Renna Communications

Readers react to photo of two men kissing

Washington Post | Andrew Alexander | March 9, 2010

Powerful photographs can have lasting impact, and a Post photo of two men kissing is an image that many readers can neither forget nor accept.

The photo, which ran on the newspaper’s front page and online last week, captured Jeremy Ames and Taka Ariga kissing outside D.C. Superior Court on the day that the District began accepting license applications for same-sex marriages.

First gay marriages in District performed

There were yellow roses, champagne toasts and tiered cakes.

There were tuxedos, lace dresses and Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

This D.C. watershed moment was bursting with pride and happiness. Yet it was also tinged with memories of political struggles and legal battles.

On Tuesday, the District for the first time issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, some of whom married in ceremonies across the city — from a D.C. Superior Court chamber to a Unitarian church in Northwest.

D.C. gay couple caps a momentous first by tying the knot

Washington Post | Monica Hesse | March 9, 2010

They met in grad school. Angelisa Young and Sinjoyla Townsend were assigned to debate opposing sides of the same issue in a constitutional law class at the University of the District of Columbia, and both were so nerdily over-prepared — typical Washingtonians — that the other member of their group decided the debate was a draw.

Young felt the attraction first. Throughout the semester, she found excuses to pass Townsend fliers for the political activist group that she belonged to on campus; she was devastated when she later found those fliers left behind after class. She would go to watch Townsend shoot hoops, even though she hates sports.

REP. STARK TO HOLD PRESS EVENT ON LEGISLATION TO OPEN MORE HOMES TO FOSTER CHILDREN

Representative Pete Stark | PFLAG | March 10, 2010

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) is hosting a panel discussion on the “Every
Child Deserves a Family Act.” Panelists will include foster children who
will discuss their experiences in the foster care system, parents who have
been prevented from adopting their foster children because of state laws
prohibiting gays, lesbians and bisexuals from adopting, and experts on
foster care and LGBT family issues.

WILL STREAM LIVE ON MARCH 11 AT 1:30 PM: click here

NYT Op-ed On Gay Troops Distorts Evidence

The Huffington Post | Aaron Belkin | Palm Center

(March 5, 2010)—Former Air Force Chief of Staff Merrill McPeak published an op-ed in the New York Times today in which he claimed that during the 1993 debate over gays in the military, “A lot more heat than light was produced.” McPeak says that as Washington reconsiders the question this year, “I doubt that we’ll have a more enlightened public discussion in 2010.”

But the way to have an enlightened public conversation is to offer reasoned claims based on evidence and research, and to characterize and evaluate opposing arguments honestly. McPeak does no such thing.