of its citizens,” Kennedy said in a statement.

A committee consisting of 13 national, political, and community leaders selects the recipients of the annual awards, which are named for the late president’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Profiles in Courage.” The awards will be presented on May 7 by Caroline Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

By Bob Kecskemety

Photo:“Modern Family’ Image Courtesy ABC.com

WORCESTER, MA – Gay parents “tend to be more motivated, more committed than heterosexual parents on average, because they chose to be parents,” says Abbie Goldberg, research psychologist at Clark University in Massachusetts, who studies gay and lesbian parenting. According to Goldberg, gays and lesbians rarely become parents by accident, compared with an almost 50 percent accidental pregnancy rate among heterosexuals. “That translates to greater commitment on average and more involvement,” added Goldberg.

According to Live Science, research indicates that while kids of gay parents show few differences in achievement, mental health, social functioning, and other measures, these kids may have the advantage of open-mindedness, tolerance, and role models for equitable relationships. Gays and lesbians are also more likely to provide homes for difficult-to-place children in the foster system. Research suggests that gays and lesbians are more likely than heterosexuals to adopt older, special-needs, and minority children. Preference may partly account for that, and may partly be founded upon discrimination by adoption agencies that put  more difficult children with “less desirable”—in the opinion of caseworkers–parents. Furthermore, the research has shown that the kids of same-sex couples–both adopted and biological kids–fare no worse than the kids  of straight couples in terms of mental health, social functioning, school performance, and a variety of other life-success measures.

CAMBRIDGE, MA – In recognition of National Coming Out Day last week, members of the Harvard University varsity wrestling team posed for a picture on the steps in front of the Malkin Athletic Center wearing gay pride clothing and rainbow pins that read “Proud Ally” instead of their regular team uniforms. Some of the shirts worn by the team, said: “Some Dudes Marry Dudes.

Get Over It.”

The Harvard Crimson reported that Harvard College Queer Students and Allies co-president Emma Q. Wang said that this year thestudent group wanted to emphasize the importance of coming out as an ally.