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As lawmakers held their first public hearing on gay marriage, a Democratic senator on Jan. 23 announced her support for the measure, all but ensuring that Washington will become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage.

The announcement by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, that she would cast the 25th and deciding vote in favor of the issue came has hundreds of people filled the Capitol to advocate for and against gay marriage.

The conservative favorite easily won the first round of Finland's presidential election Jan. 22, setting up a runoff against an environmentalist leader who is the first openly gay candidate to run for head of state in the Nordic country.

Sauli Niinisto, a former finance minister, won 37 percent of the vote, well ahead of the other candidates but short of the majority needed to avoid a second round, official preliminary results showed.

Martina Navratilova never shirked a challenge in her glittering tennis career, and she isn't shy about giving an opinion either.

The winner of 167 singles titles and one of the greatest players faced a news conference at the Australian Open on Monday and addressed issues ranging from Margaret Court's criticism of same-gender marriage to prize money at Grand Slam tournaments.

North Carolina State University alumni are organizing a march in downtown Raleigh to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, the AP reported.

Honest NC announced this week that the March 15 event will take protesters from the school's iconic bell tower to Halifax Mall behind the Legislative Building. Organizer Matt Huffman says there will be a voter registration drive at the mall to encourage participation in the May 8 ballot measure.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie today nominated an openly gay African-American Republican mayor to serve as a justice on the state’s Supreme Court.

The head of the state’s LGBT advocacy group was stunned when the governor’s office called to inform him about the nomination.

Mickey Rourke is working overtime to prepare himself for his upcoming biopic about out gay former rugby star Gareth Thomas.

Rourke reportedly had surgery on his eyes to look more like Thomas and has hired the personal trainer who got Ralph Fiennes buffed to play Coriolanus.

More than 40 Catholic leaders and theologians have called on fellow Catholics Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to stop their racist rants on the campaign trail, according to Faith in Public Life.

An open letter to the candidates says:

Alec Baldwin and Julia Roberts have signed on to star in the film version of Larry Kramer’s Tony Award-winning autobiographical play “The Normal Heart,” which follows the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The two stars join Mark Ruffalo, who was already cast as protagonist Ned Weeks, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Baldwin will play Weeks’ brother and Roberts will play the doctor who understands the seriousness of the mystery sickness.

Gay rights advocates are praising New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s nomination of Bruce A. Harris to the state supreme court.

Christie nominated Harris, an openly gay African-American man with more than 20 years legal experience, along with Phillip H. Kwon, an Asian-American man serving as assistant attorney general in the Department of Law and Public Safety.

The National Organization for Marriage is congratulating presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on his victory in South Carolina.

NOM, which invests heavily in anti-gay initiatives to block or repeal marriage-equality legislation, celebrated Gingrich as a protector of “traditional marriage.”

A Maryland woman says she was denied the right to visit her partner at Washington Adventist Hospital in Maryland.

Linda Cole, of Takoma Park, made the discrimination allegations in complaints filed with the Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Joint Commission is an independent nonprofit that accredits hospitals.

Massachusetts this week celebrated a new state law that prohibits discrimination against them in employment, housing, insurance and credit.

AP reported that Gov. Deval Patrick told a crowded Statehouse ceremony on Jan. 19 that he was happy to approve the bill as a “matter of conscience” and to protect the rights and dignity of an estimated 33,000 transgender citizens in Massachusetts.