The State Department's recent decision to make passport applications more gender neutral is the latest in a series of victories for gay rights organizations pushing to change several elements of federal policy considered unfavorable to gay Americans.
The change - unveiled quietly in late December and widely reported over the weekend - came quietly on the same day that President Obama gathered with gay rights advocates to sign legislation ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, a well-publicized and symbolic moment in the decades-long gay rights movement.
Amid the news reports and potential political backlash from conservatives, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pulled back Saturday, deciding that the forms required for first-time passport applicants younger than 16 will retain "Mother" and "Father," but ask instead for the names of a child's "Mother or Parent 1" and "Father or Parent 2" - a more gender neutral reference sought by gay rights groups on behalf of same-sex parents.
Though it's a move steeped in bureaucratic minutia, the tweak to passport application forms means gay rights organizations can cross another item off a list of proposed changes -- called a "Blueprint for Positive Change" by some groups -- presented to Obama aides during the 2008 presidential transition as a series of changes that could be made through executive action without congressional approval, according to gay rights leaders familiar with the proposals.
Germany on Wednesday criticized Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over remarks that he would push for...
Two activists seized by Israeli forces in international waters while en route to deliver humanitarian aid...
Detained activists from a flotilla that tried to get past the Israeli blockade of Gaza arrived...
Mahmoud Khilla waited for nearly two and half years for the remains of his family to...
