LGBT News

The ugly battle for local LGBT protections in Alaska’s largest city has been going on for years. Today we get news of another attempt, this time with apparently broad carve-outs for religious beliefs. Via Alaska Dispatch News: Anchorage Assembly member Bill Evans has introduced a local ordinance to expand protections under they city’s equal rights laws to include sexual orientation …

Madonna has declared that she will no longer tour in Russia due to its anti-gay laws. Via the Moscow Times: Madonna has told celebrity news magazine Entertainment Weekly that she will most likely never return to Moscow or St. Petersburg because of Russia’s stand on gay rights, Cosmopolitan reported. Madonna last appeared in Russia in 2012 and lived up to …

Using the Target logo and a fake name, a hilarious troll took to Target’s Facebook page to battle the haters who are ever so pissed about the company’s coming gender-neutral toy aisles. AdWeek has the details: Brands can’t be as honest as they might like in dealing with haters on Facebook. But sometimes other Facebook users can do it for …

The National Center for Lesbian Rights has already filed a lawsuit. Via press release: Just days ago, Cathy Pareto and Karla Arguello—the first same-sex couple to be married in Florida—celebrated the birth of their twin son and daughter. But the couple’s joy was soon mixed with fear and frustration when the hospital denied Cathy the right to add her name …

“Kim Davis did not sign up as a clerk to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Her job duty was changed by five lawyers without any constitutional authority. At a minimum, her religious convictions should be accommodated. Judge Bunning’s decision equated Kim’s free exercise of religion to going to church. This is absurd! Christianity is not a robe you take off when …

Yet another big win for the good guys! Via the Denver Channel: The Colorado Court of Appeals says a Lakewood bakery owner cannot refuse to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples. The appeals court reaffirmed the Colorado Civil Rights Commission order from May that Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips cannot refuse to prepare wedding cakes for gay couples. Phillips’ attorneys …

A member of Israel’s Knesset has proposed several sweeping LGBT rights bills that would legalize civil unions and ban “ex-gay’ torture in the name of murdered teen Shira Banki.  The Jerusalem Post reports: MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) proposed a legislative package of gay rights bills in memory of the 16-year-old who was stabbed at the Jerusalem LGBT parade, a …

The Tico Times reports: Casa Presidencial presented a bill Wednesday to legalize same-sex common-law marriages in Costa Rica. Supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights celebrated the announcement, even though the government stumbled in its execution of the controversial measure. Bill 18.483 would reform several articles of the family code to formally recognize “stable” relationships of more than three …

“He’s a gay basketball player. Or as I like to call him, ‘a basketball player.’ Because there’s no such thing as gay basketball.”

Furious with Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s threat to fire party leaders who vote for same-sex marriage, this Saturday activists will rally in Melbourne. Via press release: This Saturday over 20,000 people will head into the Melbourne CBD to show their anger at Abbott’s manoeuvring to maintain homophobic discrimination in Australian law. Five reasons to join us and rally: 1. Eleven …

With the passage of the Equality Act at least one Congress away, the necessary work continues at the state level. The Miami Herald reports: State Rep. Holly Raschein this week filed a bill for the 2016 legislative session that would ban workplace discrimination in Florida on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. “At my core, I feel this …

NBC News reports: Police say a Queens man has been arrested in connection with a bias attack on a gay couple at a Manhattan bodega. Thomas Clabough was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault and attempted assault as a hate crime in the attack in the store in SoHo on Aug. 2. The victims were Daniel Lennox-Choate and his husband, …

Outsports reports that a Kentucky high school did not include a recently-out basketball player in its yearbook tribute to their team. Richard Maldonado was the team’s starting point guard. Cyd Zeigler writes: “This is the latest slap in the face of Maldonado and the entire LGBT community by a high school administration that simply won’t accept that one of its …

Thanks in large part to the work of the Duggar family, last December voters in Fayetteville, Arkansas repealed that town’s LGBT rights ordinance. Activists have placed another LGBT right bill on the ballot and last night four of them were booted out a “Protect Fayetteville” rally held at a Baptist church where martyred Oregon bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein spoke …

The Catholic school in Macon, Georgia which fired its gay band director for announcing his plan to marry has settled his sexual orientation discrimination suit for an undisclosed amount. Valdosta Today reports: Flint Dollar, who now lives in New York, alleged he was fired in May of 2014 over plans to marry his same-sex partner, claiming discrimination. Dollar sought back …

Labor MP Tim Watts has made waves in Australia with a passionate marriage equality speech about his uncles who could never marry. From the Sydney Morning Herald: A Labor MP has attacked the Coalition government’s Senate leader Eric Abetz as an “anachronistic joke” in an impassioned speech recounting the story of a gay uncle who died of AIDS without the …

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott today threatened to fire party leaders who “break ranks” and vote for same-sex marriage. Nine News reports: The Prime Minister was responding to a potential vote on the legalisation of same-sex marriage, if MP Warren Entsch were to successfully introduce a cross-party bill to parliament this morning. “It is … the standard position of our …

You guys, Bill Donohue is VERY UPSET that calling for the execution of homosexuals can result in criminal charges in Switzerland. He writes: “They want him behind bars. His offense? He quoted from the Bible. The accused: Swiss Bishop Vitus Huonder. The accusers: gay activists in Europe and the United States. On July 31, Bishop Huonder spoke at a Catholic …

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Via the Washington Blade: The Mexican Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled a law in the state of Campeche that bans same-sex couples from adopting children is unconstitutional. The 9-1 decision comes against the backdrop of the debate over marriage rights for same-sex couples that continues to gain momentum in the country. Spanish-language media reports: Con nueve votos a favor y …