News

BALTIMORE, Md. — An openly gay East Baltimore resident who was severely beaten Christmas night told police investigators that he believed that he was attacked because he is gay.

Just as there are “no round triangles,” there are “no gay marriages.” So says David E. Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, the anti-gay organization working to defeat efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in Illinois.

AMSTERDAM — A website operator in The Netherlands is helping thousands of Dutch Catholics research information on how that can leave the church in protest of its opposition to same-sex marriage.

ST. MARY’S COUNTY, Md. — The Chief Clerk of the Circuit Court for St. Mary’s County, Md., said Thursday that some deputy clerks were opposed to the state’s new law legalizing same-sex marriage, based on their religious convictions and will no longer officiate at wedding ceremonies.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Thursday nominated State Sen. Andrew J. McDonald to the state’s Supreme Court. If confirmed by the legislature, he would become the first openly gay justice of the state Supreme Court.

Two Republican members of the U.S. House have announced their support for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

A Massachusetts-based biotechnology company announced it will join just a few dozen companies in the United States to supplement gay employees for taxes incurred when covering their spouse or partner in the company’s health plan — taxes that are not paid by their straight counterparts.

The owner of Annapolis’ iconic old-fashioned trolleys that are often synonymous with the city’s wedding scene, said he is abandoning the wedding industry, rather than be forced to serve same-sex couples when Marylard’s marriage equality law takes effect next month.

As Illinois lawmakers prepare to consider legislation next month that would legalize same-sex marriage, the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday endorsed marriage equality.

A judge in Manhattan has sentenced Renato Seabra, a former Portuguese underwear model, to 25 years to life in prison for the the grisly murder of celebrity journalist Carlos Castro in a New York hotel last year.