Kansas

SALINA, Kan. — Six months after residents in Salina, Kan., voted to repeal anti-discrimination protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation, the city's new mayor has joined a national group of mayors who support same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas state lawmakers have approved a bill to protect medical and emergency workers that also repeals a 25-year-old ban on quarantining AIDS and HIV patients. [ Read more → ]

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Planting Peace, a progressive non-profit organization dedicated to environmental conservation, has purchased a house across the street from the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church compound, giving it a new paint job that pays homage to the rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBT pride. [ Read more → ]

TOPEKA, Kan. -- A proposed bill in the Kansas state legislature could allow the quarantine of people with AIDS or HIV, according to an LGBT advocacy group in testimony before a Kansas state Senate panel on Thursday. [ Read more → ]

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The North Carolina General Assembly has given final approval to a measure that would impose stronger criminal penalties for people who disrupt funerals or memorial services. [ Read more → ]

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that when same-sex couples have children together, both parents can be fully recognized as co-parents under Kansas state law. [ Read more → ]

HUTCHINSON, Kan. -- Health advocates are warning that Kansas’ decision to stop providing free HIV testing for many small, rural communities restricts services for some of the most vulnerable in the state. [ Read more → ]

TOPEKA, Kan. -- A man who donated his sperm to a lesbian couple is now being sued for child support by the Kansas Department of Children and Families. [ Read more → ]

Pastor Curtis Knapp, of the New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kansas, who said in his Sunday sermon that the government should put gays to death, is not backing away from his comments, and said he was simply preaching what he believes to be “scripture.” [ Read more → ]

Two more “men of God” -- Curtis Knapp of the New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kansas, and Dennis Leatherman, pastor at the Mountain Lake Baptist Church in Oakland, Md. -- are on record as advocating for the death of gays and lesbians. [ Read more → ]

BUHLER, Kan. -- A Kansas middle school teacher has ignited a firestorm in the small rural Kansas community of Behler after posting an anti-gay rant on Facebook in which said same-sex marriage is akin to "murder, lying, stealing, or cheating." [ Read more → ]

TOPEKA, Kansas -- The Republican controlled Kansas state House on Wednesday evening passed a bill that would effectively legalese anti-gay discrimination based on religious objections. [ Read more → ]

TOPEKA, Kan. -- In the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case nearly a decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot criminalize gay sex between consenting adults -- but in Kansas, there remains a law on the books, albeit not enforceable, that LGBT rights activists call offensive and unconstitutional. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- A Republican lawmaker has introduced new legislation aimed at prohibiting gay and lesbian service members from marrying on U.S. military bases, and would require new regulations related to chaplains and other military personnel. [ Read more → ]

The Westboro Baptist bigots brought their special brand of hate to game three of the NBA Finals on Sunday to protest the league's policy against gay slurs. [ Read more → ]

Comedian Lisa Lampanelli is donating $50,000 to the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) in the name of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in response to the church's protest of her show Friday night in Topeka, Kan. [ Read more → ]

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- City Commissioners this week voted to repeal a controversial ordinance that added sexual orientation and gender identity to its anti-discrimination policy. [ Read more → ]

"Homosexual conduct" is still a crime in Texas -- and at least three other states -- eight years after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the state’s sodomy law, and invalidated similar laws across the country. [ Read more → ]

The Westboro Baptist Church, home of anti-gay extremists and the “Gods Hate Fags” fundamentalist movement, announced plans to protest at the funeral of Elizabeth Taylor, who died early Wednesday. [ Read more → ]

The Westboro Baptist Church won a significant victory Wednesday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of its right to promote what its church members call a "broad-based message" on public matters such as wars. [ Read more → ]