The 8th Annual Iowa Governors Conference on LGBTQ Youth will take place on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013 at Prairie Meadows' The Meadows Conference Center in Altoona near Des Moines.

Iowa House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer on Monday would not rule out another attempt at passing a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.

Executives say Illinois needs to pass legislation to bolster workforce, economic development

Dozens of Illinois business leaders and several companies publicly endorsed gay marriage Sunday in an attempt to reignite the issue after a proposed bill failed to get traction in Springfield this month.

A Fargo representative says he’s proud to be North Dakota’s first openly gay lawmaker but that his most important cause is helping to craft good legislation for all people.

Democratic Rep. Joshua Boschee is among a freshman class of 17 House members and eight Senators who began work Jan. 8 on the 2013 session’s opening day. Although Boschee adds rare diversity to the assembly of North Dakota politicians, he believes he was elected because of his platform.

The House sponsor of legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in Illinois said the measure could get a vote “very soon,” after the new General Assembly was sworn in this week.

State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) said, when same-sex civil unions became law in 2011, it was described as the first step in a very long journey toward legalizing gay marriage. But Harris said that has changed.

The Minnesota state senator who will take the lead in that chamber on a bill to legalize gay marriage says backers will wait at least a month or two into the upcoming legislative session before they start to push it hard.

President Obama is endorsing a proposal by the Illinois legislature to legalize gay marriage, a White House spokesman told Reuters on Sunday.

Advocates of stronger anti-bullying measures in Minnesota say they’ll push again for a new bullying law during the upcoming legislative session.

They have tried and failed several times in recent years to rewrite a law that is considered one of the weakest anti-bullying statutes in the nation.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has launched lobbying efforts in Illinois and Minnesota to defeat proposed bills which would legalize gay marriage in both states.

Gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans on Thursday criticized former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, who is on President Barack Obama's short list of candidates to succeed Leon Panetta as secretary of defense.