News

MESA, Ariz. — Two Arizona high school students were forced to hold hands in front of their classmates as punishment this week for fighting. Critics are calling the discipline a form of bullying because it subjected the students to taunting and name-calling, and evoked anti-gay sentiments.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Sophia Hall rejected motions to intervene in the trial challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage Friday by two anti-gay churches and the Illinois Family Institute, an anti-gay hate group.

The Supreme Court, after taking most of the day to prepare new orders, took no action Friday on the ten same-sex marriage cases now on the docket. It did agree to rule on whether taking a human gene out of the body is a process that can be patented. It also agreed to rule on legal protection for makers of generic drugs.

The Obama administration unveiled on Thursday a “blueprint” for confronting the global AIDS epidemic that includes as one of its goals targeting populations that are most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS — including men who have sex with men.

MOBILE, Ala. — Mallory Owens, the 23-year-old Alabama woman who claims that she was brutally beaten by her girlfriend’s brother on Thanksgiving Day, has released a statement as said she believes her attacker intended to kill her.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A federal judge in Nevada has rejected a lawsuit brought by Lambda Legal on behalf of eight gay couples challenging the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

MOSCOW — The Russian State Parliament will hear the first reading of a federal level bill that is designed after a series of regional laws banning so-called “propaganda of homosexualism.”

SOUTH LYON, Mich. — A Detroit-area middle school teacher has been suspended after playing a song in class that included lyrics about harassment faced by gay youth.

They say third time’s a charm. And for Colorado’s gay and lesbian couples eager to have their relationships validated by the state, that just might be the case.

Several gay and lesbian couples who are plaintiffs in a legal challenge to a state law prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriages met with state legislators in Springfield Wednesday and urged them to vote for a bill that would legalize gay marriage in Illinois.