Janani Balasubramanian's Blog (5)

 Most of NMB’s branches are based in universities.  As students, we often think of marriage equality as an issue affecting aspects of our lives unrelated to education.  But it is important to note that indeed, marriage equality affects something as real and pivotal to higher education access as the financial aid system. LGBT people are already at a disadvantage financially for education, being three times as likely to have an income below $10,000, facing employment discrimination without…

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We’re asking you to sign a change.org petitionbegun by the LGBT immigration equality organization Out4Immigration.  The petition is directed at President Obama and asks for an executive directive to have  USCIS continue prioritizing green card applications from same-sex…

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            We at National Marriage Boycott are excited that President Obama has made his first symbolic step towards a disavowal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  Obviously, our boycott is contingent on the existence of DOMA, and we would like to see this economically and socially unjust legislation repealed as soon as possible.  Obama’s actions last week, however, do not constitute death for DOMA.  Instead, he has simply ordered the Department of Justice to stop upholding the…

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As a youth LGBT organization, we definitely get our share of questions about coming out.  We realize that the decision to come out (or not) is highly individual and a number of factors (including family acceptance, economic resources, community support, etc) are involved.  The common feature of all these decisions is that they require some degree of communication--someone to talk to, in other words.  That "someone" can be online or in person or on the phone or in a book, but it always helps…

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Preventing queer youth suicide is not the work of a few

organizations. It should be the part of all our missions. The

statistics are alarming for all queer youth (LGBT youth are more

than four times as likely to commit suicide than their straight

peers), and when one considers that queer youth of color and

transgender students are even more likely to be targeted, the

disparities become increasingly apparent. Youth of color are

anywhere from 20-40% more… Continue