Arizona

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 → ]

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona Daily Wildcat, the student-run daily newspaper at the University of Arizona, has issued an apology and fired the cartoonist after publishing an editorial cartoon that critics said advocated violence against LGBT people. [ Read more → ]

Openly bisexual candidate Kyrsten Sinema won a Democratic primary on Tuesday night and will advance to the November general election in Arizona’s 9th Congressional District. [ Read more → ]

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A Tucson businessman was fired from his job on Thursday after posting a video online of himself in a Chick-fil-A drive-thru the day prior, in which he voiced his opposition to the company's CEO and the chain's financial support of anti-gay organizations. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that allows Arizona's state employees to keep their same-sex partners benefits, including health insurance. [ Read more → ]

Lesbian attorney Amelia Craig Cramer, chief deputy attorney for Pima County, which includes Tucson, became president of the 16,900-member State Bar of Arizona on Friday, June 22, making her the first openly gay head of the organization. [ Read more → ]

FLORENCE, Ariz. -- Paul Babeu, the embattled Arizona sheriff who came out as gay amid allegations of misconduct made by a man with whom he had a relationship, has dropped his bid for a seat in the U.S. Congress, and will instead seek another term as sheriff. [ Read more → ]

TEMPE, Ariz. -- When you think of a high school prom, you probably imagine girls in beautiful dresses and guys in their tuxes, but a teenager says his rights were violated when a Tempe school told him he could not run for prom queen. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- For the first time, Phoenix will have a functional LGBTQ youth facility that will include an alternative high school geared specifically towards lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender students. [ Read more → ]

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is looking to address gaps in the city's human-rights protections, and has assembled a group of aides and attorneys to draft an ordinance that would outlaw discrimination against LGBT residents. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- An Arizona teen who spent several weeks in Washington last year to lobby Congress to make schools a safer environment for LGBT youth, is now working in the Phoenix mayor's office to help raise awareness about bullying and diversity. [ Read more → ]

FLORENCE, Ariz. -- The former boyfriend of embattled Pinal County, Ariz. Sheriff Paul Babeu has filed a $1 million notice of claim against the sheriff and the county. [ Read more → ]

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney took two wins by coming out on top in the GOP primary in Arizona and — after initially lagging in the polls — taking victory in Michigan. [ Read more → ]

The recently outed gay sheriff of Pinal County, Ariz., says if he’s elected to Congress he’ll support pro-LGBT initiatives and help change perceptions lawmakers have about gay people, and that his election would be “very impactful and helpful” in changing “the views, perceptions, beliefs about who we are.” [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- Embattled Pinal County, Arizona sheriff Paul Babeu -- who came out as gay amid allegations that he threatened to have an ex-boyfriend deported -- once ran a Massachusetts boarding school with a history of physical and sexual abuse, and for a time lived with one of the school's male students. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- An Arizona county sheriff seeking the GOP nomination for an Arizona congressional seat publicly came out as gay on Saturday, amid allegations of misconduct made by a man with whom he allegedly had a relationship. [ Read more → ]

TUCSON, Ariz. -- An openly gay Arizona state lawmaker announced Tuesday that he will enter the race to fill the congressional seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who resigned last week. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- Openly bisexual Arizona state Senator Kyrsten Sinema has announced she's resigning her Senate seat to launch a campaign for U.S. House, representing Arizona's newly drafted Ninth Congressional District. [ Read more → ]

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said a federal appeals panel "got it wrong" and is again appealing a court ruling that same-sex partners of state government workers are entitled to health care benefits provided to opposite-sex couples. [ Read more → ]