By Richard Ammon GlobalGayz.com June 3, 2011 In the past week I have visited the mansions of three early presidents of America: Jefferson’s ‘Monticello’ (photo right), Monroe’s ‘Ashlawn’ and Andrew Jackson’s ‘Hermitage’, in Virginia and Tennessee. Viewing these stately properties a modern visitor can glimpse a past way of life both elegant as well as
Owing to the United States’ federal system and the diversity in attitudes toward LGBT rights, the status of LGBT civil rights in the U.S. is at present a patchwork. At the federal level, there is no recognition of same-sex unions and no laws forbidding employment discrimination against LGBT persons. Some states have enacted such laws, however. State legislatures in Connecticut (2005), California (1999), Hawaii (1996), Maine (2004), New Jersey (2006), Washington (2007), New Hampshire (2007), Oregon (2007) Vermont (1999) and the District of Columbia (2001) have enacted either civil unions or more limited domestic partnership options for same-sex couples. Since 2004 marriage is open to gays in Massachusetts; Connecticut made it available in 2008. More states are debating it currently. For more, click here.
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