News (USA)

TRENTON, N.J. — A bill has been introduced that could make New Jersey the nation’s second state to impose limits on gay-to-straight “reparative,” or “conversion” therapy.

Rhode Island state Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed (D-Democrat) said Monday that, despite her opposition to same-sex marriage, she expects the issue will be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee in the upcoming legislative session if the House advances a bill.

LGBT advocates in Virginia are rallying around an anti-discrimination bill ahead of the state’s 30-day 2013 legislative session that begins on Jan. 9, but Virginia’s history with LGBT rights and the language of the bill has attracted detractors from within the community.

CINCINNATI, Ohio — A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the University of Toledo’s decision to fire a high-level human resources administrator, who wrote a newspaper opinion column challenging the idea that LGBT people deserve the same civil rights protections as members of racial minority groups.

As lawmakers prepare to bring same-sex marriage legislation up for vote in the Illinois General Assembly early next month, a group of conservative religious organizations have formed a coalition against the bill.

The final version of major Pentagon budget legislation includes watered-down “conscience” language similar to the anti-gay provision found in the House version of the bill, according to a top House Democrat on defense issues.

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — The parents of 14-year-old David Phan, an openly gay student who shot and killed himself in front of horrified classmates at on November 29, are speaking out and accusing school officials of “mishandling” the situation that led to their son’s death.

Leaders of ten of the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights advocacy organizations on Tuesday called on the U.S. House Republican leadership to stop funding the legal defense of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

HELENA, Mont. — The Helena, Mont., City Commission on Monday voted unanimously to approve an ordinance to prohibit discrimination in housing, employment and many kinds of public accommodations, based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa court has ordered the state’s Department of Public Health to give a married lesbian couple an accurate death certificate for their son, Brayden, who was stillborn in October 2011.