News (USA)

The Nevada secretary of state’s office will take applications starting Monday from both gay and straight couples who want to take advantage of Nevada’s new domestic partners law.

The second trial gets underway Monday in the 2008 hate crime attack on Dallas resident Jimmy Lee Dean (pictured). Dean, 43, was hospitalized for 10 days after the attack in July 2008 by Jonathan Gunter and Bobby Singleton. Dean has undergone multiple reconstructive surgeries since then, although medical procedures have been unsuccessful in restoring his […]

Sirius XM Radio personality Michelangelo Signorile and Log Cabin Republican spokesman Charles Moran discussed President Obama’s campaign promises and gay rights positions on CNN today. Kicking off the segment, CNN anchor Don Lemon played clips of Obama referring to himself as a “fierce advocate” and champion for LGBT rights. Moran’s opening statement challenged Obama’s advocacy, […]

New Jersey is shaping up as the next battleground for gay marriage as advocates for and against begin recruiting volunteers and calling lawmakers in preparation for a major public debate later this year. Lawmakers are expected to debate a same-sex marriage bill during the lame-duck period between the November 3 election and start of a […]

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Friday that he refuses to defend a new law that grants gay and lesbian couples spousal benefits such as hospital visitation, claiming lawmakers went against voters’ decision not to extend such privileges. Van Hollen believes the state’s new domestic partnership law, which took effect August 3, is unconstitutional. […]

The Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC), a leading civil rights panel in the state, has voted in favor of a resolution supporting gay marriage and to formally oppose any constitutional amendment that would overturn the decision. “The ICRC supports the unanimous Iowa Supreme Court decision on civil marriage equality for all adults and opposes efforts […]

The City of West Hollywood plans to honor the marriages of gay and lesbian couples with a plaque inscribed with a quote from Nelson Mandela, the Los Angeles Times has reported. The bronze marker will be installed in West Hollywood Park on September 8, a site where many gay weddings were held when it was […]

A 15-year-old Michigan boy says two other teenagers beat him because he is gay, and two advocacy groups spoke out this week against the beating. The attack on Steven Harmon on August 13 is being called a hate crime by his family. Investigators say Steven was punched repeatedly by two teenagers in a parking lot […]

Gay marriage supporters in Maine began running a television advertisement statewide Thursday, featuring gay and straight Mainers talking about the importance of equality. It is the first television advertisement in an anticipated referendum on Maine’s gay marriage law. Maine’s gay marriage law was scheduled to take effect on September 11, but it’s been sidetracked as […]

A federal judge on Wednesday set a January 11, 2010 date for the highly anticipated trial in the legal challenge to California’s voter-approved Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage. The judge, Vaughn R. Walker of Federal District Court in San Francisco, said arguments would begin then over the fate of Prop 8, which Californians […]