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Millions of Americans (in certain U.S. states) can still be fired simply for being gay or transgender.

The relatively new and very direct-action group GetEQUAL took to the usually non-politically orientated city of Nevada to protest Senator Harry Reid (Democrat and Senate Majority Leader). Reid had promised on a few prior occasions to bring the Employment Non Discrimination Act to a vote in the Senate, but has since not come through with his promise. Now, to be sure, Reid is a very progressive politician and a friend to the queer community. So, for him to be so publicly protested says something. With U.S. mid-term elections coming up in November and a possible change in the makeup of both House and Senate, GetEQUAL is concerned. With a visible lack in leadership (or serious lobbying effort)  from some of the big U.S. national queer groups, they feel direct action is required to bring awareness to the issue and essentially to ask that the politicians keep their promises. Again, this is for basic civil liberties (ie. no one can fire them just for being queer). Astounding. Here is a map of the current laws with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity in the U.S.

Quebec outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1977 in both public and private affairs becoming the first jurisdiction (larger than a city or county) in the world to do so. The same year the Canadian Immigration Act was amended to remove the ban on "homosexual men" as immigrants. When our Constitution was repatriated in 1982 the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was added. While it did not explicitly list sexual orientation under the equality clause (Section 15) it was meant to allow the Courts to decide the grounds with which to include (wouldn't it have been easier to just add those 18 letters then?) And in 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada finally did rule that "sexual orientation" should be read into Section 15 (duh?).

The U.S. has seriously fallen behind the world in regards to providing all its citizens with basic civil liberties. Argentina has also recently added itself to the growing list of countries which allow both lesbians and gays to enter into government recognized marriages. For a list of global progress on the marriage front: