Marriage Equality

Four gay advocacy groups that include Mormons and former church members released a joint statement Friday disagreeing with points made earlier this week in a speech on freedom of religion by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The statement called the church’s […]

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Francisco refused Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit challenging California’s Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, and ordered a trial on whether the measure denies fundamental rights to gays and lesbians, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker (pictured) has said repeatedly […]

From The New York Times: ALBANY — New York’s highest court heard arguments in two cases on Tuesday that could have profound effects on the battle over same-sex marriage. The cases, which the court, the New York State Court of Appeals, is considering jointly, concern relatively narrow executive and administrative orders in recent years that […]

WASHINGTON, DC — President Barack Obama, struggling to keep promises made during his presidential campaign, renewed his pledge to end the military’s ban on openly gay service members and once again called for repeal the Defense Of Marriage Act, as he appeared at a fundraising dinner for the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy group on Saturday […]

From the Washington Post: Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill said it appears unlikely that Congress will block a bill to be introduced Tuesday that would allow same-sex marriages in the District. D.C. Council leaders have vowed to expedite the bill and said they hope to put it to a final vote before Christmas. But […]

Iowans are almost evenly divided about whether they would vote for or against a constitutional amendment to end marriage for same-sex couples, according to a new poll by the Des Moines Register. Forty-one percent say they would vote for a ban, and 40 percent say they would vote to continue gay marriage. The rest either […]

BOSTON — Justice Department lawyers are reluctantly defending the federal law that prevents recognition of same-sex marriages, making their legal arguments in a Boston court while pointing out that the Obama administration opposes the measure, the Boston Globe reports. On Friday, Justice attorneys asked a federal judge in Boston to dismiss a lawsuit that claims […]

In a new poll released Friday by the polling organization Research 2000 and the political Web site dailykoz.com, 48 percent of those surveyed said they’d vote to repeal the law and 46 percent said they would vote to keep it on the books. With a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points, the […]

House Democrats are mobilizing around a new bill that would overturn the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman and relieved states of recognizing same-sex marriage performed in other states. Leading the effort is Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), who said that when the law was signed […]

Opponents of same-sex marriage launched a television campaign Tuesday, two weeks behind supporters, in a contentious debate over whether to repeal Maine’s new marriage law. A no vote on the November ballot referendum question means a vote to support the law as passed while a yes vote opposes same-sex marriage and would support repealing the […]