Homosexuality, Gay Rights | featured news

North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday night banning gay marriage and scrapping civil unions.

The national debate over gay marriage turns its attention South on Tuesday, as North Carolina could be on the verge of becoming the next state to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman.

The refrain sounded by his aides is accurate: Barack Obama has done more for the cause of gay rights than any president before him....

Many lawmakers and staff members say the issue would probably pass if it were brought up for consideration.

The U.S. lobbied intensively for the resolution, which supports equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation. The move "puts the issue squarely on the U.N.'s agenda," a U.S. official says.

Catholic Church officials are mounting a full-court press to convince lawmakers in Albany to vote against same-sex marriage legislation, which stands a vote or two from becoming law in New York State.

A federal judge's long-term same-sex relationship did not mean he would be biased in handling the legal challenge to Proposition 8 and does not justify wiping out his ruling invalidating California's ban on gay marriage, the Bay Area's chief federal judge ruled Tuesday.