News

Frustrated at being left out of an immigration overhaul, gay rights groups are pushing to adjust a bipartisan Senate bill to include gay couples. But Democrats are treading carefully, wary of adding another divisive issue that could lose Republican support and jeopardize the entire bill.

DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa lawmaker who gained national attention last week for critical remarks about homosexual lifestyles says he wants to go to lunch with a gay colleague.

DURHAM, N.C. — Duke University has announced it will begin offering student health insurance coverage for gender confirmation surgery. The university joins a handful of other institutions offering similar coverage, though the University of North Carolina System currently does not.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Her grievance denied by the Bishop Watterson High School principal who signed her termination letter, Carla Hale said Wednesday morning that she will take her case against the Catholic Diocese of Columbus to the city’s Community Relations Commission.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — If Rhode Island joins the rest of New England in allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed, it will be because a formidable opponent, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, moved out of the way.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — State lawmakers in Rhode Island could decide whether the nation’s smallest state becomes the 10th to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

LEESBURG, Fla. — Efforts to establish a gay-straight student alliance at a Florida middle school failed after school board members voted Monday night to table discussions about proposed rules for the club.

BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Transportation Department this week agreed to new regulations allowing transgender individuals to change the gender designation on their driver’s licenses without a note from a surgeon.

DOVER, Del. — — The Delaware state House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

PARIS — France legalized gay marriage on Tuesday after a wrenching national debate that exposed deep conservatism in the nation’s heartland and triggered huge demonstrations that tapped into intense discontent with the Socialist government. Within hours, fiery clashes broke out between protesters and riot police.