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Human & Civil Rights Agencies

In a move that could see Washington inmates voting from prison, a federal appeals court has thrown out the state's restrictions on felon voting due to civil rights concerns. Under the Washington law at issue, citizens convicted of a felony lose the right to vote until they are released from custody and off of Department of Corrections supervision. The 2-1 ruling by a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel puts those restrictions in doubt, the majority reviewing the voting rights lawsuit foun...

HOUSTON — When an openly gay woman won the mayor’s race here this month, it was the latest in a string of victories by gay candidates across the country, a trend that seems to contradict the bans on same-sex marriage that have been passed in most states in recent years. Take Texas, by many measures one of the most conservative states in the nation. In 2005, it enacted a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage; the voters passed the referendum by a ratio of three to one....

When he ran for a third term in the state legislature in 1998, Jesus Garcia found himself up against a legion of Chicago-election “door knockers” from far outside his district on the Southwest Side. Hundreds of patronage workers loyal to Mayor Richard M. Daley’s political organization came from across the city to Hispanic neighborhoods like Little Village, or La Villita, to campaign for Mr. Garcia’s challenger, Antonio Muñoz, a political neophyte. Mr. Garcia’...

HOUSTON - A lesbian candidate won Houston's mayoral election Saturday night, a vote that made the city the largest in the U.S. to ever have an openly gay mayor. "This election has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Just as it is about transforming the lives of all Houstonians for the better, and that's what my administration will be about," City Controller Annise Parker told supporters after former city attorney Gene Locke conceded defeat. Parker got...

TRENTON — The battle over a bill that would legalize gay marriage in New Jersey shifted locations unexpectedly late Wednesday as sponsors of the legislation canceled a vote scheduled for Thursday in the State Senate, where the measure appeared headed for defeat. The sponsors, Senators Raymond J. Lesniak and Loretta Weinberg, both Democrats, withdrew the bill from the agenda in the Senate session, saying they wanted to first allow a hearing in the General Assembly, where support for same...

It's looking less likely that California voters will take up the issue of gay marriage in 2010. Some gay rights activists planned to ask voters next year to repeal Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage that voters approved last year. But this week, a key organization backing the 2010 effort said it needed more time to develop a successful campaign.  A Los Angeles Times/USC poll released in November found a small majority of California voters supports the right of gay couples to mar...