LGBTQ Nation

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Eight years after Ohio voters banned gay and lesbian couples from getting married, a new Columbus Dispatch poll finds majority now supports their right to legally wed. [ Read more → ]

The lesbian cousin of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will be among the invited guests at Tuesday’s historic hearing on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a moderate Democrat from Missouri who has, until now, refused to take a public opinion on the issue of same-sex marriage, announced Sunday that she supports marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK -- Several hundred marriage equality supporters turned out for a candlelight vigil in New York's Times Square on Sunday evening, in a peaceful demonstration to mark this week's historic events in which the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans and the Defense of Marriage Act. [ Read more → ]

FREEPORT, Maine — A Maine magazine has awarded a wedding valued up to $100,000 to a same-sex couple for its annual wedding contest. [ Read more → ]

GLAAD has announced that its name will no longer be an acronym for the "Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation," and that it is altering its name and broadening its mission to focus more on advocating for equality for transgender people. [ Read more → ]

David Boies, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court challenge to Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage, said Sunday that marriage equality is a civil rights issue, and that the only question before the court is, should gay couples be denied the right to marry simply due to their sexual orientation. [ Read more → ]

Fox News contributor and former Bush deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” said that he can imagine the next Republican nominee for the White House supporting marriage equality for gays and lesbians. [ Read more → ]

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments this week in two historic same-sex marriage cases -- one challenging California's ban on gay marriage, and the other challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- supporters and opponents of marriage equality are stepping up their cases in the court of public opinion. [ Read more → ]

Embattled folk singer Michelle Shocked, who last weekend stunned a San Francisco audience with an anti-gay rant, tweeted Friday that she still plans to appear at a California club on Saturday, even though the venue cancelled her appearance due to her homophobic remarks. [ Read more → ]

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland's largest public high school has reclassified six restrooms as unisex to create another option for transgender students and faculty who feel uncomfortable with traditional bathrooms. [ Read more → ]

A young British man has been sentenced to 3 ½ in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter charges in the death of an openly gay, autistic teen at his birthday party last year by dousing him in oil and setting him on fire. [ Read more → ]

San Francisco Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone explains that a U.S.Supreme Court ruling granting same-sex couples the freedom to marry would have horrible consequences "for generations to come." [ Read more → ]

Appearing before a Rhode Island state Senate committee on Thursday evening, 12-year-old Matthew Lannon -- a sixth grader with two moms and two dads -- testified at hearing in support of legalizing same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

“Take just 80 seconds of your time to watch this powerful video, which imagines a world without racism, homophobia or anti-Semitism — a world in which the hate violence that took the lives of Martin Luther King Jr., Anne Frank, Daniel Pearl, Matthew Shepard and others did not happen." [ Read more → ]

The Respect for Marriage Coalition on Friday unveiled the latest in a series of national television ads aimed at showcasing the broad public support for the freedom to marry. [ Read more → ]

After initially stating that he was undecided on whether New Jersey should ban the controversial use of “gay conversion therapy,” Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday he opposed the practice, but stopped short of taking a position on a bill that would ban the therapy on LGBT youth. [ Read more → ]

LONDON — Britain's High Court ruled Friday that the mayor of London acted lawfully when he banned bus ads from a Christian group suggesting that homosexuality can be cured. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers delayed a scheduled debate over equal access rights after dozens of transgender people flooded the Arizona House of Representatives Wednesday to fight a proposed law that would have made it illegal for them to use the bathroom of their preferred gender. [ Read more → ]

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- A 12-year-old middle school student was branded with a homophobic slur in the latest school bullying incident, in which his mother describes as the "last straw." [ Read more → ]