Religious institutions are starting to formally address the participation of transgender people in their congregations, much as they have with the issue of accepting homosexuals.
Same-sex marriage is now legal in Washington, D.C., and 17 states (and Arkansas will join them, if a lower-court judge’s ruling last week is upheld). Now the federal government’s task is to produce an accurate count of same-sex married couples.
As the Supreme Court issued a key legal victory to same-sex marriage supporters today with its ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act, it’s worth looking back to an event that sparked a new discussion of homosexual issues – the Stonewall riots that occurred in New York City this week in 1969.
This posting discusses the challenges for the Census Bureau in counting same-sex couples, married and unmarried. The accuracy of data depends on responses in Census Bureau questionnaires and bureau procedures to collect and edit responses, and the posting describes both.
A new survey also finds that those with homosexual or lesbian relatives or friends are more likely to accept gay marriage and oppose the firing of gay teachers.