As you may know, there are three current battlefronts in the effort to repeal DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act. One’s in Congress: Senators Feinstein and Nadler have introduced a bill, The Respect for Marriage Act, that won’t go anywhere in an election year. Another is in several federal courts: a series of lawsuits are […]
E.J. Graff
E.J. Graff writes on social-justice and human-rights issues, particularly discrimination and violence against women and children; marriage and family policy; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lives. She is a resident scholar at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center and the author of What Is Marriage For? The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution (Beacon Press, 1999, 2004).
Posted inCivil Rights in America
More on the Playboy Club
Here’s a follow-up to my mini-review last week of NBC’s The Playboy Club: a Daily Beast article, “My Mom’s Life as a Playboy Bunny,” by Susanna Spier. Spier interviews her mother about what things were really like. Was Hugh Hefner’s comment — that bunnies could be anything they wanted to be — accurate? Ha. We […]
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
A Pre-2004 Red Sox Nigthmare
I’ve only been here in Boston for, oh, a couple of decades. While I enjoyed the region’s collective delirium when the Red Sox finally reversed the curse, I’m an October fan, not a real one. But my wife is a real fan, dating back pre-natally. She lives and dies with each Sox at bat. She […]
Posted inArticle
No More Family Secrets
The New York Times ran an astounding story yesterday about a sperm donor with 150 offspring. Imagine having 149 half-siblings, putting you in one of the biggest genetic families in history. Jacqueline Mroz’s piece nicely explored some of the ethical queasiness and consequences of leaving family-making entirely to the free market. Here’s the key quote: […]
Posted inArticle
What’s a Line?
A decade ago — a time unit that’s on all our minds this week — I was a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, covering issues that ranged from the nationwide craze for anti-same-sex marriage laws to sexual harassment of female Marines. I’m pretty sure I was the first to use the word “transgender” in […]
Posted inArticle
Fighting for Fair Treatment
For the big Supreme Court cases — about abortion, say, or gay rights — it’s a struggle for ordinary reporters (those who aren’t the dedicated Supreme Court press) with one-day passes to get into the press gallery. After a maze of security, and if you get in at all, you’re herded into the long second-tier […]
Posted inFeatures
Marital Blitz
This November, anti-gay-marriage bills will be back on ballots with a vengeance. But this time around, the gay and lesbian activist network is ready to play hardball.
Posted inArticle
Letter from Toronto
It’s embarrassing, these days, to be an American among international human rights lawyers. Or at least it was for me at the third triennial meeting of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association (ILGLAW). After the last such meeting, I reported here on the progress being made on same-sex partnerships around the world. Held this […]
Posted inSpecial Report
Teaching Tolerance
Congratulations, Mr. President! The progressive lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) community is delighted that you have an opportunity to turn America back on a path to tolerance. Here’s what we expect in return: no more, and no less, than what we got from William Jefferson Clinton. What’s that? You say that Clinton botched every […]
