Arizona

The hateful Gov. Jan Brewer [pic] lost her fight to overturn a '08 executive order from her predecessor, Gov. Janet Napolitano, who granted coverage to same-sex partners of government workers. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld an injunction from a lower court that blocked Brewer's '09 evil law eliminating health-insurance coverage for same-sex partners of state employees from taking effect. In its unanimous ruling, the appellate court said denying benefits to a specific group of employees violates the equal-protection provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

Caleb Laieski, a 16-year old bullied youth from Arizona, was invited to the White House to share his experience. Laieski was one of the few youth chosen to meet with President Obama. While meeting with him, Laieski proposed he appoint an LGBT youth advisor to the President; to specifically address anti-LGBT bullying and other major issues that LGBT youth face. Bullying led Caleb to pursue his GED instead of a high school diploma. Laieski lost a close friend his age to suicide last year.

Family Equality Council is responding to the disappointing losses in Arizona [Prop 102], Florida [Amendment 2], Arkansas [Act 1], and California [Prop 8] with a new campaign - called DECLARE YOUR FAMILY EQUAL.

Lambda Legal is filing a discrimination complaint with the New York Attorney General’s office on behalf of a gay couple in New York barred from posting their online adoptive parent profile by Arizona-based Adoption Profiles, LLC and Adoption Media, LLC solely because they are a same-sex couple - violating New York antidiscrimination laws.

A Californian couple settled their lawsuit against Adoption.com. Three years ago Michael Butler and Richard Butler (San Jose, CA) attempted to post their profile on Adoption.com. Their application to join the site was rejected.