News (USA)

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A pivotal vote Thursday in the Minnesota House positioned that state to become the 12th in the country to allow gay marriages and the first in the Midwest to pass such a law out of its Legislature.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds further public acceptance of gay rights in the United States, in areas ranging from the professional basketball court to the Boy Scouts, as well as the institution of marriage.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Hundreds of people on both sides of the gay marriage issue are expressing their viewpoints at the Minnesota Capitol where the House is expected to cast a historic vote on legislation legalizing same-gender unions.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A gay Minnesota lawmaker leading the push to legalize same-sex weddings in the state told colleagues Thursday that gay couples “contribute to the same Minnesota system as everyone else” and deserve the right to be married.

WASHINGTON — A California congresswoman on Tuesday reintroduced the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act in the U.S. House, a bill that would would lead to an eventual repeal of laws that criminalize exposing others to HIV.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two Boy Scouts councils in Tennessee said Tuesday they will not support a proposal to partially lift the group’s long-standing exclusion of gays.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The leader of the group lobbying to legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota said Wednesday he supports a proposed change to the bill that could make it easier for Republicans to support.

WASHINGTON — Religious leaders said Wednesday that adding a gay rights proposal to immigration legislation could risk their support for the bill, setting up a potential Senate showdown.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A bipartisan group of more than 100 Pennsylvania lawmakers have reintroduced bills in both the state House and Senate that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A bill restricting teenagers’ access to medical and mental health care initially scheduled to be voted on in the North Carolina House of Representatives on Wednesday was taken off the calendar and sent back to the Judiciary Committee.