Cuban gay activist marries transgender bride on Fidel's birthday

Noted gay Cuban gay rights activist Ignacio Estrada has married a transsexual bride in what is being seen as the country's first "gay wedding," attended by prominent dissidents and members of Cuba's gay community, as well as U.S. diplomats.

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Cuban transsexual Wendy Iriepa arrives for her wedding on August 13, 2011, in Havana. (Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images)

Same-sex marriage is illegal in Cuba, but the bride — Wendy Iriepa, 37 — is legally a woman after undergoing Cuba's first state-sanctioned sex change operation in 2007.

News DeskAugust 13, 2011 22:04

Sesame Street denies Bert and Ernie gay rumors

Children’s television show Sesame Street has been forced to issue a statement saying that Bert and Ernie are not a gay couple

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Sesame Street characters Cookie Monster, Ernie (center) and Bert (behind) at the fifth anniversary of Hollywood theme park Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)

Children’s television show Sesame Street has been forced to issue a statement saying that Bert and Ernie are not a gay couple.

The popular characters had been co-opted by some in the gay marriage lobby as a homosexual couple, according to a report in Melbourne’s Sunday Age.

Claws come out in Republican debate ahead of Iowa poll (VIDEO)

News DeskAugust 12, 2011 06:54

While previous Republican debates have been exceedingly polite, according to the Iowa State Daily, "the struggle to find a frontrunner for the party drew candidates' claws out onstage Thursday evening."

Cuba: For macho island, a shift on civil unions

Nick MiroffJuly 28, 2011 06:49

HAVANA — Why then is Cuba, a largely secular society where left-wing politics have dominated for 50 years, still slow to grant full legal equality for gays and lesbians?

John Kerry backs gay marriage; this time Boston notices

News DeskJuly 22, 2011 09:36

As though to leave no one in doubt, the Globe on Friday published an interview with Kerry under the headline, "Kerry acknowledges gay marriage change."

U.S. Pentagon is set to formally end the ban on gays serving in the military

News DeskJuly 21, 2011 20:42

With the end of the 18-year ban, gays and lesbians serving in the armed forces will be able to publicly reveal their sexual orientation without fear of dismissal or official rebuke and openly gay men and women will be able to enlist, but now the military will have to look at the question of what benefits same-sex couples will be eligible for.

California schools to add lessons on gay history

News DeskJuly 15, 2011 06:11

The bill has drawn criticism from churches and conservative groups, which argue such material would expose students to a subject that some parents find objectionable.

Obama urges courts to go slow on "don't ask, don't tell"

News DeskJuly 15, 2011 05:44

Congress has passed a law that eventually will repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, but the order from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on July 6 called for an immediate halt to its enforcement.

Stephanie GarlowJuly 12, 2011 14:03

Chile moves toward legalizing same-sex civil unions

It seems Chilean President Sebastian Pinera is finally about to make good on his promise to legalize civil unions for gay partners.

Chile civil unions gay rights 2011 07 12

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Residents participate in a Gay Pride Parade in Santiago, Sept. 29, 2007. (Victor Ruiz Caballero/Reuters)

It was an unheard of strategy during Chile's last presidential campaign: Show gay men holding hands and lesbians kissing each other on prime-time TV.

And the ads came from Sebastian Pinera, the conservative candidate in a Catholic country, where divorce was only legalized in 2004.

The gay community could only wonder whether it was all for show.

A year and a half later, Pinera is president. And it seems he's finally about to make good on his promise to legalize same-sex civil unions.