News

PRETORIA, South Africa — South Africa is planning to introduce hate crime legislation, which would include laws to prosecute physical and verbal attacks on foreigners and LGBT people.

GRESHAM, Ore. — The Oregon bakery that is the target of a discrimination complaint for refusing to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding, has closed its doors.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Same-sex couples received nearly 1 in 3 marriage licenses issued in Minnesota since they were allowed to wed, The Associated Press found in a statewide survey of the first month’s impact of the new marriage equality law.

BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, appearing Monday on an Australian national political program “Questions & Answers,” defended his support for marriage equality in a spirited exchange in which he went toe-to-toe with a local pastor on the Biblical definition of marriage.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will meet with several LGBT and human rights activists during his trip to Russia for the G20 conference, a White House source confirmed Monday.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A legally married gay couple living in South Carolina is suing to have the state’s ban on gay marriage overturned.

PHOENIX — An initiative campaign to have Arizona voters decide next year whether to legalize gay marriage has been put on hold amid reluctance by national and local advocacy groups to back the measure.

TUCSON, Ariz. — A U.S. congressman is calling on Arizona and federal authorities to investigate a pair of controversial fliers attacking a school board member as a possible hate crime.

INDIANAPOLIS — A gay rights advocacy group has filed a complaint on behalf of a gay high school student whose mother says he was beaten by a football player because of his sexuality.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — The clerk in New Mexico’s Los Alamos County said she will decide on Tuesday whether to join six other counties and begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.