(London) Rio Ferdinand is frustrated at the lack of progress in identifying the Tottenham fans who hurled racial and homophobic abuse at his former England teammate Sol Campbell. The chairman of England's Football Association has urged Tottenham to impose life bans on the fans who hurled racial and homophobic abuse at ...

(Oslo) Same-sex marriage will become legal in Norway in January, but the Church of Norway has voted not to allow its pastors to perform church weddings. The decision followed what is reported to have been a heated debate in the Council of Bishops. The church leaders did, however, decided to allow ...

(Beijing) China said Thursday that a prominent Chinese human rights activist should not be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, saying such an honor would go against the spirit of the award. Jailed dissident Hu Jia is considered among the front-runners for the prize to be announced Friday. No short list of ...

(New York City) The American Family Association is calling off a boycott of McDonald's after the fast-food giant agreed to end its support for the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. In addition, a company employee appointed to the chamber's board of directors has resigned. McDonald's incurred the wrath of ...

(Hartford, Connecticut) Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay couples have the right to marry, making the state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions through the courts. The ruling comes just weeks before Californians go to the polls on a historic gay-marriage ballot question, the first ...

(Little Rock, Arkansas) Arkansas plans to reverse course and allow unmarried or same-sex couples to take on foster children on a case-by-case basis, even as voters prepare to decide the issue in November, the state Department of Human Services said Thursday. The agency said it would end its plan to formalize ...

(Lisbon) Portugal's Parliament voted by a large majority Friday against proposals to allow same-sex marriages in the mostly Roman Catholic country. The governing Socialist Party and the main opposition Social Democratic Party both opposed legalizing gay and lesbian marriages. The proposals came from two minor opposition parties, the Left Bloc and the ...

(Washington) The US Supreme Court has declined to hear a case involving the use of a gay-themed book by a Lexington, Massachusetts public school. Two sets of parents were appealing the dismissal of the case by a federal appeals court in Boston in January. The Supreme Court, as is its custom, ...

(Washington) New polls in both Florida and California show that support for constitutional amendments barring same-sex marriage is gaining strength. In Florida, a Mason-Dixon poll found that 55 percent of likely voters supported the gay-marriage amendment, while 34 percent were against it. Eleven percent were undecided. The poll indicates that support comes ...