Gays

FORMER WB 17 sportscaster and current "Today" show weekend anchor Jenna Wolfe announced Wednesday that she is expecting a baby girl with her partner, NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk . The announcement is the first time Wolfe has publicly discussed her sexuality. "This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to us," Wolfe told People magazine, whose exclusive interview with the couple hits newsstands on Friday. "But I don't want to bring my daughter into a world where I'm not comfortable telling everyone who I am and who her mother is. " Wolfe was artificially inseminated by an anonymous donor.

With the U.S. Supreme Court holding its second straight day of arguments on same-sex marriage cases Wednesday, the latest polls show that public opinion in Pennsylvania has shifted in favor of legal matrimony for gay and lesbian couples over the past few years. To be sure, voters are still deeply divided, and there is no groundswell in the legislature to legalize same-sex marriage. Pennsylvania, a slow-to-change state, has seen movement on the issue nonetheless, as has the nation as a whole - especially among younger voters.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court jumped into a historic debate on gay rights Tuesday that could soon lead to resumption of same-sex marriage in California, but the justices signaled they may not be ready for a major national ruling on whether America's gays and lesbians have a right to marry. The court's first major examination of gay rights in 10 years continues Wednesday, when the justices will consider the federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from receiving a range of benefits afforded married heterosexuals.

ATLANTA - After hearing arguments this week, the U.S. Supreme Court could issue a ruling on same-sex marriage that proves as historic - and as polarizing - as Roe v. Wade or Bush v. Gore . Or perhaps, as some legal experts suggest, the court will choose not to make history just now, ruling more narrowly or skirting the issue altogether. On Tuesday, the high court will consider California's Proposition 8, which recognizes marriages only between a man and a woman. The state constitutional amendment, passed with 52 percent of the vote in 2008, has since been declared unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court judge and the federal appeals court in San Francisco.

Successful techniques to transform gays into straights are like Saddam's weapons of mass destruction; they don't exist but can still cause a lot of damage. So perhaps it's appropriate that a battle about banning "reparative" therapy for gay kids has erupted during the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war. Democrats in the New Jersey Senate, including gubernatorial nominee-in-waiting Barbara Buono, want to prohibit state-licensed professionals from practicing "conversion" therapy on minors.

The unlikely issue of gay conversion therapy for children was injected into the New Jersey governor's race Thursday, with Republican Gov. Christie ultimately saying he opposed the controversial practice. Still, Christie would not commit to signing a bill - cosponsored by his likely gubernatorial opponent, State Sen. Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex) - that would forbid licensed counselors from trying to change the sexual orientation of minors. The issue moved at a rapid pace at a Wednesday afternoon news conference, with Christie initially saying he was undecided on the pending bill.

CHICAGO - The nation's most influential pediatricians' group has endorsed gay marriage, saying a stable relationship between parents regardless of sexual orientation contributes to a child's health and well-being. The American Academy of Pediatrics' new policy, published online Thursday, cites research showing that the parents' sexual orientation has no effect on a child's development. Children fare just as well in gay or straight families when they are nurturing and financially and emotionally stable, the academy says.

TRENTON - A Senate committee voted Monday to advance a bill that would ban licensed therapists from trying to make gay New Jersey minors become heterosexual. The Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee vote followed a debate about the practice known as "conversion therapy" and how much say the state should have in parental decisions about child-rearing. After passing 7-1 with two abstentions, the bill heads to the full Senate, though some senators said the language needed clarification.

I can't say that I'm disappointed in Robbie Rogers. Unless he chose to, it was not his responsibility to be a martyr to the cause. And even if it is 2013, and no matter how far we like to say we've advanced as a society in tolerance and understanding, Rogers would still face tremendous pressures as being the first openly gay player to participate in a male professional team sport. If Rogers, the 25-year-old former MLS Best XI selection and U.S. men's national team member, decided it was in his best interest to retire from the sport after announcing in Febuary he was gay, who am I to question his wisdom in dealing with this most personal issue?

WASHINGTON - In a historic argument for gay rights, President Obama on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban and turn a skeptical eye on similar prohibitions across the country. The Obama administration's friend-of-the-court brief marked the first time a U.S. president has urged the high court to expand the right of gays and lesbians to wed. The filing unequivocally calls on the justices to strike down California's Proposition 8 ballot measure, although it stops short of the soaring rhetoric on marriage equality Obama expressed in his inaugural address in January.