Glastonbury, Connecticut gay couple George Harasz and Douglas Wirth have chosen to stand trial over child abuse allegations in order to clear their names.

Harasz and Wirth had been raising nine adopted boys alongside two of Harasz’ own biological children with their mother when two of the boys, aged 5 and 15 alleged that they had been abused by the men.

The other children in the home deny that abuse took place but following the allegations all were removed from the couple’s care.

A man who worked for seven years at Rocketown, a Nashville, Tennessee music venue and Christian youth outreach facility, says he was fired for wearing a T-Shirt to work which stated: 'I Support Same-Sex Marriage.'

Wes Breedwall immediately made his firing, and the reason why, public by posting a photo of himself in the T-Shirt on Instagram stating in part: 'Here is a picture to show my support for equality and free speech including social media. Cheers to my friends for having my back through all of this.'

Campaigners are calling on the US government to strip the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of its tax-exempt status.

The Westboro Baptists threatened to picket memorial services for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, which they claim was God’s punishment for the state of Connecticut legalizing same-sex marriage.

Former State Senator Andrew J. McDonald became the first openly gay man to be nominated to the Connecticut Supreme Court on Thursday (27 December).

McDonald, 46, was nominated by Governor Dannel P. Malloy with whom he has worked closely with for two decades including the past two years as Malloy's chief legal counsel.

Torchwood star John Barrowman and spouse Scott Gill wanted to share some holiday cheer with their Twitter followers today (25 December) so they took a photo of their handsome selves and tweeted it along with this message: 'Merry Xmas and love to all of you.'

They were among the gay celebrities who reached out online to share their thoughts and good wishes on Christmas Day.

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson's thoughts were on the families in Connecticut who lost loved ones in a shooting massacre earlier this year.

An American pastor has blamed the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, on schools because they are teaching kids about evolution and ‘how to be a homo’.

Pastor Sam Morris, from Tennessee, says the removal of ‘Christian values’ from American classrooms was to blame for wave of gun murders.

On 14 December, Adam Lanza shot 20 children and six adults dead in a school after killing his mother. He then turned the gun on himself.

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) blamed marriage equality in Connecticut for the tragic shooting spree in Newtown that took 26 lives.

The Church announced that it will picket the funerals of the children with banners saying ‘God Hate Fags’ and other anti-gay hate messages.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, spokesperson of WBC and daughter of its leader, Fred Phelps, tweeted, ‘Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment’.

A far right-wing anti-gay pundit has said 20 young schoolchildren died because God is ‘no longer welcome’ in the classroom.

Referring to the tragic event in Connecticut on Friday (14 December), American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer said it could have been prevented if a prayer for ‘Christian values’ started each school day.

Speaking on his radio show Focal Point, Fischer said: ‘You know the question is going to come up, “where was God? I thought God cared about the little children. Where was God when all this went down?”

A conservative US newspaper has claimed that men who molest younger teenage boys are gay and not paedophiles, and that men who molest girls of the same age are just heterosexual.

The claims were made in an editorial published by Connecticut’s Republican-American newspaper titled ‘Mixed signals in Scout scandal’ defending the Boy Scouts of America’s membership ban on gays and lesbians.

‘Pedophiles are attracted to pre-pubescent children,’ the editorial reads.

A childhood friend of Minnesota Twins pitcher Paul Pavano is being investigated for an alleged extortion plot in which he expected to be compensated for not going public about a relationship he says he and the major leaguer had in high school.

Christian Bedard, 36, had been allegedly posting comments about Pavano on the Facebook page of  the athlete's sister, Michelle DeGennaro, who contacted police.