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May 19, 2013

18 year old Florida schoolgirl Kaitlyn Hunt was kicked off her basketball team, expelled from school and is now being prosecuted after her 15 year old girlfriend’s parents complained about their relationship

An 18 year old Florida schoolgirl is being treated like a pedophile after the parents of her 15 year old girlfriend went to school authorities and the police.

Sebastian River High School student Kaitlyn Hunt was charged with two felony counts of ‘lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 – 16 years of age’ in February over her consensual relationship with her unnamed girlfriend who was a member of the same school basketball team.

May 10, 2013

Notoriously anti-gay Charlie Crist has publicly endorsed same-sex marriage in Florida, where both gay marriage and civil unions are constituonally banned

Former Florida governor Charlie Crist has announced his support of gay marriage.

The Republican-turned-Democrat took to his Facebook page this week to say he supports marriage equality in the swing vote state.

Crist wrote: ‘Some great news: On Tuesday, Delaware became the 11th state to allow marriage equality. And just a few days ago, Rhode Island adopted a similar measure, which followed victories last fall in Maine, Maryland and Washington.

May 10, 2013

Notoriously anti-gay Charlie Crist has publicly endorsed same-sex marriage in Florida, where both gay marriage and civil unions are constituonally banned

Former Florida governor Charlie Crist has announced his support of gay marriage.

The Republican-turned-Democrat took to his Facebook page this week to say he supports marriage equality in the swing vote state.

Crist wrote: ‘Some great news: On Tuesday, Delaware became the 11th state to allow marriage equality. And just a few days ago, Rhode Island adopted a similar measure, which followed victories last fall in Maine, Maryland and Washington.

April 18, 2013

South Florida Gay News staff at odds after featuring Lambert

A public war of words has emerged among the staff at the South Florida Gay News after it featured an interview with Adam Lambert that was so popular it crashed the paper's website.

Publisher Norm Kent wrote in a column this week that the story was done while he was on leave and seeing it 'made my partner and me puke.'

April 17, 2013

'Seeing him on the cover of our newspaper a few weeks ago made my partner and me puke'

The publisher of South Florida Gay News says he went 'ballistic' when he found out his staff had featured an interview with Adam Lambert on the cover of the newspaper while he was on leave.

The story, which broke the news that Lambert and his boyfriend had broken up, went viral and caused the paper's website to repeatedly crash due to the surge in traffic.

April 11, 2013

'I’m really, really thrilled to be as connected to the community as I can be'

After Adam Lambert burst onto the scene in 2008 on American Idol, he came out publicly as a gay man on the cover of Rolling Stone.

But he just wanted to perform and wasn't comfortable taking on such titles as 'gay role model' or 'gay activist.'

That has changed.

April 5, 2013

'We’ve had an amazing couple of years together. Things have just run their course'

Adam Lambert is a single man again.

The Grammy nominee and American Idol runner up says he and Sauli Koskinen, a Finnish entertainment reporter, television host and radio personality, have split up.

'It’s been kind of on its way out in the last couple of months,' Lambert tells South Florida Gay News.

April 5, 2013

Bill Nelson, Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Donnelly are latest to change position

A trio of Democrats in the US Senate have announced their support of gay marriage in the past two days leaving just four holdouts in the party.

Bill Nelson of Florida, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana are the latest to be added to a list of marriage equality supporters that has grown rapidly in the past two weeks.

The surge in support has come as the US Supreme Court considers cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8.

April 3, 2013

A 22-year-old gay man from Florida who's entire life is based around mermaids is the subject of a new TLC documentary

A gay man in Florida does not just love mermaids - it’s his life.

Eric Ducharme, 22, is the subject of the latest TLC documentary ‘My Crazy Obsession’.

In the trailer for the episode, he is seen swimming in a natural spring while wearing a fish tail of his own creation.

He says: ‘My name is Eric Ducharme, and I’m obsessed with mermaids.

‘I eat, breathe and sleep mermaids. It’s a lifestyle - it’s my lifestyle. It’s the path in life that I have chosen.

March 17, 2013

The Puerto Rican featherweight thanks ‘his LGBT community’ after defeating Mexican boxer Aaron Martinez 

Openly gay pro boxer Orlando Cruz has won his second match since coming out as a gay athlete.

Yesterday evening at a scheduled match in Florida, Orlando ‘The Phenomenon’ Cruz defeated Aaron ‘The Bomber’ Martinez in a 6th-round technical knock-out.

Cruz has amassed a massive gay and straight following since coming out last October.

In the ring Cruz wore a boxing kilt with the colors of the Puerto Rican flag in the front, and the rainbow colors of gay pride in the back.

March 15, 2013

'I respect people who disagree with me on certain things, but that means they have to respect me too'

US Senator Marco Rubio, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, said Thursday (14 March) that being against gay marriage doesn't make him a bigot.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, Rubio said: 'Just because I believe states should have the right to define marriage in a traditional way does not make me a bigot.'

He also said he feels judged for some other positions including being anti-abortion and for not buying into the science behind climate change.

March 7, 2013

'I literally was like talking to the ladies about their shoes'

Since coming out publicly last summer, Anderson Live! has featured a far looser and far gayer host in Anderson Cooper.

The daytime talk show host's sexuality was off-limits during the show's first season but now not anymore.

On Thursday (7 March), Cooper shared the horror of going to a strip club in Tampa, Florida, with a group of straight male friends more than 20 years ago.

'I had to go to one once for a bachelor party when I was in college and I literally was like talking to the ladies about their shoes,' he told guest co-host Lisa Rinna.

February 28, 2013

World Out Games 2017 has been awarded to Miami Beach

Reykjavík or Miami Beach? It’s a tough choice but that’s the decision that the World Out Games have been grappling with today at their meeting in Antwerp.

After site visits to both cities, delegates from as far afield as Los Angeles, Mexico, Manchester, Australia and Tonga gathered together for final presentations, deliberations, and a vote - which has ultimately gone the way of Miami Beach.

February 27, 2013

A 16-year-old US student was banned from participating in the National Day Of Silence, aiming to combat homophobic bullying

A lesbian teen is suing a Florida school district for suspending her for participating in an event raising awareness of LGBT bullying.

Last April, Amber Hatcher, 16, requested to participate in the National Day of Silence, a gay and lesbian supporters education network (GLSEN) sponsored event.

On a day every April, students remain quiet for the entire day to raise awareness of homophobic bullying and harassment.

February 26, 2013

Scores of prominent republicans sign legal brief to US supreme court in support of gay marriage and opposing H8 and DOMA

At least 75 leading Republicans signed a brief to be submitted to the US supreme court aruging that gay marriage is a constitutional right.

According to The New York Times, who got a copy of the document, signatories include top advisers to former president George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of congress.

February 25, 2013

British man says he had to steal thousands of pounds for a wife who discovered his gay chatline habit

A British gay man who claims he was being blackmailed by his wife has gone to jail for stealing thousands from his employer.

Christopher Brown, 55, will be jailed for two years, and must pay £4800  ($7300, €5500) in costs.

The theft was discovered after an internal audit at the luxury goods company Dawson's, where Brown is employed.

Brown paid 56 company checks into his bank account, and claims he faced was blackmailed by his wife after she discovered he was using gay chatlines.

February 16, 2013

A Cincinnati man who strangled and stabbed a man he met at a gay bar in 1985 will be executed in 2015 after an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that his execution can go ahead

A man who murdered a gay man in Cincinnati in 1985 will die in 2015 after spending thirty years on death row.

Robert Van Hook met David Self in a Cincinnati gay bar and invited him back to his apartment where he strangled and then stabbed him to death before fleeing the state for Florida.

Van Hook later claimed to be temporarily insane at the time he killed Self but did not deny killing him.

When that failed he appealed the verdict, arguing that his lawyers had failed to adequately represent him.

February 7, 2013

The US Senator from Florida said that immigration reform will be 'difficult enough as is' without considering protections for same-sex binational couples

US Senator Marco Rubio hopes LGBT family rights won't become 'a central issue' in the nation's immigration reform plan.

The Republican senator from Florida said in an interview with Buzzfeed Brews: 'The immigration issue has so many landmines and pitfalls that it's going to be hard enough to do, as is.'

Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, also said: 'I think if that issue becomes a central issue in the debate, it's just going to make it harder to get it done because there's going to be a lot of strong feelings about it on both sides.'

February 6, 2013

George Kalogridis joined company in 1971 busing tables at Orlando resort

Walt Disney World has a new president - and he's openly gay.

George Kalogridis began his new position as head of the Orlando, Florida, resort last Friday (1 February).

He's now the top boss of approximately 66,000 employees at a resort where he began working back in 1971 as a busboy at one of the theme park's resorts. He was just 17 and was hired before the then brand-new theme park had even opened.

January 17, 2013

Florida Family Association targeted the singer's anti-bullying and suicide prevention efforts at the Born Brave Bus Tour

Lady Gaga is used to anti-gay protests, but even the bisexual pop icon was probably not expecting an extremist right-wing group to fly an anti-gay banner over one of her concerts.

Florida Family Association welcomed the superstar to Tacoma, Washington, on 14 January by paying a small airplane to fly an ad reading ‘Not Born This Way’ over thousands of fans.

The FFA says it was specifically targeting the Born Brave Bus Tour, a space set up before the show for people aged 13 to 25 to find resources on anti-bullying, suicide prevention and mental health services.

January 7, 2013

The annual LGBT aquatics championships will be drenching the state of Washington in 2013

International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics (IGLA) is the organization that brings the world’s LGBT aquatics clubs together, sharing information and knowledge as well as staging an annual championships for LGBT competitors in swimming, diving, open water, synchronized swimming, and water polo.

We caught up with Jason Stone, head of the organizing committee for IGLA2013 to take a look at plans for this year’s event which will be held in the US city of Seattle.

December 28, 2012

Gay Star News travels the world to find the best places to ring in the New Year

If you're looking for somewhere a little more exciting to spend New Year's Eve than your local boozer, then take a look at the celebrations the rest of the world has to offer.

There are concerts, fireworks and parties going on all over the world, each one with its own unique and exciting selling points.

December 27, 2012

Miami ceremony to be performed by MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts

Sam Champion, weather anchor of ABC's Good Morning America, officially married Rubem Robierb in New York City last Friday (21 December) but that was only the first step in the wedding march for the couple.

They have headed down to Miami, Florida, where they will have a New Year's Eve ceremony with a more festive, party atmosphere.

Miami is Robierb's hometown and it was at a New Year's Eve party that the couple first met.

The ceremony will be conducted by MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts, a fellow newlywed.

December 27, 2012

Charles Bass of New Hampshire wants Defense of Marriage Act repealed

Already defeated for reelection, US Congressman Charles Bass of New Hampshire became the third Republican in the US House of Representatives to break ranks with the party by supporting gay marriage.

Bass has agreed to co-sponsor the the Respect for Marriage Act which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that currently bans federal benefits from going to married same-sex couples in the US.