WASHINGTON – Attorneys and plaintiffs in the historical legal challenge against California’s Proposition 8, the state law that took away marriage equality in the Golden State, are brimming with supreme confidence ahead of the oral hearing on Tuesday morning at the nation’s high court.

The nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will grill plaintiffs and defendants of Prop 8 as well as the Obama Administration on the lower court ruling by federal Judge Vaughn Walker that the state law is unconstitutional. That ruling was upheld by the Ninth District Court of Appeals.

WASHINGTON – In an interview with the Huffington Post, former Republican presidential candidate and House Speaker Newt Gingrich made remarks indicating he and other GOP leaders should embrace civil marriage equality – the latest sign of powerful momentum for LGBT equality this year.

Gingrich served as Speaker of the House in 1996, when the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was passed into law.

SAN DIEGO – A supermajority of the readers of San Diego Gay & Lesbian News who took our poll say that they do not approve of Paul Ryan, Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s choice for vice president.

Our poll question was: Do you approve of Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's choice for vice president?

The results, which are not scientific, reveal that 68% of readers dislike the Paul Ryan pick, 29% approve of the pick, and 3% are not sure.

African-American ministers have come out for, and against, President Barack Obama's stance on marriage equality.

LGBTQ activists of African descent have pondered what would be the catalyst to rally those African-American Christian ministers to support same-sex marriage and engage the black community in a nationwide discussion.

Last week the answer arrived in Obama's support of marriage equality.