WORLD
December 22, 2009 | By Tracy Wilkinson
In a move that may put Mexico City at odds with the rest of the country, the local legislature approved a far-reaching gay rights bill Monday, voting to allow people of the same sex to marry and to adopt children. The leftist-dominated legislature of this massive city of about 20 million people turned aside opposition from the influential Roman Catholic Church and ended lively debate to approve the measure by a 39-20 vote. Mayor Marcelo Ebrard is expected to sign the bill into law. "Mexico City has put itself in the vanguard," said legislator Victor Hugo Romo.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 27, 2009 | Maura Dolan
The California Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to uphold Proposition 8 and existing same-sex marriages left in place all rights for California's gays and lesbians except access to the label "marriage," but it provided little protection from future ballot measures that could cost gays and other minorities more rights, lawyers and scholars said Tuesday.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 11, 2010 | By Maura Dolan
Scholars, gay and lesbian partners and opponents of same-sex marriage are expected to testify about the nature of marriage and homosexuality during an unprecedented federal trial today to determine whether gays and lesbians may marry. UPDATE: The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked video coverage of the Prop. 8 trial in San Francisco. Read more. Gay-rights supporters are upset by the court ruling. Read more on L.A. Now. The case, Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, is expected to become a landmark that eventually will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
ENTERTAINMENT
March 25, 2007 | Gina Piccalo, Times Staff Writer
THE images in "Blades of Glory" are provocative: Will Ferrell, as a rough-and-tumble macho, and Jon Heder, as the pastel-wearing girlie man, feign romance on the ice as a figure skating pair. They lock legs and hold hands, bump and grind and plant their faces in each other's crotch. It's hilarious and unsettling: The joke, which deftly avoids gay baiting, is on straight men. Straight men and male bonding, it turns out, make for far richer comic ground these days.
SPORTS
July 28, 2007 | David Wharton, Times Staff Writer
THE guys in his boat took to calling him "Badger" because of the grimace he wore during races. Part of a junior rowing club that ranked among the fastest in the nation, Lucas Goodman was relentless on the water. It was a different story on land. The teenager with the powerful build and close-set eyes had to be careful. He hung back ever so slightly when teammates shot the breeze, talking about girls. "You get tired of constantly watching what you say, constantly watching how you act," he said.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 21, 1993 | BETTINA BOXALL, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Responding to a graphic anti-gay video circulated on Capitol Hill this year, gay activists released their own video Tuesday for distribution to lawmakers and Pentagon officials reviewing the military's ban on homosexuals. Called "To Support and Defend," the video features gays and lesbians who have served in the military, as well as interviews with some of their heterosexual colleagues.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 7, 2004 | James Ricci, Times Staff Writer
Strictly speaking, the graduation exercise that took place on the fourth floor of Men's Central Jail last week wasn't much of a rite of passage since the graduates weren't going anywhere any time soon. Nonetheless, the hourlong celebration in honor of 15 gay male inmates who had earned high school diplomas or GEDs, or completed 10-week courses in drug rehabilitation, anger management and life skills moistened as many eyes per capita as any traditional school commencement.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 7, 1999 | ART MARROQUIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
As a teenager, Ruben Reyes studied for the priesthood in Mexico, as his strict Catholic family wanted. What Reyes wanted was something very different--especially for a good Latino kid. He longed to live an openly gay life. As an adult, Reyes found himself cruising West Hollywood, but he still felt culturally out of place. A year ago, when he walked into La Casa in East Los Angeles, he finally found people like himself.
NEWS
November 23, 2000 | KIM MURPHY, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Portland, Ore., is a town whose greatest point of pride is perhaps what it is not, and that is Los Angeles. No sprawl, thanks to strict growth management. No smog. A successful light-rail system. And unlike the city plagued by race riots and gang violence, Portland talks of tolerance as a greater truth. So it was with some trepidation nearly a year ago that the city greeted its new police chief, Mark Kroeker, a 32-year LAPD veteran and longtime Los Angeles deputy chief.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
September 12, 2004 | William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer
Televangelist Paul Crouch, founder of the world's largest Christian broadcasting network, has waged a fierce legal battle to prevent a former employee from publicizing allegations that he and Crouch had a sexual encounter eight years ago. Crouch, 70, is the president of Trinity Broadcasting Network, based in Orange County, whose Christian programming reaches millions of viewers around the world via satellite, cable and broadcast stations.