Arizona

PHOENIX — An effort to allow people to sue over potential violations of religious liberty cleared the Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday despite opposition from civil liberties groups who warn the measure will inspire waves of lawsuits over alleged First Amendment violations. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- After years of beating the drums against same-sex marriage, a majority of Arizonans now say they support marriage equality. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne called city attorneys to his office Monday to give them advice on what they can include in civil union ordinances without running afoul of a state law banning same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX — The City Council in the southern Arizona community of Bisbee will rewrite a recently enacted civil union ordinance after being threatened with a lawsuit by the state Attorney General's office, which said the ordinance ran afoul of a state ban on same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- Another Arizona city may consider whether to approve civil unions that could include same-sex couples. The Tempe City Council plans late Thursday to meet behind closed doors to get legal advice on civil unions. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne will go to court to block the artists' community of Bisbee from implementing a newly approved ordinance recognizing civil unions for same-sex couples, his office said Wednesday. [ Read more → ]

BISBEE, Ariz. -- The city council in a former mining community-turned-artist's haven in rural southeastern Arizona voted Tuesday night to approve an ordinance to recognize civil unions for same-sex couples. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- A transgender Arizona man whose divorce request was rejected after his marriage was declared invalid plans to keep trying to get his 9-year union dissolved, saying Tuesday that he wants the three children to whom he gave birth to know their parents' marriage was legitimate. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- An Arizona judge on Friday refused to grant a divorce for a transgender man who gave birth to three children after beginning to change his sex from female. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- An Arizona House committee has voted to advance a new version of a bill that previously would have barred transgender people from using public bathrooms not associated with their birth gender. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- Arizona lawmakers are set to consider a watered-down version of a bill that would have barred transgender people from using public bathrooms not associated with their birth gender. [ 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 → ]

BISBEE, Ariz. -- The town of Bisbee, Ariz., is poised to become the first municipality in Arizona to legalize civil unions for same-six couples. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers have jumped in to the national debate over the rights of transgender people with a bill being debated Wednesday that would make it illegal for people to use public restrooms not associated with their birth gender. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix City Council on Tuesday evening approved a measure to expand the city's anti-discrimination law to include protections for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in city contracts, housing, employment and public accommodations such as restaurants. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix city council is expected to vote this month on whether to expand the city's anti-discrimination ordinance to prohibit discrimination against its LGBT residents. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX – Saying members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community deserve equal treatment under Arizona law, a Democratic lawmaker has introduced four bills addressing employment, adoption and marriage. [ Read more → ]

An Arizona man who gained national attention for giving birth after having a sex-change operation, has hit a snag in his divorce proceedings because the presiding judge has questioned whether the marriage was ever legal in Arizona because he is transgender. [ Read more → ]

MESA, Ariz. -- Two Arizona high school students were forced to hold hands in front of their classmates as punishment this week for fighting. Critics are calling the discipline a form of bullying because it subjected the students to taunting and name-calling, and evoked anti-gay sentiments. [ Read more → ]

A Phoenix man is recovering from a late night attack last Thursday in what police are calling an anti-gay hate crime. [ Read more → ]