Arizona

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers delayed a scheduled debate over equal access rights after dozens of transgender people flooded the Arizona House of Representatives Wednesday to fight a proposed law that would have made it illegal for them to use the bathroom of their preferred gender. [ Read more → ]

BISBEE, Ariz. -- The town of Bisbee, Ariz., is poised to become the first municipality in Arizona to legalize civil unions for same-six couples. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers have jumped in to the national debate over the rights of transgender people with a bill being debated Wednesday that would make it illegal for people to use public restrooms not associated with their birth gender. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix City Council on Tuesday evening approved a measure to expand the city's anti-discrimination law to include protections for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in city contracts, housing, employment and public accommodations such as restaurants. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix city council is expected to vote this month on whether to expand the city's anti-discrimination ordinance to prohibit discrimination against its LGBT residents. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX – Saying members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community deserve equal treatment under Arizona law, a Democratic lawmaker has introduced four bills addressing employment, adoption and marriage. [ Read more → ]

An Arizona man who gained national attention for giving birth after having a sex-change operation, has hit a snag in his divorce proceedings because the presiding judge has questioned whether the marriage was ever legal in Arizona because he is transgender. [ Read more → ]

MESA, Ariz. -- Two Arizona high school students were forced to hold hands in front of their classmates as punishment this week for fighting. Critics are calling the discipline a form of bullying because it subjected the students to taunting and name-calling, and evoked anti-gay sentiments. [ Read more → ]

A Phoenix man is recovering from a late night attack last Thursday in what police are calling an anti-gay hate crime. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- Democrat Kyrsten Sinema on Monday was declared the winner in the election to represent Arizona's Ninth District in the U.S. House of Representatives. [ Read more → ]

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona Daily Wildcat, the student-run daily newspaper at the University of Arizona, has issued an apology and fired the cartoonist after publishing an editorial cartoon that critics said advocated violence against LGBT people. [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Supreme Court has set at least three cases related to marriage equality and same-sex partner benefits for conference on Sept. 24, including the federal case against California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 voter-approved constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

Openly bisexual candidate Kyrsten Sinema won a Democratic primary on Tuesday night and will advance to the November general election in Arizona’s 9th Congressional District. [ Read more → ]

TAMPA, Fla. — Former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who’s gay, offered his “qualified endorsement” of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Tuesday, saying the candidate’s business background makes him a good choice for president. Kolbe noted that Romney needs to come along further on LGBT issues. [ Read more → ]

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A Tucson businessman was fired from his job on Thursday after posting a video online of himself in a Chick-fil-A drive-thru the day prior, in which he voiced his opposition to the company's CEO and the chain's financial support of anti-gay organizations. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that allows Arizona's state employees to keep their same-sex partners benefits, including health insurance. [ Read more → ]

Lesbian attorney Amelia Craig Cramer, chief deputy attorney for Pima County, which includes Tucson, became president of the 16,900-member State Bar of Arizona on Friday, June 22, making her the first openly gay head of the organization. [ Read more → ]

FLORENCE, Ariz. -- Paul Babeu, the embattled Arizona sheriff who came out as gay amid allegations of misconduct made by a man with whom he had a relationship, has dropped his bid for a seat in the U.S. Congress, and will instead seek another term as sheriff. [ Read more → ]

TEMPE, Ariz. -- When you think of a high school prom, you probably imagine girls in beautiful dresses and guys in their tuxes, but a teenager says his rights were violated when a Tempe school told him he could not run for prom queen. [ Read more → ]

PHOENIX -- For the first time, Phoenix will have a functional LGBTQ youth facility that will include an alternative high school geared specifically towards lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender students. [ Read more → ]