New Jersey LGBT Law

On July 24, 2011, those who were inclined to marry were able to do so in New York. My husband, Richard, and I have been eagerly reading the New York Time's Weddings and Celebrations section, which has had tremendous coverage of same-sex marriages held in the State of New York. Read more »

— Rick Santorum has become the second Republican presidential candidate to sign a pro-marriage pledge vowing to fight against same sex marriage, Sharia law and pornography.

When I first read it, I was taken aback by it. I can't argue that I wasn't, he told CNN on Sunday.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was the first presidential candidate to sign the pledge, created by The Family Leader, a conservative, Iowa-based Christian group. Read more »

&b>SAN DIEGO — A federal appeals court that has called for the immediate halt of the military's ban on openly gay troops issued an order Monday requiring the U.S. government to state whether it will continue to defend the policy's constitutionality in court. Read more »

NEW ORLEANS — Lambda Legal filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of a same-sex couple seeking an accurate birth certificate for their Louisiana-born son whom they adopted in New York. The state of Louisiana has refused to recognize the adoption and issue a birth certificate listing both fathers as the boy's parents. Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO — The bankruptcy case that became one of many battlegrounds in the fight over the Defense of Marriage Act has come to an end, with the Justice Department and congressional Republicans bowing out of the fight. Read more »

PROVIDENCE—In a small ceremony in his office Saturday morning, Governor Chafee signed into law legislation legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples. Read more »

TRENTON—Seven gay and lesbian New Jersey couples, along with many of their children, are going to court to try to force the state to recognize gay marriage. Read more »

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The Rhode Island Senate voted 21 to 16 Wednesday to pass a bill that legalizes civil unions, adding Rhode Island to a short but growing list of states that provide marriage-like rights to same-sex couples. Read more »

ALBANY—New York lawmakers narrowly voted to legalize same-sex marriage Friday, handing activists a breakthrough victory in the state where the gay rights movement was born.

New York will become the sixth state where gay couples can wed and the biggest by far.

Gay rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island. Read more »