National Headlines

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will speak at the Pentagon's Pride event next Tuesday, June 25, honoring gay and lesbian service members. [ Read more → ]

BERLIN -- President Obama on Wednesday urged the international community to embrace equality and to "stand up for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters." [ Read more → ]

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Wednesday that she supports legalizing same-sex marriage, becoming the third Republican Senator to support marriage equality for gays and lesbians. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON – Same-sex couples experience unequal treatment more often than heterosexual couples when responding to internet ads for rental units, and findings show that gay male couples experience more discrimination than lesbian couples, according to a groundbreaking study released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court did not issue rulings Monday in two closely watched cases -- the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage, and the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman for purposes of federal recognition and benefits. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK -- Around the time the U.S. Supreme Court was considering the same-sex marriage issue, news reports had more comments from supporters than opponents, a study released Monday concluded. [ Read more → ]

With just days left before the U.S. Supreme Court rules on Proposition 8, the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) has compiled this look back at the last three years of working to overturn California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that he'll co-sponsor the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, becoming the 50th co-sponsor of the measure aimed at banning workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Handing plum European posts to key campaign boosters, President Barack Obama on Friday nominated his former finance director to be U.S. ambassador to Denmark and tapped two major fundraisers for postings in Spain and Germany. [ Read more → ]

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A community that has been seeing red over recent attacks against gay men today is turning pink. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The Social Security Administration on Friday announced a new policy for changing the gender designation in Social Security records to provide transgender people improved privacy and prevent unnecessary outing to Social Security staff and healthcare providers. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday marked Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month by calling on Congress to pass legislation banning workplace discrimination against gays, lesbians and others. "I want to sign that bill," he said. [ Read more → ]

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) -- the most prominent Republican in the “Gang of Eight,” a group of senators who developed the bipartisan immigration reform bill -- said Thursday he will revoke his support if an amendment is added that allows immigration benefits to foreign-born, gay partners of American citizens. [ Read more → ]

PEORIA, Ill. - Caterpillar Inc. says it will no longer give money to the Boy Scouts of America because the organization doesn't allow homosexuals to serve as adult leaders. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK — Even as they acknowledge greater acceptance by society, LGBT Americans are, on average, less happy than other U.S. adults, and many report instances of rejection and harassment, according to a sweeping new survey. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) on Wednesday urged members of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs to pass a bill that would provide key military benefits for same-sex spouses of gay service members. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto a defense spending bill that includes so-called “conscience protections” that critics say would allow service members to promote anti-gay beliefs without fear of discipline. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Tuesday filed an amendment to a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would extend immigration benefits to foreign-born, gay partners of American citizens. [ Read more → ]

President Barack Obama on Monday named Daniel Baer -- a former Georgetown professor and current Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor -- to be ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), based in Vienna. [ Read more → ]

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. -- An estimated 100,000 gay and lesbian service members were issued dishonorable or "undesirable" discharges between World War II and 1993 due to their sexual orientation, losing their military benefits as a result. [ Read more → ]