News

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A county clerk said Thursday that a federal lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ 2004 ban on same-sex marriages should be dismissed and the issue should be considered in state court.

INDIANAPOLIS — The success of a sparsely-worded constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage on Indiana could hinge on whether lawmakers remove a key sentence expanding its reach, House and Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Springfield, Mo., task force recommends the city not hold a public vote on any ordinance regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, saying it could create divisions and harm the city’s reputation.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Four same-sex couples are asking a federal judge for a preliminary injunction that would force Tennessee to recognize their marriages.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon-based Nike, Inc., on Tuesday announced it had formed the Nike Equality PAC, a foundation to raise money in support of marriage equality.

HOUSTON — Houston will provide health care and life insurance benefits to legally married same-sex spouses of city employees, officials announced Wednesday.

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Wednesday allowing same-sex weddings starting this summer, making President Barack Obama’s home state the 16th overall – and largest in the nation’s heartland – to legalize gay marriage.

SPRING CITY, Pa. — Rev. Frank Schaefer gets to keep calling himself a Methodist pastor – at least for the next 30 days.

HELSINKI — Swedish furniture retailer IKEA says it has cancelled an article about a lesbian couple in the Russian edition of its customer magazine because that would have contravened that county’s law on gay propaganda.

DAKAR, Senegal — A judge in Senegal says there is insufficient evidence to convict four women accused of violating the country’s law banning homosexual acts.