LGBTQ Nation

LOS ANGELES — Film Director Brett Ratner, whose homophobic slur last year resulted in a controversy that forced him to step down as co-producer of the 2012 Academy Awards broadcast, has teamed with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to direct and produce a LGBTQ supportive video campaign.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) hopes to put the politically delicate question of same-sex marriage behind him and is prepared to swiftly veto a bill extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians, even if it means ignoring the arguments of proponents.

Valentine’s Day 2012 was marked with more progress on marriage equality front, this time in Maryland; also a gay couple set a new world record for the longest kiss, and a Google doodle sends a Valentine to gay couples. Here's "The Wrap" for February 14, 2012...

OLYMPIA, WASH. -- Within hours of Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire signing a marriage equality bill into law, opponents filed the paperwork necessary to collect signatures for a referendum to overturn the law.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Singer Clay Aiken, a North Carolina native, said he loves his home state but is deeply unhappy about proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban same sex marriages. The former "American Idol" contestant spoke out about the amendment in a video posted to YouTube on Monday.

GENEVA — Gays threaten the continuation of the human race, Libya’s delegate told a planning meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, reported the Geneva-based UN Watch monitoring group.

On last week’s edition of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality Radio Hour, a self-described “former homosexual” called for the arrest of author Dan Savage for his campaign to end suicide among LGBT youth, and today host Peter LaBarbera and guest Patrick Wooden reminisced about when violence against gay and transgender people was considered “normal.”

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A joint panel of two committees in the Maryland state legislature on Tuesday approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Occupy Wall Street protesters nearly drowned out Rick Santorum for 44 minutes as he tried to deliver remarks at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, Washington on Monday night. Speaking from a balcony, Santorum sought to condemn the state’s newly-enacted same-sex marriage law and the Ninth Circuit’s ruling against Proposition 8, but was repeatedly interrupted by protesters yelling, “we are the 99 percent.”

Every year on this fateful day I read the updates pouring down my newsfeed: declarations of love, lyrically written woes of despair, and the preachings of “Singles Awareness Day” advocates. Yet rarely do I see a call to action for LGBTQ teens, a group more heavily effected by Valentine’s Day then most would like to admit.

Marriage equality took center stage again on Monday, with progress on both coasts -- in Washington out west, and in the east, New Jersey.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, well known for his opposition to same-sex marriage, visited Washington state on Monday within an hour of Gov. Chris Gregoire signing the state’s same-sex marriage bill into law.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Actor Matt Bomer, best known for his starring role in the USA Network series "White Collar," has come out as gay.

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Washington Governor Chris Gregoire on Monday signed into law the measure passed last week by the state legislature that legalizes same-sex marriage, making Washington state the seventh in the nation to allow same-sex couples to marry.

TRENTON, N.J. -- The New Jersey state Senate on Monday voted in favor of a bill that would legalize marriage between same-sex couples, despite a vow by the Governor to veto such a bill.