U.S. Congress

WASHINGTON — Casting Barack Obama as a president run amok, the House voted on Wednesday for a bill that would expedite congressional lawsuits against the chief executive for failure to enforce federal laws.

OKLAHOMA CITY — A Democratic state senator from Oklahoma City says he plans to run for the 5th Congressional District seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. James Lankford.

RALEIGH, N.C. — LGBT North Carolinians reacted swiftly Wednesday to a statement from U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers’ campaign team, which used coded anti-LGBT language to attack Clay Aiken, who earlier announced his candidacy for U.S. Congress.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Thursday introduced legislation to correct the records of service members discharged from the U.S. military solely due to their sexual orientation prior to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, to reflect honorable service and reinstate benefits they would have earned.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Pop singer Clay Aiken, who first made a name for himself as a contestant on “American Idol,” is considering a run for Congress in North Carolina’s 2nd District, a state Democratic Party consultant confirmed on Friday.

Dan Innis’ husband persuaded him to run for the U.S. House. It didn’t matter that Innis, a former business school dean, faced an aggressive Democratic incumbent, GOP colleagues who oppose his right to marry, and history – no Republican ever has been openly gay when first elected to Congress.

WASHINGTON — Freshman U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney plans to marry his long-time partner, who proposed over Christmas.

LOS ANGELES — A majority of Americans in every U.S. congressional district support laws that protect against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, such as the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed last week by the U.S. Senate, according to new research from UCLA’s Williams Institute.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate has approved an extension of a program established by former President George W. Bush to fight AIDS worldwide.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), on Thursday reiterated his opposition to federal legislation to prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

PORTLAND, Maine — When the intensely private U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud laid bare his private life and announced he’s gay, one openly gay congressman joked that the Maine Democrat had never registered on his “gaydar.”

NEW YORK — In Maine, a congressman running for governor came out as gay. In Hawaii, lawmakers prepared for a vote to legalize same-sex marriage. And in the U.S. Senate, seven Republicans joined the Democrats in a landmark vote to ban workplace discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

WASHINGTON — The Senate prepared to push a major, anti-bias gay rights bill past a first, big hurdle Monday, a clear sign of Americans’ greater acceptance of homosexuality nearly two decades after lawmakers narrowly rejected discrimination legislation.

PORTLAND, Maine — A six-term congressman and former paper mill worker hoping to unseat Maine Gov. Paul LePage next year announced that he’s gay – a response to what he called a “whisper campaign” by political opponents hoping to weaken his gubernatorial bid.

WASHINGTON — Gay rights advocates – including both Republicans and Democrats – are newly upbeat about the prospects for Senate passage of a bill that would prohibit employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

WASHINGTON — Legislation that would extend employee benefit programs to cover same-sex domestic partners of federal civilian employees on the same basis as spousal benefits was introduced Thursday in the U.S. House and Senate.

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of 88 Congressional lawmakers, led by U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, is pressing Secretary of State John Kerry to ensure the saftey of American athletes and spectators at the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday reintroduced the Respect for Marriage Act in the U.S. Congress, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

WASHINGTON — U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) on Friday proposed legislation that would ensure gay and lesbian service members who were discharged for no other reason than their sexual orientation would have their military records upgraded to reflect honorable service.

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. — An estimated 100,000 gay and lesbian service members were issued dishonorable or “undesirable” discharges between World War II and 1993 due to their sexual orientation, losing their military benefits as a result.