Uganda bans 38 'gay rights' agencies

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is wading into the fight over same-sex marriage at a time when public opinion is shifting rapidly in favor of permitting gay and lesbian couples to wed, but 40 states don’t allow it. The court’s first major examination of gay rights in 10 years begins Tuesday with a hearing on California’s ban on same-sex marriage. On Wednesday, the justices will consider the federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from receiving a range of benefits afforded straight married Americans.

MOSCOW — A bill that stigmatizes gay people and bans giving children any information about homosexuality won overwhelming approval Tuesday in Russia’s lower house of parliament. Hours before the State Duma passed the Kremlin-backed law in a 436-0 vote with one abstention, more than two dozen protesters were attacked by hundreds of anti-gay activists and then detained by police.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will sign a controversial bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children, as the Kremlin’s children’s rights advocate recommended extending the ban to the rest of the world. The bill is part of the country’s increasingly confrontational stance with the West and has angered some Russians who argue it victimizes kids to make a political point.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Support for gay marriage has surged in the United States in the decade since it first became legal in Massachusetts, with just over half of Americans now supporting the idea, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing heightened expectations from gay rights supporters, the Obama administration is considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California's ban on gay marriage — a move that could have a far-reaching impact on same-sex couples across the country.

William Whatcott intends to continue his anti-gay activism and pamphleting, knowing the price may be high. “I’m certainly weighing this, because it’s going to be at great personal cost to me,” Mr. Whatcott said Wednesday, after the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the hate speech law under which he was charged, and found he violated it in two of four original cases, pamphlets that described homosexuals as a threat to children.

With the impending Sochi Olympics in Russia taking place in a tense atmosphere following a anti-gay measures passed by Moscow in 2013, India's re-criminalization of homosexuality, and the surprise announcement of a ban on gay marriage in Nigeria, the global role of LGBT rights looks set to be a big issu