Equality Wisconsin, which advocates for LGBT equality, has made the following endorsements in the Feb. 21 Milwaukee municipal primary and April 3 elections:
Chris Abele
District County Supervisors
1 Theodore Lipscomb
2 Nikiya Harris
3 Gerry Broderick
4 Marina Dimitrijevic
10 David Bowen
12 Peggy Romo-West
13 Willie Johnson
14 Jason Haas
15 Dan Cody
16 John Weishan
18 Tracey Corder
District Alderman
12 José Perez
14 T. Anthony Zielinski
Branch Judge
A breakaway Episcopal congregation in Elm Grove desecrated the altar of a church it had occupied for years to protest the denomination’s ordination of openly gay clergy.
Although a number of Episcopal congregations have seceded over the issue, St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church is the only one in Wisconsin to do so. In 2008, the congregation voted to join the anti-gay Anglican realignment movement, which has attracted U.S. parishes and dioceses mostly in the South.
Rick Santorum's surge to second in Iowa sent his religious right devotees over the moon and left his LGBT detractors dismayed.

The cover of the first guidebook for female-to-male persons, ''Information for the Female to Male Cross-Dresser and Transsexual,'' written by Louis Sullivan and published in 1980. Sullivan was born in Milwaukee and was a pioneering figure in the history of trans activism. – Courtesy UWM Archives Dept.
Listen up about listening in: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries archives department invites researchers to listen in to a history of the local transgender community.

Partners Ellen Pontac (left) and Shelly Bailes (right), who have been married since June 2008, hug Tina Reynolds (center) as they watch the ruling of Proposition 8 at a restaurant in Sacramento, Calif., on Feb. 7. A federal appeals court ruled California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, upholding a federal judge's decision. – Photo: AP/The Sacramento Bee, Renee C. Byer
Ted Olson's legal team would later provide a detailed analysis of the federal appeals court ruling striking down Proposition 8. But at the press conference immediately following the Feb. 7 release of the opinion, the attorney sounded more like a coach relishing an underdog's victory.
Veteran gay Chicago activist and journalist Paul Varnell died Dec. 9 at the age of 70.
The United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the rights of LGBT people for the first time ever June 17, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the U.S. and other backers and decried by Russia and some African and Muslim countries.
The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing “grave concern” about abuses because of sexual orientation and commissioning a global report on discrimination against gays.
The first year Ruthelle Frank voted, "Kiss Me, Kate" premiered in the theater, moviegoers buzzed about Technicolor and Harry S. Truman defeated Thomas E. Dewey in what is hailed as the greatest election upset of all time.
A special election in Iowa on Nov. 8 provided a big victory for marriage equality in the state by allowing Democrats to maintain their narrow 26-24 majority in the Senate.
Democrat Liz Mathis won a Senate seat in a Republican-leaning district by a margin of 55 to 43, defeating right-wing Republican Cindy Golding, who received strong backing from the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage.
Petitions, protests and pledges forced the Susan G. Komen for the Cure to apologize and retreat on its controversial decision to defund cancer prevention programs at Planned Parenthood clinics.
An LGBT youth hotline’s new public service announcement featuring Daniel Radcliffe premieres tonight on Fox during the network’s hit series “Glee.”
The 30-second spot encourages LGBT youth to call the Trevor Lifeline if they need support or are considering suicide.
Whether it’s the state’s shaky finances, its recent tax hike or strict gun laws, downstate Illinois knows it can always vent its frustration by blaming Chicago.
The metropolis to the north may be Illinois’ cash cow, but it dominates the political scene and has for most of the state’s 193 years, producing the current leaders of both legislative houses and the governor, who doesn’t venture into the hinterlands much but does so more often than his prison-bound predecessor, Rod Blagojevich – also a Chicago guy.
A two-month bus tour – the 2012 Equality Ride – will begin this week in Philadelphia with a send-off ceremony for the young LGBT activists planning a cross-country journey.
Sponsored by the Soulforce civil disobedience group, the Equality Ride will take activists to fundamentalist colleges and universities with a reputation for anti-LGBT programs and policies.