News

WESTMINSTER, Calif. — A group of gay Vietnamese Americans and their supporters in Southern California’s Orange County are asking to be allowed to participate in this weekend’s Tet parade in celebration of the Vietnamese New Year.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The leaders of the Rhode Island Bar Association have endorsed a proposal to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A strict party-line vote Tuesday sent proposed gay-marriage legislation to the Democrat-controlled Illinois Senate floor for the second time in a month.

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials said Tuesday that outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is poised to extend some benefits to the same-sex partners of military members.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — An ethics panel has criticized a Maryland lawmaker for using his official letterhead to urge Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti to restrain linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo from publicly supporting same-sex marriage.

RICHMOND, Va. — A bill that would allow publicly funded college groups to discriminate in their policies and membership has been approved in the Virginia state Senate.

Colorado’s Religious Right is in the midst of a cakewalk. The prize? To find a political message that sticks with the state’s most sought-after, sometimes real, sometimes mythical unaffiliated “swing” voter with a Western-libertarian streak.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Last year’s emotional campaign over a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Minnesota cost the two main competing groups a combined $18 million, according to campaign finance reports released Friday.

The Alabama public school high teacher and football coach who was secretly recorded in a classroom setting making derogatory comments about gays and First Lady Michelle Obama, has been suspended.

CHICAGO — Legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in Illinois is expected to come up in a Senate committee meeting Tuesday and could see a floor vote on Valentine’s Day.