Two by two, dozens of same-sex couples obtained their marriage licenses in Washington state early Thursday, just hours after Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a voter-approved law legalizing gay marriage.

King County, the state's biggest county, opened the doors to its auditor's office in Seattle just after midnight PST to start distributing marriage licenses. But hundreds of people had lined up hours earlier, snaking around the downtown Seattle building on a chilly December night. By 6 a.m., 279 licenses had been issued and the line was gone.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday unveiled what she described as a "blueprint" to guide global efforts in wiping out the AIDS virus, focusing on improving treatment and prevention practices to "get ahead of the pandemic."

First-of-Its-Kind Lawsuit Sues Conversion Therapy Provider for Fraudulent Business Practices

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC),  pro bono co-counsel Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and the law firm of Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC filed a lawsuit today against Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), its founder, Arthur Goldberg, and a counselor, Alan Downing, for peddling conversion therapy services, a dangerous and discredited practice that fraudulently claims to convert people from gay to straight.

Like a lot of newlyweds, Karen Golinski was eager to enjoy the financial fruits of marriage. Within weeks of her wedding, she applied to add her spouse to her employer-sponsored health care plan, a move that would save the couple thousands of dollars a year.