david case

The first hearing of the federal case against Prop 8, by Ted Olson and David Boies, assigned to Judge Vaughn Walker, begins July 2 in the North California U.S. District Court.

Following the announcement that Judge Walker ruled Prop. 8, the ban on same-sex marriage in California, unconstitutional, supporters of equality came to West Hollywood Park in Los Angeles to rally and celebrate. Here are some photos from the event! Included are the lawyers in the case David Bois and Ted Olson, the plaintiffs in the original marriage case Diane Olson and Robin Tyler and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in favor of a married lesbian couple who sued the state Department of Public Health after officials refused to list both women as the biological parents on their daughter's birth certificate in 2009.

The moment activists have long awaited arrived today as the Supreme Court announced it will hear a range of cases on same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court indicated that it will hear the challenge to the California marriage ban, called Proposition 8, and another by an elderly lesbian widow, Edith Windsor, against the Defense of Marriage Act.

In a highly anticipated decision with potentially far-reaching implications in the national battle over gay marriage, a federal judge has struck down California's Proposition 8. 

The shocking murder of Uganda gay rights activist David Kato has heightened the urgency surrounding the case of Brenda Namigadde, a lesbian facing deportation from the United Kingdom to the virulently homophobic African country on Friday.

The Justice Department has decided that Federal prosecutors can enforce criminal provisions in the Violence Against Women Act in cases involving gay and lesbian relationships. David J. Barron, an Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department, confirmed that prosecutors can enforce the law in cases involving interstate stalking and domestic violence regardless of whether the victim or the defendant is a man or a woman.

Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon faced off against the National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) Brian Brown on a panel at the New Yorker Festival’s session of “Love and Obstacles: The Case for Gay Marriage.” The winning Prop 8 attorney David Bois, Gene Robinson, R. Clarke Cooper and Jeffrey Toobin rounded out the panel.

David Kato, a prominent gay activist threatened with hanging on the front page of a Ugandan newspaper, was brutally beaten to death at his home in Kampala on Wednesday. Kato was the advocacy officer for Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), which confirmed his murder in a news release. He was one of the plaintiffs who won a case against the Rolling Stone newspaper earlier this month.

In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that cameras will not be allowed in the court room for the duration of the federal case challenging California's same-sex marriage ban. This overrules Judge Vaughn Walker's move to permit real-time video streaming of the trial. Plus, defense attorney David Thompson quotes Obama's The Audacity of Hope for arguement against gays and lesbians marrying.

Forty-two professional athletes and figures in pro sports have sent a friend of the court brief to the Supreme Court supporting marriage equality in a case next week challenging California's Proposition 8. The brief was spearheaded by Brendon Ayanbadejo of the Baltimore Ravens and Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings, who were both honored by GLAAD last weekend for their outward support of LGBT rights. Supporters of the brief include openly gay retired athletes, Robbie Rogers, Esera Tuaolo, Wade Davis, Jr., David Kopay, as well as out Minnesota Lynx player Seimone Augustus.

Upon taking the bench before a packed San Francisco federal courtroom on Wednesday, U.S. district court judge Vaughn R. Walker said that he wished the Proposition 8 trial would have moved faster than the six months it has taken to arrive at closing arguments. After hearing impassioned arguments for and against the measure that bars lesbians and gays in California from marrying, Judge Walker is now tasked with deciding which side is on the side of the law.

The Supreme Court has unanimously decided to further delay lifting Virginia's marriage ban.

A lesbian from Uganda who faced being deported back to her home country will be allowed to remain in the United Kingdom under a temporary reprieve.  The U.K. high court granted Brenda Namiggade the temporary stay Friday, after David Kato, a gay Ugandan activist, was found dead in his home. It is suspected that he was murdered for being gay, as he has publicly said he feared for his life. 

Judges ruled 2-1 that barring marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional.