law enforcement

A federal judge has blocked crucial parts of Arizona's immigration enforcement law that was set to take effect on Thursday. The law, S.B. 1070, will still take effect Thursday, but lacking some provisions like requirements to check a person's immigrant stats while enforcing other laws. The state is also blocked from enforcing parts of the law that would require people to carry  their immigration papers at all times, as well as a part that would have made it illegal for migrant workers to solicit work in public places.

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.

Oregon’s Attorney General John Kroger launched a new website dedicated to helping the public report suspected hate crimes in the region. People can file their report confidentially and in a matter of minutes, all online. The site is aimed at making it easier for citizens to report and law enforcement to track all reported hate crimes.

Samantha Ronson, the 33-year old DJ best known for her lesbian relationship with Lindsay Lohan, was arrested at 10:30 am Monday outside of Baker, CA for driving under the influence. According to a law enforcement officer, Ronson was driving 89 MPH through a 70 MPH zone in her black Porsche Targa.

With the Halloween Carnival fast approaching on Monday, October 31, the West Hollywood Sheriff station is gearing up to make sure the night is spooky but the fun event runs smoothly. Meet the hot lesbian Sheriff’s Captain in charge of keeping us safe. Captain Kelley Fraser took command of the West Hollywood Sheriff station in 2010. She earned the job having climbed up the ranks of law enforcement with a strong work ethic and 25 years of experience.

The Department of Justice is urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to put its decision from last week on hold, so as to keep "don't ask, don't tell" enforceable until the law is officially repealed by President Barack Obama and key military leaders. The court last week ordered the ban on openly gay service members to be lifted in all U.S. military operations around the world. R. Clarke Cooper, the Log Cabin Republicans' executive director and an Army combat veteran, called the government's move "troubling" in a statement Thursday.

The husband of boxing star Christy Martin will face a judge Wednesday afternoon on charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for allegedly attacking his wife after she told him she was leaving him for because she was having a lesbian relationship.  Assistant state attorney Ryan Vescio is fighting James Martin's request to be released on bond because "the defendant not [only] used multiple deadly weapons in an ambush-style attack [on] the victim, which left her for dead, but admitted to stalking the victim to Daytona Beach the day before, and then after the attack eluded law enforcement for a week."

Responding to the International Olympic Committee's request for "clarification" about how Russia's anti-LGBT laws will affect Olympic athletes at the Winter Games in Sochi next year, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs today issued a statement confirming that LGBT athletes and spectators will be safe — as long as they don't discuss or disclose their orientation.

In an effort to raise awareness about growing hostility towards LGBT people in Russia, activists protested outside the Russian Consulate in San Francisco on August 3, reports ABC.

The same judge who ruled against the state's ban on marriage equality affirmed that decision Tuesday in a separate case, requiring Indiana to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

The pastor of the You Can Run But You Can't Hide ministry has been ordered to pay $24,625.23 in court costs for MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and the now-defunct Minnesota Independentafter suing both for libel last year.

A town clerk in rural New York has resigned her position rather than comply with the new marriage equality law, citing her religious convictions. Laura Fotusky, the clerk in Barker, is a Repubilcan elected twice to the post. Fotusky issued a statement on the website of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a group of evangelical Protestants that led protests against the bill which was signed into law last month.

An antigay Christian ministry run by former Christian rocker Bradlee Dean is suing MSNBC and Rachel Maddow in excess of $50 million for defamation over statements she made on her talk show suggesting Dean and his ministry advocate killing homosexuals

As expected, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson allowed a law banning local ordinances protecting LGBT people from discrimination to become law without his signature.