1. You're correct.
2. You're incorrect. Which federal law is it that protects the LGBT population? Many states don't even have that protection at their level. Some schools don't even include sexuality in their own nondiscrimination and EOE statements. The world is still full of legal discrimination.
The best we have at the moment is the fact that federal employers have a clause against discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender in addition to the few states that mirror and/or surpass those protections in their state laws. However, as FSU2013 mentioned below, it's very difficult to prove in a court of law. If someone chooses to vote against you during the committee vote, they're unlikely to say anything at all, let alone that they chose to vote against a person because of their age, race, sexual orientation, etc.
Although technically true, there is no way to prove this.
. . .
I think there is probably a happy medium between the extremes of being completely open or completely closed. Use your discretion. I'm gay and don't plan on mentioning it except when it really makes sense to (maybe a secondary question about diversity or something). I think it makes perfect sense for you to answer that particular question the way you did, but like I said, use your discretion and make a judgment call based on where you are interviewing and the overall feel of the interview. I personally don't see the need to ever bring it up in an interview for me, but I'm single, and I certainly would under the right circumstances.
Great advice.
Out of curiosity, If you matriculate in a state that does not recognize gay marriage are you still technically married? In the eyes of the law I mean…
My father was married to his current hubby in Cali before it was repealed. While not officially recognized by the state of TN, they are afforded benefits by their insurers and are able to see each other in the hospital since they share the same last name. He remains closeted, though, and ::shudder:: maintains certain lies (cover stories) while in public and with family.
I understand where you are coming from and the point you're trying to get across, but you being a heterosexual is NOT the same as homosexual when mentioning it in your application.
If you were to state that you're a heterosexual man on your application it would be weird because that's the norm. Society accepts that.
I'm not mentioning my husband in the application because I want the interviewer to know I love men etc but because of the hardship we went through together and because he's the person who made me who I am today.
This. I fall into the Q of GLBTQIA, am very gender fluid, and grew up with two fathers and an absent lesbian mother. I only shared this with one school that had a section for me to specifically address these issues and how they made me the person I am today. But I only described my family and never mentioned why I consider myself Q, as it remains irrelevant to these conversations and my pursuit of medicine.
To address the OP, my opinion is that it depends on each individual. If your orientation or SO greatly affected you, by all means discuss it and elaborate as to how and why it brought you where you are today. If a school doesn't like it and secretly rejects you for who you are, screw 'em. You'd probably not be happy there, anyway.
Likewise, if the school is more important to someone than their sexual orientation or if their sexual orientation didn't affect their journey to medicine in any way; there's no shame in leaving out that information. Some in the GLBTQIA community would heatedly disagree with me on this one, citing it as an action that contributes to the discrimination and ongoing subjugation of our community. But in the end, it's the individual's choice.
States do have marriage reciprocity, but only with forms of marriage recognized in that state. So no, the marriage wouldn't be recognized in the South, eg, if he were to matriculate there.
Correct, while it won't be officially recognized in the South, you can still reap some benefits (e.g., hospital privileges, insurance benefits).
I was out on my primary application, on many secondaries and it came up in a lot of interviews. Honestly I highly doubt it hurt me, if anything it helped me. Just be honest. If you are throwing it in your application or interviews just to gain points then I can see where that could come off disconcerting and possibly hurt you. Being out on my application had one unforeseen advantage: interviewers and administration often connected me to LGBT resources on campus during interviews.
Yup, the school I referenced above also asked me about my experiences during my interview and directed me to their office of diversity.
!) when asked about my support group and how I would pay for school (she's a pharmacist). Balls, now I kinda look like a gold digger 
