Elder gay center
The Department of Health and Human Services has plans to open a National Resource Center to help cities provide services for aging lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.
The Administration on Aging, housed inside HHS, plans to give the new center $250,000 per year, pending the availability of government funds, to help communities cater to the “unique needs and concerns of older LGBT individuals,” according to an HHS press release about the announcement.
The decision to create a National Resource Center comes weeks after the Administration of Aging released a $380,0139 grant to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center as one of the 14 grants made through a Communities Innovations for Aging in Place Initiative.
Gay housing benefits
Officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development have commissioned the first-ever national study of housing discrimination on the basis of sexuality and have expanded the definition of a “family” to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals.
HUD said a new rule clarifying what is considered a “family” is needed to ensure subsidized housing is available to all families, “regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
“The evidence is clear that some are denied the opportunity to make housing choices in our nation based on who they are, and that must end,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said. “President Obama and I are determined that a qualified individual and family will not be denied housing choice based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”
HUD says the LGBT study will be “fast-tracked” and cites state studies showing that a bias in housing against LGBT persons does exist. A study conducted by four Michigan Fair Housing Centers, referenced by HUD, found that nearly 30 percent of same-sex couples were treated differently than heterosexual couples when trying to buy or rent a home.
White House take
The White House’s deputy director of public engagement pointed to the developments at HHS and HUD to assure gay-rights advocates that President Obama is committed to advancing their cause.
“While our long-term focus is on major legislative goals like repealing Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell and DOMA, passing an employment non-discrimination act, and providing domestic-partner benefits for federal employees, we are also working daily to find ways to make life a little better and a little fairer for LGBT Americans,” Brian Bond wrote in a post titled “Day by Day, Law by Law, Mind by Changing Mind” at WhiteHouse. gov/blog.
Divorce ban
Gay-marriage proponents in California are launching a mock campaign to ban divorce as a way to make fun of the concept of “traditional marriage.”
The 2010 California Marriage Protection Act, promoted at rescuemarriage.org, would prohibit divorce because, as the campaign’s mastermind, John Marcotte, sarcastically wrote, “Proposition 8 bravely protected the institution of traditional marriage by making sure that gay people could not participate in it. I loved Proposition 8, but felt it did not go far enough.” Another blurb on the site says: “Hell is eternal - just like your marriage was supposed to be.”
Promotional “chains of love” T-shirts sold by Rescue Marriage show a man and a woman locked together with a chain and pulling away from each other. “You said, ’Till death do us part,” the shirt says. “You’re not dead yet.”
Say you’re gay
A Washington man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for advising immigrants to lie their way into asylum and U.S. residency by telling authorities falsely that they are gay, Jewish, or had unpopular religious or political views.
Steven Mahoney, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Russia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, admitting that between October 1998 and June 2008 he filed up to 99 false immigration documents.
According to court documents, Mr. Mahoney charged immigrants between $1,000 to $4,000 per false application filed. The false applications said the applicants were seeking asylum because if returned to their home countries they could be targeted, abused or tortured because of their sexuality or religious practices. His ex-wife, Helen Moody, also participated in the scheme and was sentenced to six months in prison.
“Our nations immigration laws are intended to provide benefits to individuals who meet certain criteria - not opportunists who manipulate the system for personal financial gain,” said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcements Office of Investigations in Seattle.
• Amanda Carpenter can be reached at acarpenter@ washingtontimes.com
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