Camille is a twentysomething working in the LGBT nonprofit industry. She runs an LGBT news blog at gaywrites.org.
This week, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio became the first sitting Republican senator ever to publicly support marriage equality. He says he had a change of heart after his 21-year-old son Will came out as gay two years ago, an explanation some have praised and others have criticized. A high-profile Republican who worked with President George W. Bush and was hailed as a potential Vice-Presidential pick for Mitt Romney, Portman once voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), for a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality, and against letting same-sex couples adopt kids in Washington, D.C. But after consulting Dick Cheney, who has a lesbian daughter and is a vocal proponent of marriage equality, he knew it was time to change… Read more
White smoke finally billowed over Vatican City today to announce that Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had been selected as the new Pope. There’s already a bit of controversy surrounding his election. As the first Latin-American Pope, Bergoglio honored his Italian and Argentinian heritage by choosing for himself the name Pope Francis I, rather than taking the name Benedict from his predecessor. Some say the name change may signal a “new chapter” for the Catholic Church. But gay rights advocates say there’s nothing new about this Pope’s attitudes toward LGBT people. Read more
