A gay couple denied the chance to have a baby via surrogate challenged a Utah law’s reference to heterosexual parents in a case that illustrates the legal complications LGBT couples can face when starting families amid a national patchwork of surrogacy laws.

via AP

The case came before the Utah Supreme Court after a judge refused to approve the couple’s surrogacy agreement. The judge in southern Utah cited references to a mother in the law’s requirement that prospective parents prove a woman can’t have children without health serious risk before they turn to surrogacy.

That discriminates against male same-sex couples who want to start a family, said Edwin Wall, an attorney for the two men who want to remain anonymous.

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes won’t stand in the couple’s way. State lawyers didn’t appear before the high court and said in court documents that the law should be read as gender-neutral.

Some state Supreme Court justices, though, questioned whether that is enough or part of the law should be struck down.

Popular hosts on HGTV – Chip and Joanna Gainesto – have incensed a number of their fans because Target is offering their home decor collection. Some fans have asked the couple to reconsider their partnership with the retailer because it allows transgender employees and customers to use restrooms and fitting rooms that best align with their gender identity.

via HuffPost

The retail giant unveiled plans this week for a new home decor collection called Hearth & Hand with Magnolia. The line, which is slated to hit stores Nov. 5, will be a partnership with Chip and Joanna Gaines, the hosts of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper.”

The Gaines found themselves at the epicenter of a media firestorm last year after a BuzzFeed article reported that they attended an anti-LGBTQ church. In January, Chip Gaines appeared to respond to the controversy in an impassioned blog.

“Joanna and I have personal convictions,” he wrote. “One of them is this: we care about you for the simple fact that you are a person, our neighbor on planet earth. It’s not about what color your skin is, how much money you have in the bank, your political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, nationality or faith.”

Edith Windsor died on Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 88. Her wife, Judith Kasen-Windsor, confirmed the death, at a hospital, but did not specify a cause. They were married in 2016.

via NY Times

Four decades after the Stonewall Inn uprising fueled the fight for LGBT rights in America, Ms. Windsor, the widow of a woman with whom she had lived much of her life, became the lead plaintiff in what is widely regarded as the second most important Supreme Court ruling in the national battle over same-sex marriage rights.

Ms. Windsor had originally gone to court simply to obtain a tax refund. But for thousands struggling for gender equality, the stakes went far beyond tax advantages available to married heterosexuals, including Social Security, health care and veterans’ benefits; protection in immigration and bankruptcy cases; and keeping a home after a spouse had died, as well as food stamps, green cards and federal aid to the poor, the elderly and children.

After living together for 40 years, Ms. Windsor and Thea Spyer, a psychologist, were legally married in Canada in 2007. Dr. Spyer died in 2009, and Ms. Windsor inherited her estate. But the Internal Revenue Service denied her the unlimited spousal exemption from federal estate taxes available to married heterosexuals, and she had to pay taxes of $363,053.

She sued, claiming that the law, by recognizing only marriages between a man and a woman, unconstitutionally singled out same-sex marriage partners for “differential treatment.”

Affirming two lower court rulings, the Supreme Court, in the United States v. Windsor, overturned the law in a 5-4 ruling. It cited the Fifth Amendment guarantee that no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.”

The Defense of Marriage Act had been adopted in Congress by wide margins and signed by President Bill Clinton under the pressures of an election year, at a time when gay marriage was illegal across the country and odious to millions of Americans.

By striking down the act’s definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman, the Supreme Court invalidated the entire law and for the first time granted same-sex marriage partners the recognition and benefits accorded married heterosexuals.

But there was a catch. The decision did not say if there was a constitutional right to same-sex unions, and it left in place laws in 37 states that banned such marriages. As a practical matter, that meant the benefits would not extend to couples in states that did not allow same-sex unions, but only to those in 13 states and the District of Columbia, all of which recognized them.

Gay-rights advocates acknowledged that the ruling had fallen short of their hopes for a constitutional guarantee of nationwide marriage equality. But it was, they said, a crucial step.

President Barack Obama called an elated Ms. Windsor with his congratulations. She became a national celebrity, a gay-rights matriarch, a grand marshal of New York City’s LGBT Pride March and a runner-up to Pope Francis for Time magazine’s person of the year in 2013.

Jacob Lapp and David Forstadt were returning home to Ft. Lauderdale with their their two 6-year-old daughters. The family was stopped in Orlando when a gate agent refused to allow them to board the plane during family boarding time.

via WPLG Local10.com

The couple said that to add to their inconvenience, the Southwest Airlines employee was rude. Without a clear explanation, she said, “No! There is categories for a reason. Not you!” and “No! Move!”

Since the airline offers family boarding, Lapp and Forstadt believe the Southwest Airlines employee left them waiting because she discriminated against them.

“We are a family and we want to be represented as a family just like everyone else,” Forstadt said.

The company’s website has a section for LGBT Outreach and Gay Friendly Travel. Grant Morse and Sam Ballachino, a same-sex couple with three children, filed a discrimination lawsuit against the airline earlier this year when they weren’t allowed to board as a family in Fort Lauderdale.

Three University of Pennsylvania medical students have created SpectrumScores to connect LGBT patients with the right providers to meet their unique needs. A recent nationwide study showed that more than half of LGBT patients face discrimination in healthcare settings.

via Philly Mag

“SpectrumScores isn’t just an app, it’s a mission,” co-founder Jun Jeon said. “Accessibility to proper healthcare is a fundamental human right, no matter where you lie on the spectrum.”

The SpectrumScores team interviewed more than 100 LGBTQ patients in the city, and their input inspired the app to allow users to search, rate, and review providers based on several LGBTQ-specific metrics. In addition, users will be able to filter providers by relative distance, conditions treated, insurance accepted, languages spoken, and more to make finding the right fit as easy as possible.

A same-sex couple in St. Peter, Minnesota have shared with authorities an anonymous, typed letter they received in the mail threatening their lives. Part of the letter says, “I would be looking behind my back if I were you…you never know what might happen. We need to eliminate your FAGGOT ASS, all of you! You never know, your house could be torched, a gun could be used to eliminate you, you just never know, you God Damn FAGGOTS.”

via The New Civil Rights Movement

“Oh, and your poor daughter!” the letter continues. “She must be so embarrassed. She needs to look behind her back also…I know where she goes to school!”

The Mankato Free Press notes the women preferred to remain anonymous. The paper has published a copy of the letter.

“St. Peter police are investigating the letter as a possible crime,” Police Chief Matt Peters says.

Proud Parenting is fundraising for a family in Oklahoma who lost everything in a house fire, after being threatened by their neighbors. You can donate to the cause at: GoFundMe.com

“Consider the uproar and chaos that would ensue were a teacher to hang for example a Confederate, Christian, or Heterosexual flag in the classroom.” These are the words of an anonymous group of parents reacting to a rainbow flag hanging in one teacher’s classroom. The classroom is also home to a school diversity club. The EDUCATE club, which promotes diversity, created the flag for a fair promoting extracurricular groups and activities.

Students who do not want the Pride flag to be removed have their own petition, which is approaching 5,000 signatures at Change.org.

“To be made uncomfortable by opinions differing to your own is to function as a modern human. Attempting to insulate a student from political discourse would be an insult to their intelligence,” the students state.

But the parents argue, “We feel like an expression of such polarizing views is a detriment to the overall learning environment of that class as it alienates students with differing political viewpoints…the presence of the flag creates a hostile and uncomfortable learning environment for those who don’t support LGBTQ rights.” Supporters also call for the flag’s removal to ensure a “welcoming, beneficial, and unbiased learning environment for students from all political backgrounds.”

via 12WSFA

If you have connected with media in the last 24-hours, you are familiar with some chants favored by white supremacists in Charlottesville. But you may not have heard this one, “F#ck you, f#ggots!” Viral videos show a large group of attendees using anti-gay slurs at the counterdemonstration – where one person was killed and 19 were hurt when a driver plowed a car into the crowd.

via NewNowNext

You heard that right. They're chanting "Fuck you faggots." 2017. #Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/pMwbSXZ3wW

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) August 12, 2017

GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis has spoken out against the rallying supremacists, calling their behavior in Charlottesville “disgusting” and “cowardly.”

“GLAAD and countless LGBTQ Americans stand firmly together with other marginalized communities to denounce these disgusting threats and cowardly fear tactics,” Ellis told Variety. “To the young Americans in Charlottesville who are LGBTQ or people of color: You are loved and you are perfect the way you are.”

The U.S. Justice Department under U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions hopes to ensure LGBT people are not protected from workplace discrimination under federal civil rights law.

via Washington Blade

Although LGBT groups — and a growing number of courts — are taking the view the prohibition on sex discrimination in employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also bars discrimination against LGBT people, sources say the Justice Department will file a brief in an employment discrimination case before the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals opposing that view.

“This would be a gratuitous and extraordinary attack on LGBT people’s civil rights,” James Esseks, director of the ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project, said. “DOJ would be reaching out to offer its opinion on these issues, since they are not a party to this case. That’s not championing LGBT people, it’s working affirmatively to expose us to discrimination. But fortunately, whether the Civil Rights Act protects LGBT people is ultimately a question for the courts to resolve, and not for the attorney general. We are confident that the courts will come to the right decision here.”

Although the Justice Department under the Obama administration never took an official view on whether sexual orientation discrimination is prohibited under Title VII, a brief arguing against the idea LGBT people are protected under Title VII would effectively turn a Justice Department that once argued for protections for LGBT people into an institution that seeks to undermine them.