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Lawsuit Filed To Block Nation’s Last Unchallenged Same-Sex Marriage Ban In North Dakota

Seven couples have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the ban on same-sex marriage in North Dakota, the last remaining state without a court challenge. The clerk of the court confirmed that the lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Fargo. It challenges both North Dakota’s constitutional ban on gay marriage and its refusal to recognize marriages of same-sex couples who legally wed in other states. The lawsuit means cases are currently pending in all 31 states with gay marriage bans. Judges have overturned several of those bans since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal […]

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Supreme Court Refuses To Put Gay Marriage On Hold In Oregon

The Supreme Court is refusing to halt a federal judge’s order declaring Oregon’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. The court issued an order Wednesday declining to block any new same-sex unions in the state while a federal appeals court considers whether an anti-gay marriage group can intervene in the case. The order follows an emergency appeal by the National Organization for Marriage that seeks to overturn the May 19 ruling of U.S. District Judge Michael McShane. The group had unsuccessfully tried to intervene in the lower court proceeding after Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum declined to defend the same-sex ban. Hundreds […]

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President Barack Obama Releases Proclamation Declaring June LGBT Pride Month

  President Barack Obama has released a proclamation declaring June as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride Month. Check out the statement in full below. As progress spreads from State to State, as justice is delivered in the courtroom, and as more of our fellow Americans are treated with dignity and respect — our Nation becomes not only more accepting, but more equal as well. During Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month, we celebrate victories that have affirmed freedom and fairness, and we recommit ourselves to completing the work that remains. Last year, supporters of equality celebrated […]

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U.S. Health Officials Encourage Use Of HIV Pill For At-Risk Individuals

U.S. health officials on Wednesday issued new recommendations urging healthcare workers to consider offering an HIV prevention pill to healthy individuals who are at substantial risk for HIV infection. The guidelines, issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Public Health Service, involve the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, a strategy in which at-risk individuals take a daily dose of an antiretroviral drug to reduce their risk of HIV infection. The strategy builds on a landmark 2010 study that found Gilead Sciences Inc’s Truvada – a pill already widely used to treat the human […]

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Couples To Challenge Alaska Gay Marriage Ban As Unconstitutional

Five gay couples filed a lawsuit Monday challenging Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. The Alaska lawsuit, filed in federal court in Anchorage, lists as plaintiffs four couples who were married outside Alaska and one unmarried couple. It alleges that Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage violates their rights to due process and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit seeks to bar enforcement of Alaska’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. It also calls for barring enforcement of any state laws that refuse to recognize gay marriages legally performed in other states or countries or that prevent unmarried gay […]

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Transgender Teen’s Imprisonment Under Scrutiny

    Is it a violation of a 16-year-old’s rights to place her in a prison with adult inmates even though she has not been charged with any crime? Her treatment is appropriate and legal because she has “an extensive history of violence” against staffers and other residents of psychiatric facilities, according to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. The youth is a female transgender child who was born male but identifies as a female. In court documents she is identified as Jane Doe in order to protect her identity. She has been in DCF custody since age 5. […]

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Court Rules Against Ohio Ban on Same-sex Marriage Recognition

A federal judge has ordered Ohio to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages. A federal judge in Ohio on Monday ruled against the state law barring recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages, although the order is temporarily stayed until state officials take further action. In a 45-page decision, U.S. District Judge Timothy Black determined the Ohio law barring recognition of out-of-state same-sex weddings violates protections under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “The record before the court, which includes the judicially-noticed record in Obergefell, is staggeringly devoid of any legitimate justification for the state’s ongoing arbitrary discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, […]

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Barebacking Study Reveals Disturbing Connection With Hook-Up Apps

A new study by England’s University of Westminster found what appears to be a disturbing uptick in the number of young gay men who find unprotected sex with a stranger “exciting.” The study, first published in Pink News, found that a staggering 70 percent of young gay men surveyed in London said they believed sex without condoms is more pleasurable. Meanwhile, 94 percent of respondents said they were more likely to have unprotected sex with a stranger if he was good-looking. One HIV-positive participant, identified simply as 25-year-old Jason from London, described his “addiction” to the gay networking app Grindr […]

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LGBT Folks in Homophobic Regions Die Younger Study Finds

    Researchers of what’s been deemed as “the first study to look at the consequences of anti-gay prejudice for mortality” have discovered that lesbian, gay and bisexual people living in less open-minded communities have a shorter life expectancy. The Columbia University study, which was published online in the Social Science & Medicine journal, found that lesbian, gay and bisexual people in communities with high levels of anti-gay prejudice lived an average of 12 years less than their counterparts in more accepting environments. “Our findings indicate that sexual minorities living in communities with higher levels of prejudice die sooner than […]

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National Report Shows High Tobacco Use By LGBTs

LGBTs have long been known to smoke more than their straight counterparts and a new national report issued by the U.S. surgeon general backs that up: community members light up at a rate 65 percent higher than heterosexuals. The 32nd tobacco-related surgeon general’s report was released last week, on the anniversary of the office’s first study 50 years ago linking tobacco use with cancer. The report details the implications of tobacco use on the American populace since 1964. This year’s report, titled “Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress,” makes specific reference to health disparities within the LGBT community. […]

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