The cause is said to have no realistic hope of enactment but critics have accused the president of playing politics with the socially divisive issue by seeking to revive support from his conservative base in light of slumping popularity in opinion polls and other issues of higher priority.
Do genes make people gay? This question has prompted so much controversy and hand wringing by scores of conservatives, liberals, religious leaders and the LGBT community that most assume that a definitive answer would cause a seismic shift in our societybut would it?
DC Comics' new Batwoman is making a comeback as a "lesbian socialite by night and a crime fighter by later in the night." Meanwhile, a new UN AIDS report has revealed that unprotected sex among MSM is increasing in the US. In Moscow, undeterred by the opposition, organisers have announced their plan to hold another gay rally in Moscow next year.
Tan Chong Kee visits Glide Memorial in San Francisco and witnesses first hand how welcoming and pro-diversity the church - which offers everything from hot meals to free and confidential HIV testing to job training - really is.
Despite an official ban and faced with threats of violence, gay and lesbian activists in Moscow attempted to hold Russia's first gay pride march - clashing with police, and nationalists and religious protesters shouting "Moscow is not Sodom!"
Health insurance, family pressures, immigration, dealing with hospitals, inheritance and a number of financial issues pose problems for same-sex couples in Korea. Report from Douglas Sanders in Seoul.
Australian PM John Howard was "grilled" by a student over his negative stance on gay marriage at an Irish university. In China, a 33-year-old Beijing man was sentenced to a year in jail for using the Internet to organise gay sex parties, meanwhile Mauritian gays are seeking legal protection against discrimination three days after their first gay rally.