SWANSEA, Wales — A freelance photographer has been blinded in one eye following an alleged anti-gay hate crime late last week in which his attackers threw gasoline in his face. Tyler Maddick, 20, says he was targeted by three or four men in a car as he walked home in Swansea on Sept. 11, reports the BBC.

A politician in Kazakhstan has claimed “blood tests for degeneratism” can identify gay people while calling for homosexuality to be criminalized, describing it as a threat to national security. Standing before a poster claiming “homosexuality is a threat to the nation,” Dauren Babamuratov, leader of the nationalist “Bolashak” movement, petitioned the government …

CHANDLER, Ariz. — The Chandler Police Department is forming a new committee to help connect with the city’s LGBT community. Chandler Chief of Police Sean Duggan said the formation of the committee was not a reaction to anything that had happened involving the LGBT community, but rather an attempt to strengthen the bond the department has …

Barely a month after a number of anti-gay groups called for a nationwide boycott of Target stores after the retailer signed on to a legal brief supporting marriage equality, the chain has released a new advertisement featuring same-sex parents.

While many liberal policy goals have proved elusive during Barack Obama’s presidency, there have been dramatic advances on the issue that once seemed quixotic — the legalization of same-sex marriage. Marriage equality was not a cause was embraced by Obama until late in his first term, yet he is now a fervent supporter.

PHILADELPHIA — Police in Philadelphia continue to investigate a brutal attack on a same-sex couple that left the victims with shattered cheek bones and other facial injuries. Friends and witnesses said there is no question the men were targeted because they are gay.

The Human Rights Campaign on Monday announced it will form a Nebraska chapter to advocate for laws that protect LGBT people in housing, employment and public accommodations in the Cornhusker State. The HRC said its recent survey of LGBT Nebraskans show 57 percent of respondents have called the state home for more than 20 years, more than …

There is a network of American extremists who work tirelessly to undercut LGBT people around the world at every turn.  They spew venomous rhetoric, outrageous theories, and discredited science. Some claim that LGBT people are responsible for the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

INDIANAPOLIS — Same-sex couples hoping to get married in Indiana will have to wait until the U.S. Supreme Court addresses the question of whether gay marriage bans are constitutional.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The attorney general’s office is asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to uphold the state’s gay marriage ban, arguing a county judge was wrong to say it violated the state and U.S. constitutions. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s office on Monday asked justices to uphold the 2004 constitutional amendment and an earlier state law..

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new poll shows support for LGBT marriage equality rising in North Carolina, a little more than two years after the state passed its anti-LGBT constitutional amendment. An Elon University Poll surveyed more than 1,000 North Carolinians and found that 45 percent support gay marriage. Opposition stood at 43 percent. Twelve percent of …

JANESVILLE, Wis. — A 19-year-old Republican candidate for the Wisconsin state Assembly has apologized for describing gays as “fags” in a Christmas day Twiiter post expressing disapproval over a same-sex marriage ruling. Five months before announcing his candidacy, Jacob Dorsey tweeted “fags need 2 leave my favorite state alone” after the …

The number of marriage cases before the Supreme Court keeps climbing, with the Court scheduled to decide which ones to take in just a few weeks. Plus, couples file new briefs in Texas, and appeal last week’s anti-gay ruling from a federal judge in Louisiana. These stories and more in this week’s Marriage News Watch report from Matt Baume at the …

“Paternity Leave,” directed by Matt Riddlehoover, is a romantic comedy slated for release in 2015: “Greg (Jacob York) finds out that he’s pregnant with his partner Ken’s (Charlie David) baby. Dumbstruck by the news, their relationship takes twists and turns through hardship and hilarity, while we’re left wondering if they’re going to make it through the most unexpected…

Last week on “Crosstalk,” Voice of Christian Youth America’s Vic Eliason and Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver connected same-sex marriage in the U.S. to beheadings committed by the terrorist group ISIS. Discussing recent marriage equality legal victories, Staver made his standard prediction that the legalization of same-sex marriage will pave the way for polygamy…

Those of us living in the South are very aware of the multi-generational religious oppression and abuse that many LGBTQ people face coming from our Christian families, churches, and communities. For many LGBTQ people living here our hopes, dreams, and fears are the product of generations of religious traditions and expectations. We know that the religious oppression …

“30 Rock” and “Glee” actor Cheyenne Jackson married his partner, actor and entrepreneur Jason Landau, on Saturday evening. The couple exchanged vows and rings in an interfaith ceremony at a friend’s estate in Encino, California, reports People magazine.

BELGRADE, Serbia — A German man who took part in a gay rights conference suffered life-threatening brain injuries when he was severely beaten in downtown Belgrade on Saturday, Serbian police and gay activists said. The identity of the 27-year-old man has not been released. Jovanka Todorovic, from the Labris gay and lesbian group,

My name is James Alexander. I’m 20 years old and reside in a conservative area of Texas where I was born and raised. Throughout my childhood I could tell that I was different. I was quiet, unsure of myself, socially anxious at most times. Before I even connected the word “gay” with two men liking each other, the other kids already had made it part of their vocabulary and readily let me know that I was.

PHILADELPHIA — Police in Philadelphia are investigating a downtown attack on two gay men that left one with a broken facial bone. Police are investigating the assault blocks from Rittenhouse Square as a potential hate crime.