PORTLAND, Maine — Supporters of a gay marriage law rejected by voters took heart Wednesday in the 47 percent they received in a referendum that drew a turnout close to what’s seen in a presidential election year.
PORTLAND, Maine — With 87 percent of precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the vote in a referendum that asked Maine voters whether they wanted to repeal a law allowing same-sex marriage that had passed the Legislature and was signed by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci.
Gay marriage was put to a vote in Maine on Tuesday in a closely watched referendum that gay-rights activists across the country hoped would prove for the first time that their cause can prevail at the ballot box. Early returns showed a close contest, as forecast.
BOSTON — BOSTON — The Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss Massachusetts’ challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, the law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.
Attorney General Martha Coakley filed the challenge in July, saying the act undermines the state’s effort to recognize same sex marriage. The state’s [...]
PORTLAND, Maine — Election officials announced Wednesday that gay marriage foes surpassed the threshold of signatures necessary to put the state law on the November ballot, setting the stage for a furious, two-month campaign that’ll determine whether the number of states allowing same-sex nuptials shrinks to five.
DUXBURY, Vt. — Vermont, which invented civil unions in 2000, is one of five states, including Massachusetts, that now allow same-sex couples to marry.
BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley tells WBUR’s Bob Oakes why Massachusetts has decided to challenge the federal law that defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman.
BOSTON — The first state to legalize gay marriage is now the first state to challenge the federal law defining marriage as between one man and one woman. WBUR’s Monica Brady-Myerov has reaction to the lawsuit.
BOSTON — Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, sued the U.S. government Wednesday over a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. WBUR’s Monica Brady-Myerov reports.
WASHINGTON — President Obama, whose gay and lesbian supporters have grown frustrated with his slow movement on their priorities, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, a White House official said.
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage Wednesday in a move that reflects the state’s changing demographics from reliably Republican and conservative to younger and more liberal.
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire legislators have approved a measure that would make the state the sixth to allow gay marriage.
CONCORD, N.H. — The New Hampshire Senate has passed revised gay marriage legislation and sent it to the House. If if passes there, Gov. John Lynch is expected to sign it into law later Wednesday.
FRESNO, Calif. — Hundreds of gay marriage supporters marched in rural, conservative California, but before the dusty roads could clear, opponents of same-sex couples planned to take to the streets to renew their resolve.
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, but it also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed.
