Human Rights Campaign Responds to Misleading Claims by Organizations Seeking to Discriminate
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today responded to the “Manhattan Declaration” produced and released by 145 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders indicating that they will not cooperate with laws that conflict with their beliefs, including those recognizing same-sex couples. The document also references the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) as a threat to religious liberty.  Yet ENDA – which prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity – broadly exempts religious organizations.  The declaration al

You Can Be Fired For Being Gay - Unless You Act
The House Education and Labor Committee is getting ready to move ENDA soon, but you may have heard that the committee vote has been pushed back a few weeks. It's more important than ever that you call and email members of Congress to make sure that our voice is heard in support of ENDA on Capitol Hill. Right-wing groups are using lies to delay the bill, claiming that ENDA will grant "special rights to homosexuals" and take away religious freedoms.We're working with a broad coalition of more than 20 organizations to generate 25,000 calls to Congress this week. That kind of grassroots pressure can help drown out these lies and push Congress into action.That means 57 ca

2009: An inspirational year for LGBT equality
This year has shaped up to be one of the most inspiring in the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, with history-making legislation in the works.We celebrated a successful 2009 Out & Equal Workplace Summit in Florida – attracting nearly 2,000 attendees and some of the world’s most well-known leaders – and federal lawmakers passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first fed

VIGIL to Remember Gay Teen Jorge Lopez Mercado: Stop the Slaughter
A Vigil will be held in Philadelphia on Friday evening, November 20th to remember 19-year-old Jorge Lopez Mercado.  Lopez, a Puerto Rican native was found partially burned, decapitated and with arms and legs dismembered, on the side of the road near his home town Caguas, Puerto Rico on Saturday, November 14th.The Vigil will be held at the Church of St. Luke and The Epiphany, 330 South 13th Street in Philadelphia from 6:30 to 7 p.m.   Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organizations, activists and allies are invited.  The Vigil will include the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, Gloria Casarez, LGBT Liaison to Mayor Nutter, Cynthia Vasquez, youth

Acquisition of Washington Blade Fails
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS OWNER CONFIRMSHIS COMPANY WON BID TO BUY & PERPETUATE WASHINGTON BLADEPRIOR TO ITS SHUTDOWN    Washington, D.C., Nov. 18 -- In response to media inquiries and an apparent information blackout by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Nicholas F. Benton, owner of the Falls Church News-Press, a Washington, D.C.-area weekly, confirmed today that his corporation, Benton Communications, Inc., had won a bid from parties that included the SBA in September to obtain the assets of the Washington Blade from its bankrupt parent company for purposes of a seamless perpetuation of the nation's oldest gay community