Barack Obama

The Campaign To Stop The White House From Protecting LGBT Teens From Being Bullied

Ryan J. Reilly | March 20, 2012, 11:38AM

The White House is trying to keep gay students from being bullied. Some conservative groups are trying to stop them.

Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett and Attorney General Eric Holder spoke at the White House LGBT Conference on Safe Schools & Communities in Arlington, Texas on Tuesday, a meeting held to call attention to the work the administration is doing to make schools do more to protect gay students from bullying. They've set up a section of a government website to combat bullying of LGBT students and several officials have participated in the "It Gets Better" campaign.

But outside of the public relations effort, the Justice Department has taken the controversial legal position that Title IX, a law intended to ban gender discrimination, bans discrimination against students who don't conform to gender stereotypes as well. DOJ has already reached agreements with a few schools based on that reading of the law.

Some see it as a government overreach.

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DOMA

Study Author To Boehner's DOMA Defense Team: You Know Nothing Of My Work

Ryan J. Reilly | August 23, 2011, 8:51AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and former United States Solicitor General Paul Clement

A University of Utah professor who specializes in the study of affectional bonds and same-sex sexuality is accusing House Speaker John Boehner's legal team of distorting her research.

Professor Lisa A. Diamond, whose work was cited by the legal team arguing on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives that the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional, filed a declaration in federal court stating that the legal team "misconstrues and distorts my research findings, which do not support the propositions for which BLAG cites them."

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DOMA

Emotional Testimony From Gay Partners At Senate Hearing On Repealing DOMA (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | July 20, 2011, 7:05PM

The day after President Barack Obama threw his support behind repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law preventing the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the issue featuring emotional testimony from people who have been harmed by the law.

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Don't Ask Don't Tell

After 'Don't Ask' Survey Leak, 'Concerned Source' Slips IG Report To Anti-Gay Group

Ryan J. Reilly | June 28, 2011, 5:33PM

Gay rights activists at the "One Nation Working Together" rally

Pretend you're angry that someone improperly leaked some details of a military survey that showed the vast majority of service members wouldn't care all that much about serving alongside gay troops. Say that disclosure was perfectly timed to jolt congressional support for repeal of the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy.

How do you get back? By leaking the Defense Department Inspector General's report on the leak of that survey to an anti-gay group that fought against the repeal of the 'Don't Ask' policy, of course!

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U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

New White House Picks (Almost) Rebalance Civil Rights Commission

Ryan J. Reilly | January 27, 2011, 11:45AM

Roberta Achtenberg and Marty R. Castro

President Barack Obama on Wednesday appointed two new commissioners to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, a federal agency best know recently for its partisan focus on investigating the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case. The White House's move will rebalance what was intended to be a bipartisan panel which came under conservative control thanks to a move during the Bush administration to "game" the system.

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Defense of Marriage Act

Justice Department Defends The Defense Of Marriage Act

Ryan J. Reilly | January 13, 2011, 10:05PM

The Justice Department on Thursday filed a motion justifying the Defense of Marriage Act in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, appealing a federal judge's decision that the part of DOMA which defines marriage as between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.

But the appeal makes clear that the Obama administration doesn't support DOMA, and that the Justice Department was simply following tradition in defending even those laws the executive branch disagrees with.

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Don't Ask Don't Tell

Group Opposed To DADT Repeal To Fight On Against Shower Policy

Ryan J. Reilly | December 27, 2010, 2:20PM

Since 1993, the Center for Military Readiness has been fighting to keep gay men and lesbians from infiltrating the United States military. So now that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has been repealed, what's next for the group that fought so hard to prevent the open service of gay and lesbian members of the armed forces?

They have no big plans yet, Elaine Donnelly, founder and President of the Center for Military Readiness, told TPM in an interview Monday.

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California

DMV Worker Sends Transgender Woman Hate Mail, Warns Her Of Hell

Rachel Slajda | December 10, 2010, 4:51PM

When San Francisco resident Amber Yust went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to change the sex designation on her license from "M" to "F," she didn't have any problems. It wasn't until a few days later that she says she got a letter from the DMV clerk who handled her forms -- a letter warning her that she'd be damned to hell.

Homosexuality, he wrote, is "an abomination that leads to hell," according to the San Francisco Chronicle, apparently violating privacy laws. She also received a DVD from a church which promised damnation for those "possessed by demons."

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LGBT

DOJ: Gov't 'Will Not Stand' For Harassment Of LGBT Students (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | December 9, 2010, 3:45PM

Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez

The Obama administration's top civil rights official on Thursday released a video as part of the "It Gets Better" Project, highlighting the work of the Justice Department defending gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students.

"If you have been targeted for harassment or bullying because of your sexual orientation, because of your because of your gender identity or expression, or simply because your classmates see you as different, I am here to tell you that we here in the Civil Rights Division will not stand for it," Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez says in the video. "My colleagues in the Civil Rights Division want you to know that you are not alone."

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Keith Ellison

Christian Minister: Muslim Congressman's Support Of 'Homosexuals' Is Part Of Sharia Plot

Ryan J. Reilly | December 2, 2010, 10:38AM

Radio host Bradlee Dean and Keith Ellison (D-MN)

A Christian minister in Minnesota said on his radio program that the nation's first Muslim member of Congress was soliciting the support of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community to implement Sharia law. Follow his logic with us, wouldn't you?

Bradlee Dean of the religious ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International said on his radio program that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is only supporting LGBT rights as part of a strategy to bring Sharia law to the United States, the Minnesota Independent reported.

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Tony West

DOJ Official: Defending DADT, DOMA 'Difficult' For Administration

Ryan J. Reilly | November 22, 2010, 12:52PM

Assistant Attorney General Tony West

Assistant Attorney General Tony West of the Justice Department told reporters Monday that defending Don't Ask Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act were "difficult" for the Obama administration.

"Those are difficult cases because as you know the administration has a long standing policy view on this -- supports the repeal of DOMA and supports the repeal of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell'," West said in response to a question from TPM.

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Ali Ahmad Asseri

Gay Saudi Diplomat Getting Death Threats, Went Public Over Lawyer's Objections

Ryan J. Reilly | September 14, 2010, 1:56PM

Ally Bolour, the lawyer representing a Saudi diplomat seeking asylum in the U.S.

The Saudi diplomat who began seeking asylum in the United States because he is gay is now receiving death threats, his lawyer told TPMMuckraker Tuesday.

Ali Ahmad Asseri, the first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, spoke with NBC News' Michael Isikoff last weekend about his request for asylum in the U.S. after Saudi officials refused to renew his diplomatic passport after they discovered he was gay and was close friends with a Jewish woman from Israel.

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U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Democratic Commissioner Says Civil Rights Conference Will Cost $100K

Ryan J. Reilly | September 14, 2010, 9:47AM

Michael Yaki, a member with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Today, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will be holding its national conference at the National Press Club in D.C. As we told you yesterday, the conservative-dominated Commission is under fire from civil rights organizations for ignoring important issues, and many organizations wouldn't be attending the conference at all.

Late yesterday, Commissioner Michael Yaki, who was appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), issued a statement slamming the conservatives on the commission for keeping him and two other commissioners out of the planning of the conference, which he called "woefully short on civil rights."

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DOJ Civil Rights Division

Judge Dismisses Challenge To Hate Crimes Law: Plaintiffs Argued Their Hate Would Cause Headaches

Ryan J. Reilly | September 8, 2010, 8:45AM

President Barack Obama and Louvon Harris, (left) Betty Byrd Boatner, (right) both sisters of James Byrd, Jr., and Judy Shepard (center) mother of Matthew Shepard.

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to the constitutionality of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention law, granting Attorney General Eric Holder's motion to dismiss the challenge to the law that protects gay, bisexual and transgender individuals from bias-motivated violence because the plaintiffs lacked jurisdiction.

Judge Thomas L. Ludington of the Eastern District of Michigan ruled Tuesday that the claim by Michigan Christians that they would be prosecuted under the hate crimes law was entirely speculative, as they would have had to be at risk of committing violent acts or would have had to admit to committing such acts in the past to be at risk of prosecution.

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