Monie's Lesbian Newswire

State Suit Challenges U.S. Defense of Marriage Act

N.Y. Times || By ABBY GOODNOUGH || July 8

BOSTON — The Massachusetts attorney general, Martha Coakley, sued the federal government Wednesday to overturn a section of the law denying federal benefits to spouses in same-sex marriages.

With the suit, Massachusetts becomes the first state to challenge the Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed by Congress in 1996 and prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage.

Massachusetts was also the first state, in 2003, to grant gay couples the right to marry; five other states — Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont — have since followed. The challenge, filed in United States District Court here, comes as President Obama and Congress face increasing pressure from gay rights groups to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

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Link Love!

I know everyone is out and about enjoying the Summer and may have missed some great blog posts so I thought I'd give a few links to some great posts from my favorite blogs.

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Check out a great post by Lauryn of Femme Fluff at her new place about the difference in how the media covers the White LGBT community compared to the coverage of the Black LGBT community. It's an amazing post.

Read it here

Don't miss Chanel's cute pics from San Francisco Pride!

See them here

BWABW takes an interesting and unexpected detour.

Read about it here

Aulelia ponders the pro and cons of Thank You notes.

Check it out here.

And a new lesbian blog is born! Please stop by and welcome Tricia's Daughter to the blogisphere!

Tricia's Daughter

Phyllis Hyman (July 6, 1949 — June 30, 1995)

I'm reading a biography about Phyllis Hyman now called Strength Of A Woman. I wanted to read the book because I heard that she had a very interesting life filled with ups and downs. I'm about half way through and that's certainly the case. I also learned that Phyllis had at least one intimate relationship with a woman. Her name was Martha. It appears from the book that Phyllis was somewhat confused by having a relationship with a woman. So I don't know if Phyllis just fell for one particular woman or if she was on the team. But I do know that Phyllis Hyman was an extraordinary talent.

Today is Phyllis' birthday. Happy birthday Phyllis.

2hot!

Solo at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans

Amber in Los Angeles