(CNN) — Jim Scales and William Tasker have been a couple for 35 years, but only on Tuesday were they able to legally marry, thanks to Maryland’s new same-sex marriage law, which went into effect with the new year. Maryland was among three states this past November where voters approved laws allowing same-sex marriages. At…
(CNN) — A Texas judge denied a Planned Parenthood request for a temporary restraining order Monday that would have extended the organization’s ability to participate in the state’s revamped Women’s Health Program. A law going into effect Tuesday requires the state to fully fund women’s health clinics with the exception of those that are affiliated…
CNN — A chorus of whoops and cheers greeted Steven Bridges and Michael Snell as they exited City Hall in Portland, Maine, early Saturday as the first same-sex couple to wed under a new law. Supporters of the law allowing same-sex marriage — passed by a referendum in November — jumped up and down, flashed…
Anti-gay deputy court clerks in St Mary’s County, Md., will stop performing marriages when same-sex marriage becomes legal in the state next week. Pink News reported that Joan Williams, clerk of the St Mary’s Circuit Court, told the Washington Examiner that some of her employees are opposed to equal marriage for religious reasons. As a result…
Mexico has become the first country in North America to lift the ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, according to the Medical Daily. Instead, the new regulations will ask prospective donors to recount their sexual history rather than their sexual orientation. Men who have sex with men (MSM) will be eligible to…
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A year ago, President Barack Obama was under fire. Today, he is being feted. In just 12 months, the 51-year-old lawyer and former U.S. senator raised by a single mother went from a beleaguered candidate for re-election — his record and signature health care law under daily attack by Republican rivals —…
(CNN) – Lawmakers in Moscow moved Friday to ban Americans from adopting Russian children, passing a bill that imposes a series of sanctions on U.S. interests, state media reported. Russia is one of the top countries of origin for international adoptions in the United States. The State Duma, Russia‘s lower house of parliament, adopted the…
WASHINGTON – Today the leaders of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organizations called on the House Republican leadership to stop funding the legal defense of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA forbids the federal government from recognizing the marriages of lawfully wedded same-sex couples, legally married in states…
HONG KONG (CNN) – On Friday morning, a man walked through the entrance of an elementary school and, without warning, began ruthlessly cutting down children at the school. Before he was subdued, nearly two dozen were hit. While it sounds like the horrific massacre in Connecticut, this attack took place about 8,000 miles away in…
For the first time, crimes directed against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation are the second most frequent hate crime committed after crimes based on race, according to the 2011 Hate Crimes statistics released yesterday by the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Surpassing crimes committed on the basis on…
