jared polis

Rep. Barney Frank and colleagues will introduce the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the House on Wednesday — a bill that Frank described in a statement as a "difficult but winnable fight." The prospects of the bill, which would cover sexual orientation and gender identity in federal employment antidiscrimination laws – are bleak in the current Republican-controlled House, though Frank said that the bill is an "important vehicle" for "a serious lobbying effort."

Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez, IL joined openly gay Rep. Jared Polis, CO and Congressman Mike Quigley, IL in their push for the inclusion of same-sex couples in their immigration reform. The trio will be joined by LGBT leaders at a press conference in Chicago when they announce the need for the LGBT and immigrant communities to be united in their efforts to pass legislation this year.

Two key pieces of legislation to advance gay rights will be reintroduced in Congress Thursday. A group of Democratic representatives will introduce the Uniting American Families Act, which would allow gay and lesbian Americans to sponsor their foreign partner or spouse to become U.S. citizens. New York representative Jerrold Nadler, who announced the move Wednesday, said passage of this legislation was overdue, and without it, many couples and families are torn apart. Among the sponsors are two of the four openly gay members of the House, Wisconsin 's Tammy Baldwin and Colorado's Jared Polis.

Members of the House of Representatives are pushing for protections for LGBT youth to be enshrined in federal law as the Student Non-Discrimination Act, proposed as an amendment to the broader Student Success Act currently being discussed in the House.

Long-sought protections for LGBT Americans from discrimination in employment took a first step forward today as it was passed through a Senate committee on a bipartisan vote.

The presumptive Democratic candidate for president went over the rainbow to call on the Supreme Court to embrace marriage equality nationwide.

Members of the House leadership decided Wednesday that they would defend the Defense of Marriage Act in federal lawsuits, stepping in for the Department of Justice, which announced a halt to defending such cases, under the direction of the president. 

Following a White House screening of the documentary Bully, President Obama endorsed both the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act. The president made the announcement on Friday, the 17th annual Day of Silence, where LGBT students and allies sustain a vow of non-verbal communication to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools.

For the first time in U.S. history, the Senate approved the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, by a bipartisan vote of 64-32, sending the legislation to the House of Representatives.

Twenty-nine of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund's 33 endorsed candidates in primary contests Tuesday won their party's nomination or the election outright. The Maryland state legislature will have at least seven openly gay and lesbian members if three newcomers who won primaries Tuesday join four incumbent members. House of delegates candidates Luke Clippinger, Bonnie Cullison, and Mary Washington hope to join incumbents Annie Kaiser, Maggie McIntosh, and Heather Mizeur along with state senator Richard Madaleno.

With cautious support from Republicans, ENDA seems to have gained a majority of support in the Senate.

The Democratic National Convention concluded on Thursday, as President Barack Obama officially accepted the DNC’s nomination. This year’s DNC was historic for the LGBT community, marking the first time marriage equality has been adopted into the Democratic platform. There were over 500 LGBT delegates present at the convention.

The parents of a high school freshman in Amherst, N.Y., who killed himself told CNN that their son had endured pervasive antigay bullying beginning in fifth grade, both at school and particularly online. Jamey Rodemeyer, 14, committed suicide Monday in the Buffalo, N.Y., suburb. “He had the biggest heart in that little body,” Rodemeyer’s mother, Tracey, told CNN's Anderson Cooper Wednesday. “He was either loved so sincerely or he was bullied. There wasn’t much in between.” Much of the bullying Jamey faced, Tracey Rodemeyer said, occurred not in school but via Facebook and other social media sites. "Because people can access each other in numbers so readily — it’s still accessible for people to do their bullying.”

With few regrets and a few more parting quips, Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank announced Monday that he will retire at the end of the current congressional term.

The Equality Act would include protections in public accommodations, public education, employment, housing, federal funding, jury service, legal protections, and credit.