WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the first time, crimes directed against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation are the second most frequent hate crime committed after crimes based on race, according to the 2011 hate crimes statistics released Dec. 10 by the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Surpassing crimes committed on the basis on religion, the number of reported hate crimes committed against gay men and lesbians increased from 1,277 in 2010 to 1,293 in 2011.

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The Southern Poverty Law Center, joined by the law firms of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, filed a lawsuit Nov. 27 against Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), its founder, Arthur Goldberg (pictured) and a counselor, Alan Downing, for peddling conversion therapy services, a dangerous and discredited practice that fraudulently claims to convert people from gay to straight.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — On Election Day, the residents of Maine, Maryland and Washington affirmed that their states will recognize marriages for lesbian and gay couples. An analyses of Census 2010 data conducted by the Williams Institute suggests that approximately 35,000 same-sex couples live in these states and that over 17,000 will marry in the next three years. Many of these couples are raising children, ranging from 14 percent of same-sex couples living in Maine to 20 percent in Maryland.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — OutServe, the association of actively serving LGBT military personnel, and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) have tapped Army veteran Allyson Robinson to lead the newly combined organization, which will be known as OutServe-SLDN. The two organizations finalized their merger at the beginning of the month. The plan to join was announced in July.

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York ruled Oct. 18 that Section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it discriminates against married same-sex couples. N.Y. Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman had filed a friend-of-the-court brief together with Vermont and Connecticut arguing that DOMA violates same-sex couples’ right to equal protection under the U.S. Constitution and should be more closely scrutinized because it constitutes a sweeping intrusion into the States’ regulation of marriage.