News (USA)

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Coeur d’Alene officials are considering joining three other Idaho cities in outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

SALINA, Kan. — Six months after residents in Salina, Kan., voted to repeal anti-discrimination protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation, the city’s new mayor has joined a national group of mayors who support same-sex marriage.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia city council on Thursday approved a landmark LGBT equality bill that provides tax incentives to private employers who extend insurance to the same-sex partners of their employees, and strengthens legal rights and protections for LGBT citizens.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon church says it welcomes the Boy Scouts of America’s latest proposal to lift the gay ban for youth members but continue to exclude gays as adult leaders.

YORK, Pa. — Prom court voting is over, and with prom night just days away, one senior at Red Lion Area Senior High School in York, Pa., is angry over an arbitrary decision by the school’s principal that left him excluded from the prom court election.

KENT, Wash. — Police in Kent, Wash., say they have arrested a man who used popular gay dating and cell phone apps to set up dates with gay men at remote locations and then robbed them at gunpoint.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — An Orono, Minn., businessman angling to be the next governor of Minnesota, says he supports civil unions for gay couples but wouldn’t back same-sex marriage if faced with a bill legalizing it.

Phone banks, an army of volunteers and alliances with organized labor, business leaders and religious clergy propelled gay marriage to victory in Rhode Island this week, a savvy and coordinated strategy that relied on growing public support and old-fashioned bare-knuckle politic

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut lawmakers are seeking to restore state benefits to gay and lesbian veterans discharged under the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. On Wednesday, the Senate voted 34-0 in favor of legislation making veterans eligible for state benefits if they’ve been denied federal benefits solely because of their sexual orientation. The […]

WASHINGTON — The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was reintroduced in both chambers of Congress on Thursday. The measure would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.