Welcome to The Morning Pride, ThinkProgress LGBT’s 8:45 AM round-up of the latest in LGBT policy, politics, and some culture too! Here’s what we’re reading this morning, but let us know what you’re checking out as well. Follow us all day on Twitter at @TPEquality.
– A HUD official has confirmed that the department’s new LGBT protections apply to religious institutions the same as any housing service provider.
– OutServe Magazine’s look at the military’s discrimination against transgender people has now been published online.
– A new Williams Institute report reveals that the number of same-sex couples raising children continues to rise, and these couples “reflect greater racial/ethnic and socioeconomic diversity than often represented in the media and academic research.”
– Anti-gay North Carolina pastor Patrick Wooden defends his obsession with crude sexual acts he believes all gay men do together.
– Responding to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s remarks about voting on civil rights, Rep. John Lewis (GA-D) spoke out that “apparently the governor…has not read his recent history books,” pointing out that “most of the [Southern] governors were outright segregationists.”
– A Tennessee judge has given plaintiffs 30 more days to provide proof that the state’s ban on LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances harms them.
– In another interview, Tennessee Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) — sponsor of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — continues to show he knows very little about sexual orientation, HIV, or bullying.
– Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) describes correspondence she received from a young gay man who stopped considering suicide after hearing she had announced her support for marriage equality.
– Illinois Republicans continue to push for legislation that would allow religious institutions to deny adoptions to same-sex couples in civil unions.
– The newly Republican-controlled Virginia Senate has defeated a bill that would have protected state employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
– The New York Times profile of Tyler Clementi’s anti-gay privacy-invading roommate twists a few of the details.
– Equality activists fighting Minnesota’s marriage discrimination amendment have raised $1.2 million in their campaign so far.
– Canada now has a policy that essentially prohibits transgender people from flying.
– A video from the United Arab Emirates shows a “tutorial” for “scrubbing” a man of his homosexuality.
– Actor James Van Der Beek has been tweeting for equality lately.
– Watch: The View’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck defends transgender children: