MIAMI – A Florida appeals court is being urged to affirm a judge’s ruling that the state’s strict ban on adoptions by gay people is unconstitutional.

Attorneys for parent Martin Gill and his two children argued Wednesday in Miami that there’s no rational basis to exclude gay people. Gill and his partner have adopted two young brothers.

State lawyers contend the Legislature should make such decisions. They claim the judge wrongly legislated from the bench in striking down the law last year.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Gill, calls Florida’s gay adoption ban the broadest such law in the nation.

It will likely be months before the appeals court issues a ruling, which could then be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The number of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) representatives in the national legislatures of 18 countries around the world has tripled since 1998.

That finding is among those in research by political scientist Andrew Reynolds, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His paper, “The Presence and Impact of Openly Gay and Lesbian Politicians in the Parliaments of the World,” finds that although these representatives are in the minority in the legislatures in which they serve, their presence correlates with passage of more gay-friendly laws.

Reynolds, who teaches in the College of Arts and Sciences, said that openly gay representatives must build coalitions with heterosexual colleagues to succeed in passing gay-friendly laws in such areas as same-sex marriage and partnership, adoption rights and hate-crime law.

“Gay members of parliaments have never been numerous enough to act as a voting block with leverage, but they can be legislative entrepreneurs who help set agendas and educate their colleagues on related issues,” said Reynolds, associate professor of political science and chair of the international and area studies curriculum. Familiarity appears to breed tolerance.

“When the gay person becomes a person with a name, human talents and foibles, aging parents and young children, sport team obsessions and opinions about the latest TV show, it becomes more difficult for their parliamentary colleagues to overtly discriminate against or fail to protect them through legislation,” Reynolds said.

The study identified 67 openly gay legislators or members of parliaments (MPs) in the 18 countries at the end of 2008, compared with 22 in 1998.  “The current crop of 67 is undoubtedly the largest collection of openly gay MPs in history,” Reynolds said.

Of the 67, 50 identified themselves as gay men, 14 as lesbians, two as bisexual and one as transgendered. The largest number per legislature was 14 in the British House of Commons; the largest percentage was six percent, in the Netherlands.

Reynolds found that legislatures with the most LGBT members – 60 of the 67 – were in established democracies of Western Europe, North America or Australia and New Zealand. There were two each in Africa and Latin America and one each in the Middle East and Asia.

Reynolds’ cited the American-based Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which looks at local, state and national elected bodies. The fund reported last August that there were about 20 out-of-the-closet gays and lesbians in elected office in the United States in 1987. By 2003, the fund noted, 218 of the roughly 511,000 Americans in elective office were openly LBGT – less than .05 percent. Three served in Congress, 47 in state legislatures and the rest in local government. As of 2008, the total number of LGBT officeholders had tripled to 602, including 79 state legislators and 28 mayors.

Legislatures are not the only offices in which LGBTs have made gains, Reynolds’ paper noted. Last year, there were nine openly gay cabinet ministers in the countries Reynolds studied. And last February, Iceland elected the world’s first openly gay prime minister, Jóhanna Siguróardóttir.

Reynolds assigned numeric values ranging from minus two to two for the presence or absence of gay-friendly policies in each of seven areas:

* legal relationships
* marriage
* civil unions
* adoption rights
* laws against discrimination
* sexual orientation as part of a hate-crime law
* gays not banned from military service

“Each variable represents a distinct legal right or denial of a right,” he said.

Reynolds then used these values to determine combined scores for all seven areas for each of 76 countries – 18 with openly gay legislators and 58 without. He notes now that this year, six nations have begun offering same-sex marriage: Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa and Spain.

Three states of the United States had gay marriage laws in 2008: Massachusetts, California and Connecticut. California’s was struck down by referendum in November 2008, but Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire passed gay marriage legislation in 2009.

Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands and Spain were the highest-scoring in Reynolds’ tallies for the most gay-friendly nations, each with five out of a possible six points. The least tolerant of gays, scoring minus two each, were Egypt, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. The average score was .96 and the standard deviation was 1.73.

The highest-scoring nations tended to have the most LGBT legislators, Reynolds found:
“Having even a few openly gay legislators is linked with a significant improvement in the legal rights of gay people.” Advocacy by LGBT groups also is influential, as is the level of social acceptance of LGBTs in each country.

“The presence of minority members in a legislature aids in breaking down intolerance and in building alliances that cut across pre-existing cleavages within society,” Reynolds said. “Globally the trajectory is clear. More and more openly gay candidates are winning office, and legal equality, across a variety of domains, is gathering momentum.”

BOSTON  – Massachusetts is suing the federal government over a law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. State Attorney General Martha Coakley filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Boston. It says the federal Defense of Marriage Act interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define marriage as it sees fit.

The 1996 federal law denies federal recognition of gay marriage. Massachusetts was the first state to allow the practice.

The Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders has already sued over the federal law. It says it discriminates against gay couples and is unconstitutional because it denies them access to federal benefits that other married couples receive.

WASHINGTON  – A law recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere has gone into effect in the District of Columbia.

The bill was approved in a 12-1 vote by the D.C. Council in May, with council member Marion Barry casting the lone no vote.

Congress, which has the final say over the city’s laws, had 30 days to review the bill. A push by black church leaders who oppose gay marriage failed to get a referendum on the matter.

And Congress took no action, allowing the bill to become law Tuesday.

Council member David Catania has said that recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere is a first step toward performing same-sex weddings in the city.

Six states – Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire – allow same-sex marriage.

WASHINGTON  – The Pentagon wants more time before the ban on gays serving openly in the military is reversed.

A senior military official says that while President Barack Obama has been clear that he wants to repeal the ban, there is no specific timeline to do it. The official says that leaves room that the military wants to use to make sure the eventual change goes well.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the Pentagon has not begun formal planning for the repeal. The official says there is a concern the repeal could set off a polarizing debate. And that, the official says, runs the risk of placing an overstretched fighting force in the middle of a divisive policy fight.

Still, the official says the military expects the ban eventually will be repealed.

WASHINGTON- The Pentagon says it has no plans to repeal the don’t ask-don’t tell policy for gay troops.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Tuesday that the military’s top leaders have only had initial discussions with the White House about whether gay troops should be open about their sexuality.

Under current rules, openly gay troops can be discharged from the U.S. military.

Morrell said the White House has not asked for the 1993 policy to be scrapped.

“I do not believe there are any plans under way in this building for some expected, but not articulated, anticipation that don’t ask-don’t tell will be repealed,” Morrell told reporters at the Pentagon.

AUGUSTA, Maine  – The Maine Legislature has given final approval to gay marriage and sent the bill to an undecided governor.

The Senate voted for the bill on Wednesday but not by enough votes to override a veto. Gov. John Baldacci (bahl-DAH’-chee) has 10 days to decide whether to sign it.

The bill would make Maine the fifth state to allow gay marriage. Voters could still overturn the law in a referendum even if the governor signs it.

Four states currently allow same-sex marriages. Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa have been ordered by the courts to do so, and Connecticut has enacted a law codifying a court ruling. Vermont passed a gay marriage law in April over the governor’s objection.

ALBANY, N.Y. – New York Gov. David Paterson and opponents of gay marriage square off for another round tomorrow.

Patterson is making another push to legalize gay marriage in New York by introducing the same bill that died in 2007 and which opponents vow to kill again.

Patterson seeks to tap into the momentum of other states that have recently allowed same-sex couples to wed, but the measure will face stiff opposition in the Legislature.

The Democrat-controlled Assembly passed the bill 85-61 in 2007, but it died in the Senate, where the Republican majority kept it from going to a vote.

The Democrats gained a 32-30 majority in last November’s elections. Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith says he still doesn’t believe there are enough votes to pass it.

Paterson says gays and lesbians in civil unions are denied a host of protections such as health care and pension rights.

WASHINGTON  – The next battleground over gay marriage could be the U.S. Capitol.

A preliminary vote by the District of Columbia city council to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere puts the issue on a path to Congress, which has final say over D.C.’s laws. That may force lawmakers to take up the politically dicey debate after years of letting it play out in the states.

“Let’s be clear, this is a new era,” openly gay D.C. Council member David Catania said Wednesday, expressing optimism that the city’s law would clear Congress after a final council vote in May.

The council’s unanimous vote Tuesday came the same day Vermont became the fourth state to legalize gay marriage and the first to do so with a legislature’s vote. Court rulings led to same-sex marriages in the three other states where it’s legal: Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa.

Like the measure approved in D.C., New York also recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere but hasn’t issued its own marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples.

The situation in D.C. is unique, though. After the legislation receives final approval from the council, which is supposed to come next month, the bill is then subject to a 30-day congressional review. That review could be the new Congress’ first opportunity to signal its appetite for re-examining the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and allows states to do the same.

Since that federal law was passed in 1996, the debate has primarily played out in individual states.

Vermont became the first state to legalize civil unions – in 1999 – and Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriages, which began taking place there in 2004.

Advocates see Washington holding symbolic importance in the debate, but some stressed that there isn’t a dominant battleground in the quest for marriage equality.

“The district is equivalent to a small state, and the only difference is Congress’ ability to interfere with local
decisions,” said David Smith, vice president of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign. “We would treat it as any other state and move to defend the decision of the legislature or the courts.”

However, Jennifer Pizer, marriage project director at New York-based Lambda Legal, noted that D.C. is unique and influential because of its national focus.

“There’s important national attention on the things that happen in the district because it’s the seat of the federal government,” she said.

Opponents said it remains to be seen whether a Democrat-controlled Congress will have any interest in repealing the city’s efforts. A spokesman for a House subcommittee that oversees the city’s affairs said Wednesday that the subcommittee was not commenting on the D.C. measure. Congress is in recess through April 17.

Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council, a Christian organization that opposes same-sex marriage, said the group was considering several strategies, including a legal challenge on whether the legislation violates the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

“I’m concerned that every step closer to same-sex marriage that does not meet resistance makes it easier for some people to accept same-sex marriage down the road,” Sprigg said.

The Obama Administration has spoken of working with Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. John Berry, who is gay and support repealing the federal policy that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, was confirmed by the Senate last week to lead the Office of Personnel Management.

Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., said she hopes the momentum of the D.C. Council’s vote, along with the recent changes in Iowa and Vermont, “will bring our country closer to recognizing the right of consenting individuals in monogamous, long-term relationships to marry.” Tsongas added that she would strongly advocate for the D.C. law in Congress.

The issue of same-sex relationships in D.C. has previously run into trouble on Capitol Hill.

The district passed a law in 1992 recognizing domestic partnerships, which extended medical decision-making powers and other benefits to same-sex couples. But Congress restricted the city from spending its own funds to implement the law until 2002.

City officials say it’s rare for Congress to meddle in local affairs, but it’s not unprecedented.

Recently, lawmakers unhappy with D.C.’s strict gun control measures have tried to weaken the regulations by attaching an amendment to a bill giving the city its first full vote in Congress.

“Everyone would agree we have a tricky relationship with Congress, even when our allies are in power,” said Catania, who is pledging to introduce a measure soon that would legalize same-sex marriages in the district. “But progress is made by moving forward, not standing still.”