National Headlines

ESPN Radio talk show host Tony Kornheiser on Tuesday said the sports network issued guidelines to its employees for discussing gay athletes following NBA player Jason Collins’ announcement Monday that he is gay. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK — Jason Collins, who came out Monday as gay while still an active NBA player, broke one of the last remaining barriers in North America for gays and lesbians in era of constant political gains and ever-growing public acceptance. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK -- The National Football League distributed a document to its teams Monday reiterating its anti-discrimination policy on sexual orientation. [ Read more → ]

With Rhode Island poised to become the 10th state to legalize same-sex marriage following a key vote in the state’s General Assembly scheduled for Thursday, supporters of marriage equality are shifting their focus to other states. [ Read more → ]

FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- Gilead Sciences Inc. said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration rejected two marketing applications for HIV treatments, citing quality control problems at the company's manufacturing facilities. [ Read more → ]

The founding members of the gay conservatives group GoProud said Friday that are stepping away from their day-to-day roles at the organization they started four years ago as a grassroots alternative to the Log Cabin Republicans. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission said Thursday that married, same-sex couples cannot pool their money to donate to political campaigns as married, opposite-sex couples are able to do so. [ Read more → ]

SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon church says it welcomes the Boy Scouts of America's latest proposal to lift the gay ban for youth members but continue to exclude gays as adult leaders. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was reintroduced in both chambers of Congress on Thursday. The measure would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees. [ Read more → ]

Frustrated at being left out of an immigration overhaul, gay rights groups are pushing to adjust a bipartisan Senate bill to include gay couples. But Democrats are treading carefully, wary of adding another divisive issue that could lose Republican support and jeopardize the entire bill. [ Read more → ]

ALBANY, N.Y. — The NFL is taking action to better protect gay players from harassment and discrimination as a result of meetings with New York state's attorney general. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona on Monday urged a Senate committee to expand its immigration reform bill to include a path to citizenship or permanent residency for immigrant same-sex partner partners, including his own. [ Read more → ]

LOS ANGELES — A lesbian couple facing immigration troubles has the standing to challenge the federal Defense of Marriage Act because it violates the constitutional rights of immigrants in same-sex marriages, a federal judge has ruled. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Eric Fanning, currently serving as Deputy Undersecretary of the U.S. Navy, to be the Undersecretary of the Air Force. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK — Under pressure over its longstanding ban on gays, the Boys Scouts of America is proposing to lift the ban for youth members but continue to exclude gays as adult leaders. [ Read more → ]

Hundreds of thousands of students at thousands of schools around the world on Friday are participating in GLSEN's (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) 18th annual Day of Silence by taking a vow of silence to draw attention to the anti-LGBT harassment and discrimination in schools. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON — Gay rights advocates have expressed disappointment after a bipartisan Senate group’s 844-page immigration bill omitted married gay and lesbian binational couples, leaving out the Uniting American Families Act. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Monday introducing the Tax Parity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act, a bill that would end the taxation of employer-provided health insurance for domestic partners, as well as the penalty imposed on employers who provide equal benefits to their LGBT employees. [ Read more → ]

While the Boy Scouts of America wrestles with declining memberships and whether to rescind its long-standing policy against gay scouts and gay and lesbian scout leaders, one "all welcoming" scouting organization says it's seeing a boost in enrollment from parents and kids looking for a more inclusive alternative. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration’s highest ranking openly LGBT official resigned his post, effective Saturday, April 13. John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, announced his resignation April 11 in an email to OPM employees, just days before his four-year term was up. [ Read more → ]