News

AMSTERDAM — Rainbow flags are flying from scores of Amsterdam buildings as tens of thousands of festival-goers, many dressed in pink or wearing studded leather, party it up at one of the city’s biggest events: the annual Gay Pride celebration.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A same-sex couple from Portland, Ore., said they received an unfriendly welcome when they arrived in Albuquerque, N.M., recently – they claim they were forced to sit in back of the airport shuttle bus because they were holding hands.

WASHINGTON — At least two U.S. Senators are speaking out over growing concerns of Russia’s anti-gay laws, and how enforcement of those laws would affect athletes and spectators attending the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

A New Jersey judge should not rush into allowing same-sex marriage in the state without carefully considering quickly changing legal issues, lawyers for the state government said in a court filing Friday.

RIGA, Latvia — Many gay bars in North America have stopped selling the famous Stolichnaya vodka brand to protest Russia’s crackdown on the gay community. But the vodka’s maker has joined forces with Latvia’s leading gay rights group to say that the boycott is misplaced.

The U.S. State Department on Friday began processing visa applications from same-sex spouses in the same way that it handles those from heterosexual spouses.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.) on Thursday introduced legislation supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender runaway and homeless youth.

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Lawyers asked a state court on Friday to throw out a lawsuit that seeks to stop a rogue county official from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, who cannot legally wed in Pennsylvania.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate of Thursday confirmed a number of President Barack Obama’s nominations to diplomatic posts, including Daniel Baer to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, John Berry as the Ambassador to Australia, Rufus Gifford as Ambassador to Denmark, and James Costos as Ambassador to Spain.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A California man says he was fired from his teaching job at a Catholic high school less than two weeks after his marriage to his same-sex partner was featured in local news reports.