News (USA)

Meet Sam Putnam of Portland, he plays high school football and baseball, and is the pride and joy of his mother, Jennifer and her partner, Michelle. For Sam, it’s pretty basic — this is his family and he wants them to be valued and treated equally in Maine. See related posts: Maine gay marriage on […]

Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri is defending his decision to speak at a fundraiser for a Massachusetts group that considers homosexuality “destructive” and “an unhealthy practice.” Carcieri said on WPRO Radio on Wednesday that he agreed at the request of a friend to be the keynote speaker at a fund raising banquet for Massachusetts Family […]

Same-sex couples in Vermont began exchanging vows at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday morning, taking advantage of the state’s new marriage equality law. Bill Slimback and Bob Sullivan (pictured) were among the the first same-sex couples to legally marry under the new law that took effect at 12 a.m. September 1. Slimback and Sullivan […]

The Anoka-Hennepin School District reported that two teachers who repeatedly mocked a student they believed was gay are on leave, a district official said Tuesday. Diane Cleveland and Walter Filson were placed on leave within the past week, said Ginny Karbowski, director of career and technical education for the Secondary Technical Education Program (STEP), where […]

Washington state’s Referendum 71, which will give voters a chance to overturn the new “everything but marriage” same-sex domestic partnership law, has moved a step closer to being on the November ballot. The secretary of state’s office ruled Monday that the referendum had 121,486 valid voter signatures, nearly a thousand more than needed to make […]

Vermont’s gay marriage law is set to go into effect on Tuesday, September 1st, and supporters of same-sex marriage already are gearing up for what promises to be an emotional week. But officials are not expecting a rush to the altar. The landscape has changed since 2000, when lawmakers passed the civil union legislation, making […]

A Dallas County jury handed down a 75 year prison sentence Thursday for Bobby Singleton (pictured, on left) for brutally beating and robbing Jimmy Lee Dean (pictured, on right) in what prosecutors say was an anti-gay attack. The jury found Singleton guilty as charged Wednesday of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony punishable by five to […]

The names and addresses of donors to Referendum 71 will not be exempt from public disclosure, the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission ruled Thursday, while another group moved to block the measure entirely. The request to remove the names was made earlier this month by Protect Marriage Washington, the group backing Referendum 71, which seeks […]

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission announced today it has fired the two agents, and their supervisor, who took part in the June raid of a Fort Worth gay bar that resulted in a clash between patrons and law enforcement officials, and leaving one man hospitalized with a serious head injuries. The Commission said agent Christopher […]

In his most definitive comments yet on gay rights, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday he doesn’t believe sexual orientation should be a protected class in the way that race, gender and religion are. “I don’t think we should discriminate against people,” Herbert said during his first news conference since becoming governor two weeks ago. […]