Bea Arthur left $300,000 in her will to a New York organization that aids homeless gay youth, the New York Daily News reports. The Ali Fornay Center provides services to more than 1,000 each year, and is planning to buy a building to house 12 young people – and name it in honor of the […]

An experimental treatment strategy involving a vaccine that is tailor-made from an HIV-positive person’s virus and immune system cells can reduce viral load and improve the function of the immune system, according to a presentation at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 conference in Paris on October 21 that was announced by the vaccine’s developer, Argos Therapeutics, […]

The Kansas City Chiefs have barred running back Larry Johnson from practice and all other team activities as the club and the NFL look into comments he made Monday to reporters in the locker room. According to multiple reports, Johnson — in telling reporters to get away from him — used a slur that referred […]

Oscar-winning writer-director Paul Haggis has severed ties with the Church of Scientology, citing in part the church’s support for Proposition 8, the ballot measure last year that banned same-sex marriage in California. Long known for his humanitarian and civil liberties work, the Canadian-born director (“Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby”) resigned from the organization in a […]

Washington Blade. President Obama intends to sign into law Wednesday a long-sought hate crimes protection measure as part of a major defense bill, according to an administration source. The president plans to pen his name to the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill, which includes a provision known as the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd […]

Same-sex marriage will be the subject of two separate public hearings Monday in the District of Columbia, with hundreds of witnesses expected to testify. The D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics is scheduled to hold a hearing Monday morning on a voter initiative aimed at banning same-sex marriage. Bishop Harry Jackson, a Maryland minister who […]

From Examiner.com: During a concert earlier this month at the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas, Mariah Carey revealed that she is more than just okay with gay marriage. She also wants to celebrate it. Video captured of the moment that everyone is talking about reveals Carey openly embracing a gay couple on stage […]

With a week and a half to go before Election Day, the two campaigns in the battle over gay marriage continue to haul in large sums of money from donors both inside and outside of Maine. No on 1-Protect Maine Equality has raised more than $4 million so far — including about $1.4 million since […]

Legally married gay couples won’t show up as such in the official once-a-decade tally in 2010, Census bureau representatives said Thursday. Citing “statistical problems related to the development of the 2010 census form and the evolving legal state of same-sex relationships,” Census officials have concluded that including married gay couples in the overall snapshot of […]

AUGUSTA, Maine — A Washington, D.C.-based organization under investigation for its financial role in the campaign to repeal Maine’s gay marriage law has fired back with a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of a state election law, reports the Bangor Daily News. The National Organization for Marriage is the largest contributor to the Question 1 ballot […]

From The Seattle Times: Apparently emboldened by recent legal victories — including a case being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court — groups opposed to Washington’s domestic-partnership law and working to defeat Referendum 71 are suing again in federal court, this time to lift the state’s limits on campaign contributions. With some major funding in […]

The Governor of New York state has said he expects to sign a bill legalizing gay marriage in the coming weeks. David Paterson told a dinner arranged by the Empire State Pride Agenda Thursday night that he expects the state senate to pass the legislation soon. The bill was delayed in the senate back in […]

The U.S. Senate cleared a historic hate crimes bill Thursday for President Obama’s signature, approving new federal penalties for attacks on gay men and lesbians.

New York’s Gov. David Paterson said Wednesday he wants to put a bill to legalize same-sex marriage to a vote during a special session within weeks, reports AP. The governor said the measure would be part of unfinished business from the regular session that ended this summer in a tumultuous coup in the Senate, later […]

Rosie O’Donnell has confirmed to Lifeline Live that she and partner Kelli Carpenter, 42, are on the rocks. In an interview at her Nyack, N.Y., compound Tuesday, USA TODAY’s Ann Oldenburg asked if the two had split — she has been hinting at it in her blog — and O’Donnell didn’t deny it, saying, “We’re […]

Senior Navy leaders handed a career-ending letter of censure Wednesday to the chief who oversaw the prolonged hazing and sexual taunting of members of a Navy dog-handling unit in Bahrain. Senior Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint was returned from an overseas assignment and will be reassigned to administrative duties at a base in Virginia until […]

In case you missed Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night, here’s her look at Maine’s marriage battle and its similarities to California’s Proposition 8, and interview with Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for Maine’s “No on 1” campaign. Maine’s gay marriage law was supposed to go into effect on September 12, but was put on hold when […]

A federal lawmaker is touting an adoption anti-discrimination bill he recently introduced as a way to find more homes for children living in the welfare system. U.S. Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) has introduced the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which would restrict federal funds for states that discriminate in adoption or foster programs on […]

Things went gay on Monday night’s episode of “Gossip Girl” as Chuck Bass, played by Ed Westwick, locked lips with another guy. But for those of you who only tuned in to see Chuck Bass kiss a dude, you may have felt disappointed. The kiss barely happens — there’s no passion, finesse, or hangtime. Truth […]

In a rare move, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an order preventing Washington State from releasing the names of more than 120,000 people who signed petitions seeking a voter referendum on whether to give same-sex couples most of the same rights as married couples. The cerendum 71 on the November ballot should continue to be […]