I came across this story and it took my breath away. Not because any of this is particularly shocking, given the general information about how hard it has been for the long-term unemployed to get work, and the battle over extensions of unemployment benefits. What made me unravel was the prospect that for some of [...]

There’s a great piece up at The Atlantic by Jonathan Krohn that profiles Cleta Mitchell, who was the primary force behind GOProud’s exclusion from CPAC last year (and was embarrassed this year when her anti-gay panel featuring NOM’s Brian Brown was sparsely attended, while GOProud’s Jimmy LaSalvia was on a standing-room only panel). She’s a partner in [...]

As I’ve said countless times before, the 2010 election saw a tidal wave of Teabaggers roll into our General Assembly in NC, and with the first GOP supermajority since Reconstruction, they’ve been hard at work since day one rolling back progressive progress in the state. In response to an ACLU challenge to prayer before Rowan County [...]

They just cannot help themselves, whether it’s a rising star in GOP circles, or a long-time, grizzled elected Senator. I’m enjoying the complete lack of any pretense as bigotry continues to spill from the lips of these folks, who either cannot digest or have to desire to digest the message that the GOP “autopsy” conducted [...]

It was all too predictable. I wish that I could kick the @sses of the “reasonable but disengaged” NC voters — and there are way too many of them — who were too lazy/apathetic to cast a ballot to avoid the calamity we are witnessing now. That and the wreck of a state Dem party. [...]

A huge move for a politican in my state who has been reticent to step up on LGBT rights. Thank you for finally kicking your ally closet door open, Senator Hagan. From her Facebook page: Marriage equality is a complex issue with strong feelings on both sides, and I have a great deal of respect [...]

Today SCOTUS takes up arguments on the merits of the Defense of Marriage Act, but the circus outside yesterday lived up to expectations when it comes to the fringe bigotry brigade. Some reporting from Lila Shapiro on the “defenders of marriage” that did show up: “They’ll pass the law to get married, and then force their way [...]

UPDATE: Audio and transcript are up at the SCOTUS  web site. There are several ways this can go, but only one way to morally and legally handle the institutionalized discrimination that exists in this country today when it comes to the freedom to marry. Today the Prop 8 arguments were presented to the U.S. Supreme Court. [...]

This is a guest piece by Emily J. Martin, Vice President and General Counsel at the National Women’s Law Center  (@nwlc). When the Supreme Court hears the marriage equality cases starting tomorrow, there are lots of reasons why they should subject Proposition 8 and Section of 3 of Defense of Marriage Act to close judicial scrutiny [...]

I happened to check Facebook a little while ago, and FDL’s Teddy Partridge and PHB’s Alvin McEwen both noted that I was mentioned in a piece by Frank Sharry in the Washington Post, “How did we build an immigrant movement? We learned from gay rights advocates,” along with notable bloggers John Aravosis and Joe Sudbay, who [...]