News

The Princeton Review released its annual rankings of “The Best 378 Colleges” on Monday, and for the second consecutive year, named Emerson College in Boston as the most LGBT-friendly college in the nation.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Demand among same-sex couples for marriage licenses from an eastern Pennsylvania county official shows no sign of slacking.

BRADDOCK, Pa. — A Pittsburgh-area mayor has married two men who obtained a license from an eastern Pennsylvania county official who has issued more than 60 licenses to same-sex couples despite a state law that defines marriage as a contract between one man and one woman.

CHICAGO — A judge in Cook County, Ill., won’t decide until late September on whether to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the state’s same sex marriage ban.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The company that runs the shuttle service to the Albuquerque airport’s rental-car center is apologizing after a driver allegedly ordered a gay couple to sit in the back of the shuttle bus.

MOSCOW — Madonna and Lady Gaga, two of the biggest pop stars in the world, could face charges in Russia over allegations that they violated their tourist visas when they held concerts there last year, but observers say the warning is a veiled attempt punish them for their vocal opposition to Russia’s anti-gay laws.

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of 88 Congressional lawmakers, led by U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, is pressing Secretary of State John Kerry to ensure the saftey of American athletes and spectators at the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.

NEW YORK — New York City bar owners poured bottles of Russian vodka into the streets of Manhattan on Monday in a protest against Russia’s crackdown on the gay community.

LONDON — International Olympic Committee presidential candidate Ng Ser Miang says the Olympic body is engaged in “quiet diplomacy” with Russian leaders to make sure next year’s Winter Games in Sochi are not affected by the country’s new anti-gay legislation.

NEW ORLEANS – A gay activist in New Orleans says somebody tore a rainbow flag from his balcony and spray-painted the word “fags” on the house he and his partner share, and police are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime..