News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers approved a bill Wednesday that would require public K-12 schools to let transgender students choose which restrooms they use and which school teams they join based on their gender identity instead of their chromosomes.

Two new polls released this week show a majority of Americans support marriage equality for same-sex couples, and are largely unfazed by last week’s landmark Supreme Court decisions that struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act, and that cleared the way for same-sex marriage to resume in California.

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill that sharply limits the adoption of Russian children by people from countries that allow same-sex marriage.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Five teenagers accused of luring a 24-year-old gay man to a Gresham park to beat and rob him have been sentenced to terms ranging from probation to 2 ½ years in prison.

TRENTON, N.J. — Six gay couples and their children on Wednesday asked a New Jersey judge to force the state to recognize gay marriage, arguing that the case has become more urgent after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A group of 11 same-sex couples from Arkansas on Tuesday asked a judge to overturn the state’s ban on gay marriage, the latest effort aimed at repealing the amendment after recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings supporting gay couples.

NEW YORK — New York state making a pitch for gay visitors with a new “I Love NY LGBT” tourism website.

WESTFIELD, N.J. — New Jersey Democrats stepped up their push to legalize same-sex marriage on Tuesday, urging Gov. Chris Christie to allow GOP legislators to vote for the bill.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The president of a prominent Minnesota Catholic high school has resigned after he informed other school officials that he is in a same-sex relationship.

SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico’s highest court has asked the state Attorney General and the Santa Fe County clerk to respond to a lawsuit seeking to legalize same-sex marriage.