Gay rights campaigners won a victory over the German government on June 6 as the country's top court ruled that same-sex couples in civil unions should receive the same tax benefits as heterosexual married couples.
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that treating the two forms of partnership differently for tax purposes violates the country's guarantee of equal rights.
Israeli police say they have arrested four suspects in connection to the killing of two people at a gay youth center in Tel Aviv four years ago.
Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the suspects were arrested on June 5.
Filipino singer Charice Pempengco, who played an exchange student in "Glee," has come out as a lesbian in the her home country.
The 21-year-old said on ABS-CBN TV that she wants to apologize to those who do not understand and cannot accept her. She mentioned her mother and brother.
A Change.org petition launched after the Illinois House failed to vote on marriage equality before the end of its regular session calls for politicians to be barred from the upcoming Chicago Pride Parade.
The annual celebration through heavily LGBT North Side neighborhoods draws many politicians from the city and throughout the state, even in non-election years. In fact, participation in Chicago's Pride is often taken as an early signal of a politician's support for LGBT causes.
A group of skinheads beat a French far-left activist to death in the heart of Paris' shopping district, officials said on June 6. The attack raised fears of increased far-right violence.
Political tensions are high in France after months of protests against legalizing same-sex marriage that sometimes ended with troublemakers from the extreme right clashing with police.
First lady Michelle Obama threatened to leave a fundraiser on June 4 if an LGBT civil rights protester continued to interrupt her speech.
Obama was speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Washington, D.C., when an activist in the audience shouted support for the president to sign an executive order providing some protections to LGBT workers.
The British House of Lords today (June 4) has advanced the campaign for marriage equality in England and Wales.
A majority in the House of Lords voted to defeat a motion that would block the marriage equality bill, a proposal called a "wrecking amendment."
Saying that he was inspired by Ricky Martin, Mexican soap opera star Sebastián Ligarde acknowledged that he’s gay in the latest issue of TvyNovelas magazine
The 59-year-old star, who gained fame as the villain of the telenovela “Quinceañera,” formerly claimed to be bisexual. But, “I believe I’m at an age when I can help new values ... and to have the courage to accept myself publicly, as Ricky Martin did,” he told TvyNovelas. “I'm gay and I say this with pride. No gay person should have to walk down the street with stigma stamped on his forehead. Sexual preference is genetic ... and if God and my family knows it, then let the world know it.”
A gay couple is pursuing a discrimination complaint against a Colorado bakery, saying the business refused them a wedding cake to honor their Massachusetts ceremony, and alleging that the owners have a history of turning away same-sex couples.
As more states move to legalize same-sex marriage and civil unions, the case highlights a growing tension between gay rights advocates and supporters of religious freedom.
Artist Paul Richmond painted “Noah's Gay Wedding Cruise” several years ago to celebrate and promote the national drive for marriage equality.
Richmond, not with rave reviews from the Christian right, has revised the painting to celebrate this year’s success and the upcoming decisions on marriage equality from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Small Business Majority has published a report showing strong support among small business owners for federal and state laws banning bias against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The report, announced June 4, provides a clearer picture of support for anti-discrimination legislation in the business community. Surveys – and policies – have for years shown strong support at some of nation’s largest and wealthiest companies, the Fortune 500 members. Also, activists on the right have long maintained – erroneously – that broadening anti-discrimination laws to include LGBT people puts an added and unwanted burden on small business owners.
The American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section has taken up a resolution to protect victims of so called gay and trans “panic” legal defenses. The resolution supports the LGBT community by no longer allowing defense attorneys to use victims’ identities or their sexual orientation against them in court.
“This resolution puts an end to a longstanding injustice in our legal system and gives a voice to countless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims of violence, a voice we never hear because they are no longer here to speak for themselves,” said D’Arcy Kemnitz, executive director of the National LGBT Bar Association.
