Paris: France's constitutional council has rejected a challenge by conservative lawmakers to the country's new gay marriage law, saying the law was constitutional.
That means France could see its first gay marriages by the end of May. France's Parliament passed the law legalizing gay marriage in April after a wrenching national debate.
Opponents led by the conservative UMP party immediately challenged the law in France's Constitutional Council, which rejected their motion on Friday.
The gay marriage law must now be published in the official journal. President Francois Hollande, who made legalising gay marriage one of his campaign pledges in 2012, has promised to see the law published as soon as possible....
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12:46 PM, May 18, 2013
The pope made the comments in his Christmas address to the Vatican bureaucracy, one of his most important speeches. ...
01:35 PM, Dec 22, 2012
Washington: Same-sex couples in Washington state started saying wedding vows early Sunday morning, just minutes into the first day they could marry after the state's gay marriage law took effect. Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples picked up their marriage licenses as early as 12:01 am Thursday, but because of the state's three-day waiting period, the earliest weddings could take place was just after midnight, early Sunday morning. Some courthouses,...
04:51 PM, Dec 09, 2012
New York: For years, foes of same-sex marriage had a potent talking point: They'd won every time the issue went to a popular vote. That winning streak has now been shattered in a multi-state electoral sweep by gay marriage supporters " a historic tipping point likely to influence other states and possibly even the Supreme Court. "It's an astounding day," said Kevin Cathcart of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal, recalling...
05:04 AM, Nov 08, 2012
Voters a continent apart made history on Tuesday on two divisive social issues, with Maine and Maryland becoming the first states to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote while Washington state and Colorado legalised recreational use of marijuana. The outcomes in Maine and Maryland broke a 32-state streak, dating back to 1998, in which gay marriage had been rebuffed by every state that held a vote on it. They will...
12:09 PM, Nov 07, 2012
New York: While the general election might not break partisan gridlock in Congress, it could result in historic changes for US social policy: Several states had a chance to be the first to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote and to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Dating back to 1998, same-sex marriage has been rejected in all 32 states that have held popular votes on the issue. Gay-rights advocates believed...
09:28 AM, Nov 07, 2012
Washington: While the general election might not break partisan gridlock in Congress, it could result in historic changes for US social policy: Several states had a chance to be the first to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote and to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Dating back to 1998, same-sex marriage has been rejected in all 32 states that have held popular votes on the issue. Gay-rights advocates believed they...
12:48 AM, Nov 07, 2012
Marvel comic book crime fighters 'The X-Men' are getting ready for the first same-sex marriage in the superhero world. ...
04:30 PM, May 23, 2012
Philadelphia: Wedding bells will ring this summer for Marvel Comics' first openly gay hero, super speedster Northstar, and his longtime boyfriend. The New York-based publisher said on Tuesday that Canadian character Jean-Paul Beaubier will marry his beau, Kyle Jinadu, in the pages of "Astonishing X-Men" No. 51. That's due out June 20. Northstar revealed he was gay in the pages of "Alpha Flight" No. 106 in 1992, one of Marvel...
11:00 AM, May 23, 2012
New Delhi: Legalising homosexuality has had little impact on the deeply entrenched homophobia in India, where thousands of gays still face discrimination and a lack of basic rights, the country's most prominent gay rights activist told Reuters. Hours after US President Barack Obama turned the global spotlight on gay rights by saying that he believes same-sex couples should be able to marry, Anjali Gopalan applauded the comments but despaired over...
01:02 AM, May 11, 2012
Bangkok: China's government considered homosexuality a mental disorder until 2001. In Egypt's conservative, Muslim-dominated society, laws prohibiting "shameless public acts" have been used to imprison gay men in recent years. Even some gay rights activists in the Philippines are opposed to same-sex marriage. And in Malaysia, the government has twice prosecuted a prominent opposition leader on charges of sodomy, which is punishable by 20 years in prison. While gay-rights activists...
04:37 PM, May 10, 2012
London: Schools in Britain will be 'forced' to teach children the importance of gay marriage, in a bid to redefine the institution of marriage, and teachers who refuse could face disciplinary action, a media report said. According to the Daily Express, ministers are pushing ahead with a legal overhaul of the definition of marriage. The government will reportedly publish next month a report on giving same-sex marriage the same legal...
10:10 AM, Feb 27, 2012
San Francisc: A US appeals court on Tuesday found California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional in a case that is likely to lead to a showdown on the issue in the US Supreme Court. The 2-1 decision from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals featured two judges appointed by Democrats ruling against the ban, while a Republican-appointed judge dissented. California joined the vast majority of US states in outlawing same-sex...
01:42 AM, Feb 08, 2012
(Reuters) - Two women, both grandmothers, became New York state's first legally wed same-sex couple early on Sunday, with traditional honeymoon capital Niagara Falls as the backdrop for the historic event. Kitty Lambert, 54, and Cheryle Rudd, 53, from Buffalo, New York, were married just after midnight Saturday at Niagara Falls' State Park's Luna Island, near the U.S.-Canada border. The women, with five grown children between them from previous marriages,...
08:11 PM, Jul 24, 2011
London: Actor Brad Pitt supports the New York state's decision to legalise same-sex marriage, and says every American should have the right to marry whoever they want. Pitt raises six children - Maddox, nine; Pax, seven; Zahara, six; Shiloh, five; and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - with partner Angelina Jolie. "It is encouraging that New York has joined the movement to grant equal marriage rights to its citizens. But...
09:28 AM, Jul 08, 2011
New York: Gay couples will be able to marry in New York state from July 25, and New York City hopes to woo them with an 'NYC I DO' campaign as officials prepare for an expected deluge of weddings. An estimated 66,000 gay couples will marry in New York state within three years, adding about $284 million to the state's economy, according to a report by the Independent Democratic Conference,...
08:01 AM, Jun 28, 2011
Albany: After days of contentious negotiations and last-minute reversals by two Republican senators, New York became the sixth and largest state in US to legalize gay marriage, breathing life into the national gay rights movement that had stalled over a nearly identical bill in Albany two years ago. Pending any court challenges, legal gay marriages can begin in New York by late July after Governer Andrew Cuomo signed his bill...
07:26 PM, Jun 25, 2011
A special report on a gay couple, Richard Dorr and John Mace, who have been together for over 6 decades and are waiting for New York to legalise gay marriages. ...
10:34 AM, Jun 21, 2011
Iceland's prime minister made history by becoming world's first head of government to enter a gay marriage. ...
12:10 AM, Jul 02, 2010
The families were opposed to the marriage. ...
01:56 PM, Mar 28, 2010
