Newsmakers

Two more U.S. Senators weighed in on the issue of same-sex marriage on Friday, but unlike the eight previous announcements by Senate colleagues, neither expressed their public support of marriage equality. [ Read more → ]

PORTLAND, Maine -- Former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, who as a senator voted for the federal Defense of Marriage Act, announced Friday that she now supports gay marriage. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON — Two freshman Democratic senators from conservative states, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, have joined the growing chorus of lawmakers who say they support gay marriage. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK -- Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo hinted Thursday evening that his advocacy for marriage equality and LGBT rights may have been one of the reasons he was cut from the team. [ Read more → ]

Former NBA star Magic Johnson said Thursday that he's known “for a long, long time” that his 20-year-old son E.J. is gay, and said he and his wife Cookie made it clear long ago that E.J.'s entire family loved and supported him. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK -- David Letterman, playing host to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on "The Late Show" on CBS Wednesday night, had a few remarks directed at opponents of same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida on Thursday joined the chorus of moderate Democrats in reversing his longtime opposition to same-sex marriage, leaving only six remaining Democratic U.S. Senators who have not yet come out in support of marriage equality. [ Read more → ]

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Baltimore Ravens on Wednesday released reserve linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, an outspoken champion of LGBT rights and marriage equality, from his contract. [ Read more → ]

The discredited “researcher” Paul Cameron, chairman of the anti-gay Family Research Institute, frequently claims that gay people want to rape children. Or, as he once put it, “The long term goal of the homosexual movement is to get every little boy to grab his ankles and every little girl to give it a try.” [ Read more → ]

CHICAGO, — Roger Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, who was known for his “thumbs up, thumbs down” critiques of films, died Thursday. He was 70, and had battled cancer in recent years. [ Read more → ]

On Wednesday's "Faith and Freedom" radio program, Matt Barber and Mat Staver once again made their case against marriage equality, with Barber declaring that tolerance "of all forms of sexual deviant behavior" is "a cancer that brings down societies" and linking it to the strange theory that gay marriage was the catalyst for Noah's flood. [ Read more → ]

GLAAD, an LGBT media advocacy organization announced Wednesday it will honor former President Bill Clinton with its first ever "Advocate for Change" award at its 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles later this month. [ Read more → ]

Speaking on gun control, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas says why limit the number of rounds in a magazine because "it's kind of like marriage when you say it's not a man and a woman any more, then why not have three men and one woman, or four women and one man, or why not somebody has a love for an animal?" [ Read more → ]

Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Ronald Reagan, takes on marriage equality in a controversial new editorial for Ohio’s Ironton Tribune, where he challenges American churches to condemn same-sex marriage, much in the same manner as polygamy, bestiality, and murder. [ Read more → ]

CHICAGO -- GOP Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois said Tuesday he supports same-sex marriage, becoming the second sitting Republican senator to make such an announcement in recent weeks. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware has Tuesday announced his support for same-sex marriage, leaving only seven remaining Democratic U.S. Senators who have not yet come out in support of marriage equality. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Delaware's lone U.S. congressman has announced his support for same-sex marriage. Democrat John Carney announced his support for marriage equality Monday on his website. [ Read more → ]

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- U.S. Sen. Bob Casey says he now supports gay marriage, becoming the latest lawmaker to change positions on an issue now before the U.S. Supreme Court. [ Read more → ]

Fred Luter, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, appeared Wednesday on TruNews with Rick Wiles, the Religious Right talk show host who is convinced President Obama is literally a demon. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- U.S. Congressman Matt Salmon says he isn’t ready to change his opinion on same-sex marriage, despite the fact that he has an openly gay son. [ Read more → ]