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May 13, 2013
Minnesota State Senate passes gay marriage bill by a close vote of 37-30

Becomes the 12th state in the US to pass marriage equality

After more than four hours of debate, the Minnesota State Senate passed a bill that will make their state the 12th in the US to make gay marriage legal.

The bill passed by a margin of 37-30.

Minnesota is the first state legislature in the Midwest to pass marriage equality as gay marriages became legal in Iowa through the courts. Governor Mark Dayton will sign the bill into law on the steps of the capitol on Tuesday (14 May).

May 9, 2013
Minnesota on way to be 12th gay marriage state with House vote

Minnesota's House of Representatives will vote on gay marriage on Thursday, with Democrats hopeful the bill will pass

Minnesota could become the 12th US state to legalize gay marriage when the House of Representatives vote on the matter on Thursday (9 May).

House speaker Paul Thissen said he believed the bill has the 68 supporting votes needed to pass, even if no Republicans vote for it, as they have indicated.

'We are confident we have the votes to take the bill up this week,' said House majority leader Erin Murphy, MSNBC reports.

May 7, 2013
Delaware State Senate passes gay marriage bill in 12-9 vote, governor quickly signs into law

State now the 11th in US to have marriage equality

The Delaware State Senate on Tuesday (7 May) passed a marriage equality bill in a 12-9 vote clearing the way for same-sex marriages to begin in the state this summer.

The senate chamber erupted in cheers after the vote which took place after three hours of heated rhetoric on both sides.

Similar legislation had already been approved by the House of Representatives which allowed Governor Jack Markell, an outspoken supporter of gay marriage, to quickly sign the bill in to law.

May 2, 2013
Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee happily signs gay marriage bill into law

There are now 10 US states plus District of Columbia with marriage equality

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee enthusiastically signed gay marriage into law at a  statehouse ceremony Thursday evening (2 May).

Now all of the New England states allow gay marriage. The first weddings in Rhode Island could occur on 1 August when the new law will take effect.

Chafee was surrounded by hundreds of supporters of the legislation as he signed the bill. After doing so, he gave a thumbs up to the cheering crowd.

April 22, 2013
Delaware House to vote on marriage bill tomorrow

 Marriage Bill HB75 will get a vote in the Delaware House

Tomorrow (23 April) Delaware's House of Representatives will vote on a gay marriage bill.

The advocacy group Equality Delaware made the announcement on 19 April. Bill HB75 was approved by the House Administration Committee, by a 4-1 vote. The next day, 18 April, the legislation was sent to the full House for debate. 

April 15, 2013
Anti-gay Republican delegation to attend Thatcher’s funeral

Marsha Blackburn, John Boehner, George Holding and Michele Bachmann form an anti-gay Republican delegation attending Lady Thatcher’s funeral

Four anti-gay Republican politicians form a delegation that will attend Lady Thatcher’s funeral on Wednesday (17 April).

The delegation is lead by two anti-gay Republican members of the US Congress.

John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives, who is a staunch opponent of gay marriage.

As well as Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, who spearheaded an attempt to overturn marriage equality in Washington, D.C. and co-chaired the committee that drafted the 2012 national Republican platform, considered the most antigay in history.

April 9, 2013
Montana state Democrat says she had to resist punching Republican colleague over anti-gay comments

Montana state Democrat Amanda Curtis says she had to resist crossing the floor to punch a Republican colleague over his offensive arguments in defense of keeping homosexuality a technical felony in the state

Montana state Democrat Amanda Curtis said that comments by a Republican colleague who was arguing to retain homosexuality as a technical felony under state law made her so angry she felt like she wanted to cross the floor to punch him.

The Michigan state House of Representatives is currently debating legislation which would repeal a state law which makes homosexuality a technical crime even though the law has been rendered inoperable by the US Supreme Court.

March 27, 2013
Supreme Court justices raise serious doubts about DOMA, could overturn law

Ruth Bader Ginsburg says law is like telling states there is 'full marriage and skim milk marriage'

The justices of the US Supreme Court raised major doubts today about the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act during its second hearing in two days on gay marriage.

Journalists who watched the proceedings immediately began tweeting that it appears that DOMA, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, has the five votes needed to be struck down.

March 21, 2013
Feminism turns people gay, warns Brazil’s human rights boss

Marco Feliciano, Brazil’s human rights boss, claimed that if women achieve gender equality, the traditional family will collapse and society will ‘become gay’

Marco Feliciano, Brazil’s human rights boss, warned that gender equality could undermine women’s roles as mothers and turn society ‘gay’.

Congressman Feliciano, the newly elected chair of Brazil’s House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights and Minorities (CDHM), was quoted yesterday (20 March) in O Globo, as making this statement in a recently published book.

March 20, 2013
More than 100 members of congress pressure Obama to sign executive order for ENDA

Act prohibits federal contractors from LGBT discrimination in workplace

President Barack Obama is facing increased pressure to take matters into his hands when it comes to the long-stalled Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

Obama received a letter on Wednesday (20 March) from 110 members of the US Congress asking him to sign ENDA into law by executive order rather than hoping a Republican-led House of Representatives will ever pass it.

Obama has said previously that he supports ENDA but would like to see it passed by Congress in much the same way the end of the anti-gay military policy Don't Ask Don't Tell was handled.

March 18, 2013
Brazilians protest against anti-gay racist pastor turned human rights boss

Protests spread across Brazil against the newly elected chair of Brazil's human rights committee who thinks gays are 'sick', and blacks are ‘cursed’

Protests spread across 43 cities against Marco Feliciano, the newly elected chair of Brazil’s House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights and Minorities (CDHM).

The protests which have been held on Saturday and Sunday (16 and 17 March) as well as the previous weekend, demanded that the chair, a renowned racist and homophobic deputy and evangelical pastor, be forced to leave his post immediately.

March 17, 2013
US House Speaker not changing his mind on gay marriage

House Speaker John Boehner 'can't imagine' his views on gay marriage changing

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner sat down for an interview today (17 March) with the ABC News show This Week. The US political leader was asked about fellow Republican John Portman's new position on gay marriage.

March 14, 2013
Illinois lawmaker Jeanne Ives says gays have 'disordered relationships'

She will vote against gay marriage bill that is currently 12 votes short of passing

Illinois lawmaker Jeanne Ives called homosexual relationships 'disordered' during a radio interview explaining why she was voting against a gay marriage bill in her state.

March 7, 2013
Brazil elects racist, anti-gay pastor to be human rights boss

Marco Feliciano, a racist, evangelical, pastor and congressman who thinks gays are 'sick', has been elected to head Brazil's human rights committee

Brazil's House of Representatives has elected a renowned racist and homophobic deputy and evangelical pastor, Marco Feliciano, to chair the house Committee on Human Rights and Minorities (CDHM) today.

The election should have taken place yesterday (6 March), but the session was adjourned due to uproar caused by Feliciano's nomination.

Feliciano was nominated and elected by his extreme right-wing Social Christian Party (PSC), with 11 of the 12 votes of the members of the CDHM.

February 19, 2013
Illinois poll shows 50 percent in favor of legalizing gay marriage

Only 29 percent are against marriage equality, the rest undecided

A survey of 600 adults in Illinois found that 50 percent are in favor of marriage equality in the state with the strongest support coming from Chicago.

The Crain's/Ipsos Illinois Poll was conducted after the State Senate passage last week of a marriage equality bill that will now need to be considered by the House of Representatives.

February 14, 2013
Illinois Senate passes same-sex marriage

Measure passes by 34-21 vote on Valentine's Day

The Illinois State Senate today (14 February) passed a marriage equality bill by a vote of 34-21 setting the stage for the state to become the 10th in the US to allow gay marriage.

The bill, known as the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act, will now need to be considered by the House of Representatives. If  approved by the House, the legislation will be signed into law by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.

January 26, 2013
Congress welcomes its new LGBT members

Congress learns to accept LGBT representatives and senators

It's a new day for gay politicians and the US Congress.

In last year's election, Tammy Baldwin became the first out lesbian to win a race for Senate. Down the hallway, in the House of Representatives, there are now six openly gay and lesbian politicians.

January 24, 2013
Republican leadership files brief in DOMA Supreme Court case

It states 'There is nothing irrational about declining to extend marriage to same-sex relationships'

The day after President Barack Obama called for LGBT equality in his inauguration speech, the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives filed a brief with the US Supreme Court stating why the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act should be upheld.

The brief states that there is nothing 'irrational' about not extending marital rights to same-sex couples because they cannot procreate. It states that marriage's orgins come from a need to address the 'tendency' of heterosexual relationships to produce offspring that are unplanned and unintended.

January 22, 2013
Gay marriage passes first legislative hurdle in Rhode Island

Judiciary Committee unanimously votes to send legislation to full House of Representatives - possibly this week

The Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday (23 January) unanimously voted to send legislation to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry  to the full House of Representatives.

The 11-0 vote is the first legislative hurdle in making Rhode Island the tenth state in the US to legalize same-sex marriage.

Rhode Islanders United for Marriage campaign director Ray Sullivan called the vote 'historic' and 'affirmative.'

January 22, 2013
Rhode Island faces next gay marriage hurdle

The smallest US state's House Judiciary Committee is expected to pass the marriage equality legislation later today (22 January)

Rhode Island’s House Judiciary Committee will vote on legislation to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry today (22 January).

The full House of Representatives could take up the bill later in the week if the committee votes to send it to the floor.

The state’s lawmakers, a majority of Democrats, are expected to pass the measure. However gay rights activists say they are less confident about the Senate.

If the bill passes, the proposal would legalize marriage equality as well as recognize the already legal same-sex civil unions as marriages.

December 19, 2012
LGBT leaders urge Republicans to stop spending money to defend DOMA in court

They decry that $2 million has been spent with US facing 'enormous economic challenges'

Leaders of some of the largest LGBT organizations in the US are demanding that the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives stop spending money to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court.

The letter, addressed to House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, states that 'Americans have sent a clear message that they want lawmakers to focus on strengthening our economy, creating jobs, and securing a bright future for generations to come.'

December 19, 2012
We will pass ‘jail all the gays’ law says Nigerian house leader

Mulikat Akande-Adeola pledges new laws will come in to jail every gay person in Nigeria and anyone who shelters them

Nigeria will pass a bill to jail every gay person and the president will sign it, the leader of the country’s House of Representatives has told an activist.

Honorable Mulikat Akande-Adeola, House Leader, made the comments in response to questions from Davis Mac-Iyalla, founder of Changing Attitude Nigeria, at an event in London.

December 5, 2012
Nigeria's president urged to reject 'jail the gays' bill

Activists pressure President Goodluck Jonathan not to approve law which jails all gay people and anyone who fails to report a homosexual to the authorities

Activists are calling on human rights supporters to pressure Nigeria's president to reject a 'jail the gays' law.

The bill would see people jailed for being gay and even imprisoned if they don’t report homosexuals they know about to the police.

November 16, 2012
Will gay marriage come to Australia before 2014?

Gay Star News asks five of the key players in the Australian marriage equality debate if gay marriage will come to Australia before 2014. The one-word summary answer is ‘unlikely’. 

Nearly a year ago Gay Star News wrote that gay marriage may come to Australia in 2012. The year began full of hope - over 60% of Australians said they supported marriage equality in several polls and the advocacy campaign from Australian Marriage Equality was slickly professional and on-the-ball.

November 15, 2012
Nigeria backs law to jail all gays and those who hide them

Nigeria’s National Assembly has voted for a law to jail all gay people and anyone who fails to report a homosexual to the authorities

Nigeria’s lawmakers have approved plans to jail people for being gay and even imprison people who don’t report homosexuals they know about to the police.

The west African nation already makes gay sex illegal and even punishable by the death penalty in the north part of the country but the new legislation goes much further.

Under the proposed law that has passed both the Senate and, this week, the House of Representatives there would be a crackdown on LGBT people which could lead to a witch-hunt.