National Gaze

A jury in Seattle has handed down guilty verdicts in the murder trial of a man accused of raping and stabbing a lesbian couple in their home, killing one of them.

Isaiah Kalebu has been found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted murder, rape and burglary by a King County County Superior Court jury.

Gay marriage supporters began laying the groundwork in late June for another referendum on the issue, hoping to build on momentum from New York, which recently became the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage.

Advocates of same-sex marriage say many Mainers have changed their minds since state voters overturned a same-sex marriage law in 2009. They said they’re filing paperwork with election officials to start the process of gathering 57,000 signatures to put the matter on the November 2012 ballot.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on July 6 reinstated an injunction that bars the enforcement of the controversial law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The injunction, which prevents the Pentagon from discharging gay soldiers, involved a lawsuit filed by the Log Cabin Republicans, a leading advocate for the repeal of DADT.

Six Atlanta police officers have been fired – and others face disciplinary action – after an investigation found they lied about what happened during a raid on an Atlanta gay bar.

A team of lawyers conducted an investigation into the incident and released a report last month saying that at least 10 officers lied and many deleted data from cell phones to hide their actions during the September 2009 raid.

Seven couples – and some of their kids – are suing for marriage equality in New Jersey. Lambda Legal, maintaining that equality shouldn’t stop at the Lincoln Tunnel – filed the case just days after neighboring New York State passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry beginning July 24.

New Jersey lawmakers passed civil union legislation four years ago in response to a 2006 state Supreme Court ruling. The ruling instructed the Legislature to extend same-sex couples the same protections and benefits as married heterosexual couples.

Immigration officials have called off the deportation of a Venezuelan man who legally married his same-sex partner in the United States. Advocates hope the move will push the Obama administration to halt similar deportations and help repeal a federal law that recognizes only marriages between a man and a woman.

Henry Velandia, a 27-year-old professional salsa dancer from Caracas, asked to remain in the United States as the spouse of U.S. citizen Josh Vandiver, a 30-year-old graduate student at Princeton University. They were legally wed in Connecticut but live in New Jersey, where same-sex marriage is not legal.

The U.S. Justice Department on July 1 filed a legal brief that maintains hostility toward gays and lesbians was the motivation for passing the Defense of Marriage Act, which “unconstitutionally discriminates.”

Justice attorneys filed the brief in federal court in San Francisco, which has jurisdiction over a lawsuit claiming the government wrongly denied health benefits to the same-sex spouse of a government employee.