Equality Matters Picks Of The Week, October 24-28, 2011

Equality Matters staff offers our picks for the most interesting, outrageous, or thought provoking stories of the week:

• New Hampshire Moves Towards Repealing Marriage Equality. The New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee voted 11-6 to advance a bill that would eliminate marriage equality in the Granite State and establish civil unions instead. Despite GOP efforts to prevent same-sex marriage, a majority of New Hampshire residents continue to support the freedom to marry.
• Study Finds Children Of Same-Sex Parents Harmed By Discrimination. A study released this week found that the children of same-sex couples are adversely affected by laws and discourse that discriminate against their parents. MSNBC ran a segment on the study on Wednesday, and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has already dismissed the study’s findings.
• NOM Steals Obama Campaign Photos For New Hampshire Website. Good As You’s Jeremy Hooper caught NOM twice swiping photos from Obama’s presidential campaign to use on its New Hampshire website. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and the Human Rights Campaign both chastised NOM for their dishonesty. NOM eventually switched out its photos, though it continued to misrepresent its support in New Hampshire.
• Fox News Continues Its Anti-LGBT Misinformation Campaign. On Tuesday, the hosts of Fox & Friends decided it was time to attack Grinnell College’s three year old gender-neutral housing policy, lamenting that “everything’s changing” because of a “tiny percent of society.” The next day, Fox pseudoscientist Dr. Keith Ablow continued his attack against J. Crew’s Jenna Lyons, asserting that her decision to date a woman is evidence of her “discomfort with masculinity.”
• Pressure Builds On MSNBC To Drop Pat Buchanan. The Courage Campaign and Human Rights Campaign have added their voices to the growing number of groups calling on MSNBC to fire contributor Pat Buchanan. Earlier this week, Media Matters released a report documenting Buchanan’s long history of anti-LGBT bigotry.
• Vicious Anti-Gay Bullying Incident Caught On Tape. Earlier this week, a gay Ohio high school student was brutally beaten by another student for being gay. The attack was caught on camera, but the bully was only suspended from school for three days. The school district where the attack occurred has no policy that specifically protects students from bulling based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
• NOM Fails To File Tax Returns On Time… Again. NOM failed to file its 2010 tax returns last week, according to a letter sent to NOM by GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger.  The organization has consistently been late to file its tax returns on time with the IRS, and has a history of resisting efforts to be transparent about its financial dealings.
• Sen. Gillibrand To Introduce Bill Barring Anti-Gay Adoption Discrimination. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has announced that she plans to introduce a bill to prevent discrimination against same-sex couples looking to adopt or participate in foster care:

“New York is a leader on ensuring that any family can adopt children and sets a great example for the rest of the country,” Gillibrand said. “By removing all barriers for LGBT families to serve as foster parents, New York State has increased its foster parent pool by 128,000 prospective parents. This legislation would open thousands of new foster and adoptive homes to children ensuring they are raised in loving families.”