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From left, Teresa Rowe, foreground, Kristin Orbin, facing, John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney react with other supporters of gay marriage outside the James R. Browning United States Courthouse on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 in San Francisco. A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for likely consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle, Lea Suzuki)

Calif. gay marriage ban ruled unconstitutional

Last updated Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - 1:22pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for likely consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Appeals Court, Federal Court, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gays, Proposition 8, Unconsitutional, National Read more Comments

Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, center, applauds, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, as he stands with supporters of gay marriage, at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., after hearing the news that Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, had announced her support for legalizing gay marriage, all but ensuring that Washington will become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Washington state has votes to pass gay marriage bill

Andrew Garber The Seattle Times

Last updated Monday, January 23, 2012 - 4:25pm

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Democratic state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen announced Monday that she supports gay-marriage legislation in Washington state's Senate, giving proponents the 25 votes needed for passage.

Gay Marriage, Legislation, Politics, National Read more Comments

Romney grilled on gay marriage by gay veteran

Kasie Hunt The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, December 12, 2011 - 2:38pm

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- When Mitt Romney sat down next to a patron wearing a Vietnam veteran's cap, Romney wanted to ask him about his military service.

Campaign, Gay Marriage, Mitt Romney, Politics, National Read more Comments

(GREGORY BULL/The Associated Press) A man who is active-duty in the Navy, and only gave his name as Matt, wears a shirt being signed by others that reads “I survived D.A.D.T.” (don’t ask, don’t tell) shortly before midnight during a celebration for the end of the policy late Monday, Sept. 19, 2011, in a bar in San Diego. After years of debate and months of final preparations, the military can no longer prevent gays from serving openly in its ranks.

Repeal of gay ban causing few waves in military

Robert Burns The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 6:12am

WASHINGTON — After years of debate and months of final preparations, the military can no longer prevent gays from serving openly in its ranks.

Ban, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Gay Marriage, Gays military, Pentagon, Military, National Read more Comments

(TED RICHARDSON/The Associated Press) A gay rights supporter leaves a sign in the lap of a statue of Andrew Johnson on the lawn of the North Carolina State Capitol after a rally against a state constitutional amendment that would say marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union in North Carolina, in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011. The N.C. Senate voted Tuesday to put the marriage issue to a vote in 2012.

AP poll: Divisions persist on legal gay marriage

Jennifer Agiesta, Laurie Kellman The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - 6:49am

WASHINGTON — Barbara Von Aspern loves her daughter, “thinks the world” of the person her daughter intends to marry and believes the pair should have the same legal rights as anyone else. It pains her, but Von Aspern is going to skip their wedding. Her daughter, Von Aspern explains, is marrying another woman.

Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Survey, National Read more Comments

Calif. gay marriage ban faces next legal hurdle

Lisa Leff The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - 6:39am

SAN FRANCISCO — California's same-sex marriage ban faces its next legal test Tuesday when the state's highest court attempts to shed light on whether the voter-approved measure's backers have legal authority to appeal the federal ruling that overturned Proposition 8.

California, Courts, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, National Read more Comments

Teacher suspended for Facebook comments on gay marriage

Erica Rodriguez The Orlando Sentinel

Last updated Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - 4:14pm

MOUNT DORA, Fla. -- A Mount Dora High School teacher of the year was suspended from the classroom and reassigned pending an investigation by the Lake County School Board after controversial comments he made about same-sex unions on Facebook.

Jerry Buell, a longtime Lake County social studies teacher, said during a recent Facebook exchange that he "almost threw up" in response to a news story about legalized same-sex marriage in New York.

Facebook, Gay Marriage, Suspension, Teachers, National Read more Comments

Tribe allows same-sex marriage

Steve Gardner The Kitsap Sun

Last updated Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - 12:51pm

SUQUAMISH, Wash. -- Should Native American Heather Purser decide to marry her female partner, she can do that in Suquamish now.

On Monday, the Suquamish Tribal Council formally changed its ordinances to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

The Suquamish ordinance means gay couples are afforded all the rights heterosexual couples are allowed on the reservation and other places in which gay marriages are allowed.

American Indians, Gay Marriage, National Read more Comments

(Jay LaPrete/Associated Press) Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks in the warehouse at Screen Machine Industries during a campaign stop in Pataskala, Ohio. Same-sex marriage might seem like a straightforward issue: You're for it or against it. Yet for the field of Republican presidential hopefuls, it's proving to be an awkward topic as public attitudes change and more states legalize gay unions, the latest being New York. Romney and Tim Pawlenty were among those refusing to sign the pledge, but both issued statements stressing that they favored limiting marriage to one-man, one-woman unions. (AP Photo/

Gay marriage: awkward issue for some GOP hopefuls

David Crary The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - 1:04pm

NEW YORK — Same-sex marriage might seem like a straightforward issue: You're for it or against it. Yet for the field of Republican presidential hopefuls, it's proving to be an awkward topic as public attitudes change and more states legalize gay unions, the latest being New York.

Gay Marriage, Gays, Marriage, Politics, Presidential Campaign, Republican Party, National Read more Comments

Human Rights Campaign tour to start in SLC; most states likely to spurn gay-marriage bandwagon

The Associated Press The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, July 25, 2011 - 10:22pm

As hundreds of jubilant gay couples became newlyweds in New York over the weekend, their well-wishers included many far-flung gays wistfully aware that their own states may never willingly allow same-sex marriage.

Education, City Government, Event, Gay, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gays, Human Rights Campaign, Politics, Utah Read more Comments

Romney rejects gay marriage pledge

Thomas Beaumont The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - 9:41pm

DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign said Tuesday that he will not sign a conservative Iowa Christian group’s far-reaching pledge opposing gay marriage, making him the first Republican presidential candidate to reject it.

Campaign, Gay Marriage, Gays military, Huntsman, Islam, Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, Pornography, Presidental campaign, Utah Read more Comments

Judge in gay marriage case had no legal obligation to remove himself, judge rules

Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - 2:18pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge on Tuesday refused to invalidate last year's ruling against Proposition 8, deciding the gay jurist who overturned the same-sex marriage ban had no obligation to step aside because of a possible conflict of interest.

Courts, Gay Marriage, Proposition 8, National Read more Comments

Some antagonists fight dirty, others turn to prayer

The Lewiston Morning Tribune, William L. Spence

Last updated Thursday, June 2, 2011 - 10:33am

As an exercise in good writing, modern presidential campaigns are complete duds.

Here we are, 18 months before the election, and the bevy of candidates is still sorting itself out, coy challengers lining up like swimsuit models in a beauty contest, teasing us with "will I or won't I" hints before they officially enter the race or step aside.

This sputtering start leaves voters weary long before the first ballot is cast.

Where's the snappy lead, the clear beginning that draws readers in and makes them want to follow the rest of the story?

Opinion, Gay Marriage, Politics, Religion Read more Comments

In this photo taken Nov. 19, 2010, Chief District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, of the Northern District of California, speaks at a legal conference in Seattle. The sponsors of California's same-sex marriage ban say the recent disclosure by Walker that he is in a long-term relationship with another man has given them new grounds to appeal the ruling that struck down Proposition 8 last summer. Walker retired from the bench at the end of February. (Elaine Thompson/Associated Press)

Judge's relationship at issue in gay marriage case

The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - 8:48am

SAN FRANCISCO -- Rumors swirled that the federal judge who had struck down California's same-sex marriage ban last summer was gay, but the lawyers charged with defending the measure remained silent on the subject. Their preferred strategy for getting the ruling overturned on appeal was to focus on the law, not a judge's personal life, they said.

Courts, Gay Marriage, National Read more Comments

Presbyterian court reaffirms minister violated policy by marrying gay couples

Los Angeles Times, Maria L. La Ganga

Last updated Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - 2:50pm

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Presbyterian Church appeals court has affirmed an earlier ruling that the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr violated the Presbyterian constitution and her ordination vows for marrying more than a dozen same-sex couples during the brief window when it was legal to do so in California.

Spahr, 68, was found guilty in August after a four-day ecclesiastical trial in Napa, Calif. She appealed that verdict to the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific, which ruled that she violated church policy, which does not allow clergy to "state, imply or represent" that same-sex wedding ceremonies are church marriages.

Gay Marriage, Presbyterian Church USA, Religion, National Read more Comments