California Court To Issue Gay Marriage Ruling On May 26

California's Supreme Court will issue its long-awaited ruling on a bid to overturn a ban on gay marriage next week, the court said in a statement Friday.

The court said it would publish its opinion, which followed oral arguments in March, at 10 am (1700 GMT) on Tuesday, the latest twist in a long-running saga over same-sex marriage in the most populous US state.

New Hampshire Moves Closer to Gay Marriage
The upper house in New Hampshire's assembly voted Friday in favor of a bill that would make the northeastern state the fifth in the country to allow same-sex marriage, the governor said.

In March, civil rights lawyers argued that a ban on same-sex marriage passed during last November's elections violated the state's constitution and that minority rights should not be vulnerable to a simple majority vote.

Tuesday's ruling will come roughly 12 months after the California Supreme Court voted to legalize gay marriage, a landmark decision that saw some 18,000 same-sex couples tie the knot.

However the status of those marriages was thrown into question six months later when Californians voted to amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

New York Becomes The Fifth State To Introduce Gay Marriage Law
Sources say New York Governor David Paterson introduced a gay marriage law that would make the state the fifth, and the highest profile, allowing same-sex couples to wed.

During oral arguments in March, advocates of same-sex marriage urged the court to strike down the results of the referendum, known as Proposition 8.

"Prop. 8 changes the basic nature of our government from one in which the majority protects the rights of minorities," said Shannon Minter, lead counsel for those seeking to overturn the measure.

Iowa Court Legalizes Gay Marriage
The Iowa Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional Friday and ruled that the rural midwestern state must allow gay and lesbian women full access ...

"It takes away the right to be treated with equal dignity and respect ... A simple majority cannot be allowed to take any rights away from a historically protected minority."

But some members of the seven-judge panel strongly indicated they were leaning toward rejecting the requests to invalidate the referendum results, with one justice saying the court could not "willy-nilly disregard the will of the people."

Human Rights Groups Slam Nigeria Bid to Outlaw Gay Marriage
Nigerian human rights groups and gay activists are outraged by a bid to introduce legislation which would criminalise gay marriage, claiming it would violate their fundamental rights.

Source-AFP
SRM