Holding Hands.  Fearless... Shameless... Equal...

The Human Rights Campaign, today launched a campaign to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies legally married same-sex couples more than 1,000 federal protections and responsibilities.  As part of the campaign, HRC launched a national action alert, an interactive website, RepealDOMAnow.org, and delivered to Congress nearly 50,000 survey responses showing the concrete harms DOMA brings to the lives of LGBT Americans and their families.  A bill is expected to be introduced in the U.S. House as early as next week.

Equality Across America, the new grassroots network calling for Federal action to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, has moved forward with plans for a massive national day of action on Sunday, October 11, 2009. Major national LGBT organizations including the Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) have endorsed the march as have local and state grassroots organizations like Join the Impact Chicago, One Struggle One Fight and Freedom Democrats of Miami-Dade.

Same-sex couples in the northeastern U.S. state of Vermont are now allowed to wed.

Senator Kennedy has been a champion for civil rights since his first term in the United States Senate in 1962. Over the years, Ted Kennedy has supported legislation that promotes equal rights and has fought closed-minded and discriminatory measures. Senator Kennedy has been an unwavering supporter of the LGBT community, leading the charge on important legislation like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act and forcefully opposing discriminatory proposals, including the Defense of Marriage Act and the Federal Marriage Amendment. Senator Kennedy has received a perfect 100% on all of HRC’s congressional scorecards (101st Congress-110th Congress).

A countrywide debate has erupted in Cameroon over the Maputo Protocol, a document created by the African Union that guarantees certain rights to women.

Not everyone likes it:  the Catholic Church in Cameroon is leading the fight to keep the government from endorsing the protocol, which has already been signed by 45 countries, and ratified by Cameroon's parliament. The church says it's a Trojan horse aimed at legalizing abortion and homosexuality. It wants to keep the Parliament from making the country's law conform to the protocol.