VENTURA, Calif. -- Brandon McInerney was sentenced Monday to 21 years in state prison for the execution style killing of openly gay classmate Lawrence King during a computer lab class [...]

Brandon McInerney — accused of murdering gay classmate Lawrence King in February of 2008 at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard — has struck a plea deal with prosecutors, and agreed to spend the next 21 years in prison.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed openly lesbian Alison Nathan as the newest U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York. The vote was 48-44 in favor of Nathan's nomination to the Court -- among the 44 nay votes were five Democrats and all Republicans.

A judge in California on Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of an Oxnard teenager accused of the execution-style murder of an openly gay classmate, Lawrence King.

Defense attorneys on Monday rested their case in the murder trial of 17-year-old Brandon McInerney, accused in the 2008 execution-style slaying of Lawrence King, a gay classmate.

Testimony in the murder trial of 17-year-old Brandon McInerney, accused of killing an openly gay classmate, brought new revelations of McInerney's abusive childhood, and testimony that the victim antagonized McInerney by parading around in makeup and high heels.

Testimony resumes this week in the murder trial of 17-year-old Brandon McInerney, accused of the 2008 execution-style shooting of an openly gay classmate, then-15-year-old Lawrence King.

The U.S. Senate on Monday evening confirmed confirmed J. Paul Oetken to the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the first openly gay man to serve as federal judge in U.S. history.

Opening arguments are scheduled to get underway Tuesday in the trial of Brandon McInerney, charged with the execution style killing of a gay classmate in 2008.

The U.S. judge who struck down California's ban on gay marriage, confirmed for the first time publicly on Wednesday that his is gay, and said he never considered his own homosexuality as a reason to recuse himself from the case.

Jury selection is scheduled to get under way next month in the murder trial of Brandon McInerney, who is charged with the execution style killing of a gay classmate in 2008.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on Monday tapped Associate Justice Barbara A. Lenk to be his fourth pick for the state's Supreme Judicial Court, and the court's first openly gay nominee.

The White House announced last week the nomination of former Associate White House Counsel Alison Nathan for a judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) has nominated lesbian judge Sabrina McKenna to the state's Supreme Court. “I don't think I ever would have imagined achieving this kind of honor in my life,” McKenna said. “I do think that the world is changing, and I think that my appointment is an example of that.”

More and more challenges to the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) have been hitting the courts and getting shafted by federal judges: U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland ruled Wednesday that state employees can sue the federal government over their same-sex partners’ exclusion from long-term health care benefits.