News

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Southern Poverty Law Center said it plans to file a lawsuit on Wednesday, Sept. 26, in Denver in the U.S. District Court for Colorado against a Falls Church, Va.-based anti-gay group over a direct-mail campaign that used an altered version of a New York gay couple’s engagement photo without their knowledge or permission.

SAN DIEGO – A former Playgirl model has been convicted of second-degree murder in connection with the beating death of Jason “Cowboy” Huggins, a beloved figure in the San Diego LGBT community.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday included no same-sex marriage cases in its first announcement of what lower court decisions it will review during the 2012-13 session. Legal activists will almost certainly begin speculating now whether the high court is preparing to refuse to hear an appeal to preserve California’s same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8. That action could come as early as Monday, October 1, or be pending for weeks.

MINNEAPOLIS — A new poll commissioned by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune shows slightly more Minnesotans favor the ballot initiative for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, but that support falls just short of the 50 percent needed to pass the measure.

CHICAGO, IL — Chicago Alderman Proco “Joe” Moreno is again threatening to block Chick-fil-A from building a restaurant in his ward after reports published on Friday signaled that promises made by Chick-fil-A executives to him and a local LGBT advocacy group (that the company was going to cease financial support of several noted anti-gay organizations) were nullified by Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy.

On Monday the United States Supreme Court returns from its summer break. From their very first day back on the job, the justices will begin considering what is surely the largest number of LGBT equality cases that they have ever faced in a single term. And these aren’t just any cases, either. The cases on the Court’s fall docket have the potential to become watershed moments in the history of the LGBT movement…

Days after a local LGBT rights advocacy group and a Chicago alderman announced that Chick-fil-A had agreed to end donations to anti-gay organizations and end discrimination based on sexual orientation throughout the company, conservative former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced on his website Friday that those claims are not true.

WASHINGTON — A group of African American clergy were joined by the Rev. Al Sharpton for a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday to voice their support for Maryland’s marriage equality law, and to dispel the myth that all black ministers are against same-sex marriage.

PORTLAND, Maine — The National Organization for Marriage on Thursday transferred $250,000 to the Protect Marriage Maine political action committee, to aid in spearheading the campaign against Maine’s November ballot initiative seeking to legalize same-sex marriage.

The Boy Scouts of America has lost its largest corporate donor, Intel, which announced Friday that it will no longer support the group until it vows to stop discriminating against gay people.