Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates, and his wife Melinda, have donated an additional $500,000 to the campaign to uphold Washington's state's marriage equality law.

The announcement Tuesday comes from Washington United for Marriage, the broad coalition working to approve Referendum 74, the November ballot initiative that will ask voters to approve or reject the same-sex marriage law passed in the legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire earlier this year.

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign is condemning the extreme profits National Organization for Marriage (NOM) strategist Frank Schubert is making at the expense of LGBT Americans.

Schubert is the man behind NOM’s misleading ads that advocate against LGBT equality. Public filings show that he has netted nearly $3 million this year for his work in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Washington State. The profits go to Schubert’s company, Mission Public Affairs.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- With plans for gay and lesbian marriage developing fast in England, Scotland and Wales, the struggle for equality in Northern Ireland has received far less attention.

But a new executive committee has been elected to run Equal Marriage Northern Ireland and its chair, John O’Doherty is confident of success.

It won’t be the same strategy as in the rest of the United Kingdom. A political debate is under way but the constitution in NI and its conservative make-up – including some virulent homophobes – prevent a political resolution to the issue.

France has named Oct. 31 as the date when a draft law authorizing equal marriage will be approved by government ministers.

Despite widespread political and religious opposition, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault insisted there would be no backtracking on a manifesto promise by President Francois Hollande in an interview with AFP.

President Hollande has promised that the legislation will be on the statute books by mid-2013 and there is sufficient cross party support to ensure the government will be able to push it through on schedule.