News

The man accused of the brutal murder of a gay teenager in Puerto Rico last November pleaded guilty on Wednesday and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Juan José Martínez Matos, who had been scheduled to go on trial Monday for the murder of Jorge Steven López Mercado, confessed to the crime during a […]

The parents of an 11-year-old student in Rancho Rio, NM, are planning a civil rights lawsuit against their daughter’s school for failing to provide her treatment following a playground accident because, they say, she has “two moms.” On February 26, Jenna Bissell says she sat in her fifth-grade class at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary […]

Under a new ruling by New York’s highest court this week, same-sex parents are guaranteed consideration for custody or visitation in the event of divorce or death. Previously, the non-biological partner had these rights, but only if that parent legally adopted the shared child. But the court limited its rulings, and declined to resolve two […]

An Iowa state lawmaker said Thursday that he wants to be “vigilant” and keep state agencies from writing rules that extend new benefits to gay couples. His latest target: camping rules in the state park system. State Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, told Radio Iowa that he wants Iowa Department of Natural Resources officials to explain […]

Lithuania’s first gay pride parade can go ahead as planned on Saturday, an appeals court has ruled. Earlier this week, a lower court outlawed the parade after the chief prosecutor argued that anti-gay groups could cause violence. As in many other former Soviet republics, gay rights is a sensitive issue in Lithuania, which has repeatedly […]

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are urging Congress to hold off on repealing the ban on openly gay service members until the Defense Department wraps up its yearlong review of how to implement a change. In a letter sent Friday to Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), […]

Homosexuality is no longer a sexual deviation on par with child molestation that needs to be cured — at least in the eyes of the California Assembly. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the lower house adopted a measure Monday to strike a line of state code that directed the Department of Mental Health to […]

The Illinois state House on Friday unanimously approved a bill to prevent homophobic and transphobic bullying. The measure covers bullying specifically targeted at students because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, among other categories. It was introduced just eight weeks ago, and previously passed in the state Senate on March 24. The Prevent School […]

Two teenagers charged in an attack on a gay classmate in eastern Kentucky have been released from jail. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that 18-year-old Ashley N. Sams and 18-year-old Corrine M. Schwab were released Wednesday after posting $25,000 bonds each. According to State Police, Sams, Schwab, and a third juvenile took 18-year-old Cheyenne Williams to […]

Six U.S. military veterans chained themselves to the White House fence Tuesday afternoon in protest of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prohibits gays and lesbians from opening serving in the U.S. military. Participants, who were removed from the fence and arrested around 1 p.m., included Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo, who […]