Obama Administration

The Ugandan government is poised to pass the Anti-Homosexuality bill in their parliament which has an unprecedented scope and scale, including the death penalty for certain homosexual acts. Details are available on Wikipedia.

The signors of this petition request that the Obama administration not only state their displeasure at this bill as they have already done, but to also attach real consequences to the passing of this bill in the form of loss of trade status and foreign aid. We would also request that the Obama administration petition the UN to have the security council vote on international sanctions. We feel that this gross human rights violation requires no less of a response. Read more »

The Department of Homeland Security will avoid deporting foreign same-sex spouses of Americans, an Administration spokesman told BuzzFeed Wednesday, under a policy to consider same-sex marriages a reason not to start deportation proceedings.

The statement — which comes in response to pressure from House Democrats and advocates — makes explicit that the Obama Administration will consider same-sex marriages a reason not to start deportation proceedings. Read more »

A Filipino woman who married her American wife in 2008, when it was briefly legal to do so in the state of California, should not be denied immigration rights that heterosexual couples receive and should not be deported, her lawyers are arguing in a lawsuit.

Jane DeLeon, who came to the U.S. in 1989, her son, Martin Aranas, and her spouse, Irma Rodriguez, are suing the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, among others, for their implementation of the Defense of Marriage Act. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division. Read more »

As part of a recently announced effort to find effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, the Obama administration is seeking more funding for research into the disease. The National Institutes of Health announced it will devote an additional $50 million to dementia research and the President will ask Congress for $80 million to fund Alzheimer’s research in 2013. Experts and advocates say the more than half a billion dollars allocated for Alzheimer’s next year isn’t enough and, in order to make real progress, nearly $2 billion a year would be needed. Still, with 5 million Americans currently suffering with the disease, the increased effort is a significant step toward discovering new and effective treatments for Alzheimer’s. Read more »