World News

DUBLIN -- Ireland will hold a referendum aimed at legalizing same-sex marriage after a the Irish Constitutional Convention on Sunday voted overwhelmingly in favor of extending marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- Anti-gay marriage activists in France went on the attack Friday, firing off violent rhetoric following passage of a marriage equality bill in the French Senate. [ Read more → ]

PARIS — The French Senate voted Friday to legalize same-sex marriage in France, putting a landmark bill on track to become law by summer. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- The French Senate on Wednesday evening approved a key provision of its proposed marriage equality bill that would guarantee adoption rights to same-sex couples. [ Read more → ]

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- Uruguay's lawmakers have voted to legalize same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

PARIS — The shocking photo of a homophobic attack victim in Paris that went viral on social media this week and caused the French interior minister to weigh in was used as an emblem in a pro-gay rally Wednesday evening. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- The upper house of the French parliament, the Senate, on Tuesday evening approved the first and most crucial article of a draft law that would legalize same-sex marriage in France. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- A gay couple in Paris said they were attacked and beaten on Saturday for walking arm-in-arm in what LGBT advocates in the country say is indicative of a rise in anti-gay attacks in France since Parliament began debating a measure that would legalize same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

LONDON – Amid all the accolades and tributes being paid to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died Monday at age 87, are voices from the LGBT community who remember the conservative leader for legislating the anti-gay law, Section 28. [ Read more → ]

AMSTERDAM -- After getting an earful from Chancellor Angela Merkel on the importance of democratic issues, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Amsterdam on Monday to face an eyeful of protests from gay rights activists. [ Read more → ]

DURBAN, South Africa -- Two men married on Saturday in a rare South African gay wedding in KwaDukuza on Saturday, in what has been described as the town’s first same-sex union. [ Read more → ]

SAN DIEGO – A 26-year-old gay man is accusing two immigration guards in El Centro, Calif. of making anti-gay slurs at him, violently roughing him up while in custody, and putting in danger his health and his life. [ Read more → ]

PARIS — France's upper house of parliament has begun debating a bill to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children, weeks after the divisive reform was passed in the lower house. [ Read more → ]

MORRIS, Manitoba, Canada -- A gay couple in Canada said they are closing their Manitoba restaurant after just four months because of ongoing anti-gay abuse leveled against them and their employees by local residents. [ Read more → ]

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- Uruguayan lawmakers have voted in favor of a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh, speaking Thursday night at the opening of the country’s Parliament in Banjul, used the occasion to send out another warning to gays, saying they are not allowed in Gambia, and if caught, "will regret" being born. [ Read more → ]

BELFAST -- Northern Ireland's power-sharing government will soon face a human rights legal case over its refusal to allow gay couples to marry, warns Amnesty International and local LGBT rights organization the Rainbow Project. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- Paris riot police fought back crowds who pushed their way onto Paris' landmark Champs-Elysees avenue as part of a huge protest against a draft law allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. [ Read more → ]

ASUNCION, Paraguay - A Paraguayan married, gay couple are demanding to be recognized as spouses under the law. [ Read more → ]

A young British man has been sentenced to 3 ½ in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter charges in the death of an openly gay, autistic teen at his birthday party last year by dousing him in oil and setting him on fire. [ Read more → ]