Florida

[caption id="attachment_15715" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Peter Avsenew"][/caption] A suspect is in custody in the double homicide of a gay couple found slain in their Wilton Manors, Fla., home over the weekend. Peter Serge Avsenew, 26, was arrested miles away from where police believe he murdered Kevin... [ Read more → ]

Police in Wilton Manors, Fla., have identified two men who they believe are the victims of a double murder that occurred over the weekend. Stephen Adams, 52, and Kevin Powell, 47, were found dead inside their home on Sunday night. The two men were domestic partners. [ Read more → ]

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Commissioners in Orange County, Fla., voted earlier this week to extend anti-discrimination laws, adding marital status, sexual orientation and gender identity to other protected statuses in private sectors of business and housing. [ Read more → ]

Bringing an end to Florida's 33-year-old ban on gay adoptions, state attorney general Bill McCollum announced Friday that he will not appeal to the state supreme court a lower court ruling that the ban was unconstitutional. [ Read more → ]

Florida will cease to enforce its ban gay adoptions, as the Department of Children and Families announced Tuesday that it would not appeal the September decision by the Third District Court of Appeals that the ban was unconstitutional. [ Read more → ]

A court ruling declaring Florida's ban against gay adoption unconstitutional was upheld Wednesday in a decision by the Third District Court of Appeals in Miami, affirming the controversial adoption of two foster children by a gay Miami couple. [caption id="attachment_10827" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Martin Gill and... [ Read more → ]

Charlie Crist, the current governor of Florida and Independent candidate for U.S. Senate, is preparing to endorse an wide array of pro-LGBT legislation and gay rights issues, as early as this week, according to a report by RawStory.com. [ Read more → ]

Bill McCollum, Florida's Attorney General and a Republican candidate for Governor, has made it clear he supports his state's ban on gay adoption, and he doesn't think gay people should be allowed to be foster parents, either. [ Read more → ]

File this under "WTF?" Florida lawmakers are hoping to pass a $75 million incentive package to attract movie studios to film in the sunshine state, but a little noticed provision could deny tax credits to movies that feature gay characters or other “non-traditional" families. Current... [ Read more → ]

Florida's outdated gay adoption ban took another hit after a Miami judge approved the adoption by a lesbian couple. [caption id="attachment_5671" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Alenier, right, and Leon, with their adopted son.(Miami Herald photo) "][/caption] Vanessa Alenier and Melanie Leon of Hollywood, FL, became the third... [ Read more → ]

Fort Lauderdale attorney and radio host Norm Kent plans to launch a new weekly newspaper geared toward South Florida's LGBTQ community. The new print and online publication, the South Florida Gay News.com will be published on Mondays, with more than twelve thousand copies slated for... [ Read more → ]

Buju Banton, the Jamaican reggae star whose anti-gay lyrics have drawn international criticism, is in a federal lockup in Miami, facing drug conspiracy charges, reports the Miami Herald. Drug Enforcement Administration agents say Banton, real name Mark Anthony Myrie, has been in custody since Thursday... [ Read more → ]

[caption id="attachment_3814" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Gregory Higgs"][/caption] North Miami Police have determined Miami teacher Charles Brown was stabbed to death last week because he didn't want to make a relationship work with his former boyfriend, Gregory Higgs, reports WTVJ-TV. Higgs has been arrested and charged with... [ Read more → ]

It was to be a night of hope and promise for the LGBT community, but instead the crushing defeat of Maine's gay marriage law delivered another setback for gay rights advocates and overshadowed many other victories at the ballot box Tuesday. In Maine, voters on... [ Read more → ]

MIAMI -- A federal court in Miami has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Washington state lesbian who was not allowed to visit her dying partner at Jackson Memorial Hospital. "The hospital took the position that we thought was pretty extreme -- that it has... [ Read more → ]

The Florida state court of appeals began hearing arguments Wednesday on last year's ruling that struck down the state's ban on gay adoption. The state is appealing a Miami-Dade County judge's November 2008 ruling that the state law that bans gay adoptions is unconstitutional. The... [ Read more → ]