Massachusetts Introduces Standardized Birth Certificates In Effort To Erase “Indignities” For Same Sex Parents, Metro Nashville Council Advances Anti-Gay Bias Business Bill, Virginia Republican-Controlled House Delegate Sub-Committee Kills Bill To Add Legal Protections For Homosexual State Employees, Zac Efron Gets Starbucks And Sweaty, Jake Gyllenhaal Jogs

The Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts health regulators are moving to standardize birth certificates meaning that gay and lesbian couples will no longer have to erase the “mother” or “father” designation on the forms, and replace it with “co-parent” or “second parent.” The new electronic documents will provide two boxes, one labelled “mother/parent” and the other “father/parent.” John Auerbach, the state's public health commissioner, said he hopes the standardized form will prove "more sensitive to the circumstances of the family and to the children." The state estimates that same sex couples account for about 200 births or adoptions annually. Massachusetts law has recognized gay and lesbian parents for nearly two decades, said Kara Suffredini, the executive director of MassEquality, a gay rights group. "And yet they've continued to suffer the indignity of having their family formation be invisible on a fundamental form like a birth certificate," Suffredini said. "It's about time that comes to an end." The president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which fought same-sex marriage, said the move by Governor Deval Patrick's administration was predictable. "The current administration has always promoted same sex marriage and the results of same sex marriage," said Kris Mineau, the institute's president. Until now, Massachusetts, with its protected tradition of local rule, has had a patchwork of birth certificate forms. Each city or town could have its own. Some were kept electronically, some on paper. The state estimates that as many as 700 variations on the birth certificate existed in the state's 351 cities and towns.

Tuesday, reports the Tennessean, the Nashville Metro Council voted 21-16 to grant preliminary approval to a proposal requiring firms that conduct business with Metro to sign an affidavit saying agree not to practice discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Council is scheduled to take the third and final vote on March 15th. Councilman Mike Jameson, the co-sponsor of the legislation, said some 181 American cities and counties have established similar requirements for companies conducting business with government. Among them Louisville, Kentucky, which requires all employers – regardless of whether they have city contract – to promise not to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity, a policy in place since 1999. Wilkerson says that after Louisville approved the non-discrimination policy, two other Kentucky cites, Lexington and Covington, followed. "Initially, people saw it as very controversial. And then it became no big deal. The world did not change one way or another the next day,” he said. But life in Louisville did change for gays and lesbians, Wilkerson saying that homosexuality had always been "unofficially accepted" there, but having government's formally approve is paramount.”The fact that you're officially accepted does allow for a lot more openness," he added.

Also Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Virginia House General Laws subcommittee voted to kill a bill that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation for homosexual state employees, reports the Washington Post. The same Republican-led panel killed similar legislation in 2010. Democrats had pushed the bill this year, in response to a letter that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (Republican) sent to colleges and universities in 2010 that in the absence of a decision by the General Assembly to write protections for homosexuals into law, they could not include language dealing with sexual orientation into their school non-discrimination policies. Also last year, quietly, in an executive order, Governor Bob McDonnell (Republican) removed anti-gay discrimination from employment legislation.

Wednesday, Zac Efron headed to a Starbucks, then to the gym, then home, and this being Zac Efron, it is all far more entertaining that it sounds, especially since he’s all sweaty.

Jake Gyllenhaal spotted in the lovely Los Angeles neighbourhood of Silverlake.