Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA -- Mayor Michael Nutter signed legislation Thursday to afford equal rights to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, saying he hoped Philadelphia would become "the most LGBT-friendly" city in the world. [ Read more → ]

PHILADELPHIA — A Boy Scouts of America group will vacate its city-owned Philadelphia headquarters in return for $825,000 under an agreement that settles a long legal battle over the organization's ban on gays, Mayor Michael Nutter's office said Friday. [ Read more → ]

PHILADELPHIA -- The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro will be allowed to travel to Philadelphia to accept an award for her gay rights advocacy, officials said Tuesday, reversing a previous decision to reject her visa request. [ Read more → ]

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia city council on Thursday approved a landmark LGBT equality bill that provides tax incentives to private employers who extend insurance to the same-sex partners of their employees, and strengthens legal rights and protections for LGBT citizens. [ Read more → ]

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia city council member wants to require new or renovated city-owned buildings to have gender-neutral restrooms in addition to men's and women's restrooms. [ Read more → ]

HARRISBURG, PA -- Philadelphia policy attorney and civil rights advocate Brian Sims was elected Tuesday to represent Pennsylvania's 182nd District, and becomes the state's first openly gay state legislator. [ Read more → ]

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Rep. Babette Josephs (D-Philadelphia) has introduced a bill that would ban mental health providers from offering "gay-to-straight" reparative therapy for minors. [ Read more → ]

PHILADELPHIA -- A street naming dedication ceremony for Barbara Gittings Way -- named for the LGBT civil rights pioneer -- was held Monday in the heart of Philadelphia's gay neighborhood at the intersection of Locust and 13th Streets. [ Read more → ]

PHILADELPHIA -- Homicide detectives are investigating the killing of a well known member of Philadelphia's LGBT community, Kyra Kruz, a 27-year-old transgender woman who was found dead in a wooded area of the city’s Frankford area. She had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. [ Read more → ]

PHILADELPHIA -- A federal judge last week ordered the city of Philadelphia to pay nearly $900,000 in legal fees to the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America, following the city's failed attempt to evict the Scouts from a city-owned building because of its anti-gay policy. [ Read more → ]

PHILADELPHIA -- A gay couple has filed harassment and brutality charges against the local police department, and claim they were taken out of their homes and beaten in the snow by 10-12 officers with batons. Several neighbors reportedly have photographs and video. [ Read more → ]

Jury selection got under way Monday in a gay rights case that could settle a long-running dispute between local Boy Scouts and the city of Philadelphia. At issue is whether the local scouts group, the Cradle of Liberty Council, should be allowed to stay rent-free... [ Read more → ]