News (USA)

President Obama on Friday called an end to the 22-year ban on travel to the United States by people tested positive for HIV, fulfilling a promise he made to gay advocates and acting to eliminate a restriction he said was “rooted in fear rather than fact.” Obama made the announcement as he signed the fourth […]

Washington state’s slow-but-steady approach to increasing rights and benefits to gay and lesbian couples hit its first snag just as the three-year process appeared to be complete. After lawmakers passed the state’s first domestic partnership bill in 2007, and then expanded it a year later, they completed the package with the so-called “everything but marriage” […]

MSNBC. Though the Obama administration calls the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) discriminatory, the Justice Department nonetheless is defending the law in a court filing today in Massachusetts. The state has challenged the law, which denies federal marriage benefits to same-sex couples who are nonetheless legally married under state law. Massachusetts officials say the […]

Rachel Maddow spoke with Maine’s Governor John Baldacci Thursday night about the attempt to repeal Maine’s same-sex marriage law, enacted in May, but up for a vote in next Tuesday’s election. Not too long ago, Baldacci stood against gay marriage, but has since had a change of heart, saying “civil union is not equal to […]

It’s been more than 10 years since the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was kidnapped, brutally beaten and left to die tied to a fence on a freezing night in the Wyoming wilderness.

Via The Daily Dish, from Andrew Sullivan at TheAtlantic.com The anti-gay forces in Maine are ramping up the “gay conspiracy to get your kids” angle in the latest wave of ads. The pro-gay forces continue on the high road. They are, in a way, almost poignant examples of the politics of fear and the politics […]

SFGate.com: Californians, in particular, are watching Maine’s same sex marriage vote closely. And some, like Demi Espinoza, Daniel Shad and Gabe Gonzalez, care so passionately about the issue that they’re giving up their vacation time to volunteer in Maine to preserve gay marriage there. Each is an organizer with Equality California and they’re helping get […]

The new top federal prosecutor in Seattle knows the significance her role carries for many people: she’s the nation’s first openly gay U.S. attorney. Gay rights activists say her appointment reflects a growing acceptance in the U.S. as well as the attitude of President Barack Obama’s administration. Earlier this month, Obama nominated an openly gay […]

An experimental treatment strategy involving a vaccine that is tailor-made from an HIV-positive person’s virus and immune system cells can reduce viral load and improve the function of the immune system, according to a presentation at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 conference in Paris on October 21 that was announced by the vaccine’s developer, Argos Therapeutics, […]

Washington Blade. President Obama intends to sign into law Wednesday a long-sought hate crimes protection measure as part of a major defense bill, according to an administration source. The president plans to pen his name to the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill, which includes a provision known as the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd […]