D.C.

At least 50 same-sex couples lined up to apply for marriage licenses the day gay unions became legal there.

Sinjoyla Townsend, 41, and her partner of 12 years, Angelisa Young, 47, claimed the first spot in line just after 6 a.m. They are already domestic partners in the city, so they are converting that partnership into a marriage license.

Tens of thousands of gay rights supporters rallied in the nation's capital Sunday, marching from the White House to the Capitol demanding federal action on a whole host of issues from workplace discrimination to marriage.

The march was first announced earlier this year by famed activist Cleve Jones at Utah's gay pride parade and on Sunday, Jones said the goal was nothing less than full equality on every issue in every state.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights [NCLR] has issued a statement in regards to a new law in the District of Columbia that, in part, extends the legal parental rights of a non-birthing lesbian:

Surrogacy can be difficult in many parts of the world. France and Germany have banned it, and the Vatican prohibits surrogate motherhood - even for straight couples - saying that reproductive technology tempts man "to go beyond the limits of a reasonable dominion over nature." While the U.S. is more progressive than some other countries, many states still prohibit surrogacy for gays and lesbians.

The American Surrogacy Center says the District of Columbia is very unfriendly toward surrogacy.

Family Pride is expanding its base of operations to Massachusetts.

The group will open a new office in Boston July 2, 2007 and its national policy work will continue in its D.C. office.

Little League sign-up was the final straw.

Cynthia Garnette and her partner have two sons - one born to Garnette, one her partner adopted at birth - but Virginia law made it impossible for them, as a same-sex couple, to both be legal parents of both kids. It occurred to Garnette one day, as she was taking her 5-year-old son to play baseball, that she could run into trouble registering him because of her tenuous legal situation.