BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) — Three Michigan pastors claim a new hate crime law infringes on their First Amendment rights and should be declared unconstitutional. They filed a lawsuit Tuesday to try to strike down a portion of the federal law, which was signed last fall. The law expands federal hate crimes...

(AP) – Another Lutheran church in southeastern Minnesota has voted to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over the group’s policy on accepting gay clergy. The Rev. Mark Schwartz, of South Zumbro Lutheran Church, tells the Post-Bulletin of Rochester that his church voted 74-11...

During a weekly drop-in group held by the Albert Kennedy Trust in London, Suni, a 20-year-old London student, helps himself to a warm mince pie and a steaming cup of coffee. In 2008, during a holiday to Pakistan to visit relatives, his parents suspected the truth about his sexuality. They believed marriage...

EDMONTON — Junaid Bin Jahangir was such a devout Muslim that when he arrived in Canada he ate only yogurt for two days until he was sure which food followed halal dietary rules. The university student prayed five times a day, and joined a local mosque. Then one day, at age 27, he started to wonder...

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church says that, although the church views homosexuality as a sin, homosexuality is a personal choice. Patriarch Kirill says gays and lesbians must not be persecuted or discriminated against in any way, though the church still opposes same-sex marriages. The patriarch’s...

So much for that Biblical principle of “Blessed are the poor.” For a few churches in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that passage has been rewritten to say, “Homeless people shouldn’t get any food because of homosexuality.” It what is becoming one of the grossest maneuvers by the...

GIFT provides pastoral care, support groups for gay and lesbian youth and their family and friends, and educational seminars, including a workshop last year for gay couples on building healthy relationships. Cara Oosterhouse, president of GIFT’s board, said the new campaign is geared toward helping...

The Ohio Council of Churches has endorsed a proposed state law that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. By a vote of 9-0, with five abstentions, the council’s governing body passed a resolution supporting House Bill 176. The vote was taken in late October,...

Led by Pastor Joseph Tolton of Rehoboth Temple, a group of LGBT activists spoke out against the hatred and rejection spewed from church pulpits across America. The activists purchased a full-age ad in Metro NY, which issued a call to LIVE for Black LGBT people, and spoke against what the group called,...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Los Angeles’ Episcopal Diocese elected an openly lesbian priest as assistant bishop on Saturday, a move likely to stoke more tensions in the global Anglican community over the divisive issue of gay clergy. The Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool, 55, of Baltimore is the first...