Massachusetts

In a move to let non-resident gay couples marry in the state, the Mass. Senate voted on Tuesday to repeal a 1913 law that prohibited couples from obtaining marriage licenses if they couldn't legally marry in their home states.

The Mass. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the repeal this week.

Gov. Deval Patrick, whose 18-year-old daughter announced last month that she is a lesbian, has said he will back the repeal effort. more >>

Gloucester High School, a small school of 1,200 students located in the fishing port city of Gloucester, Mass., may seem like one of the many small, humble, and unassuming schools that dot the nation.

But most recently, in a national controversy that has raised issues concerning the rise of an increasingly glorified and sexualized culture, media reports have set off a firestorm after they traced the school’s quadruple rise in teen pregnancies this year to a supposed “pregnancy pact” that existed among 17 female students.

Although media reports on the verifiable existence of a “pregnancy pact” have been conflicted since Time Magazine broke the story last week, pro-family groups were quick to point out that regardless of whether there was a pregnancy pact or not, an abnormal amount of girls at the school were pregnant - an indicator of societal meltdown and failed sex education policies. more >>

A group of Massachusetts residents filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging a new state law that creates a 35-foot buffer zone around abortion clinics.

The plaintiffs argued in the suit filed Friday that the new law impinges their free speech rights within the zone by restricting them from sharing their pro-life message with people entering the clinics. Several senior citizens and a Harvard pre-med student are listed as plaintiffs in the suit.

According to the suit, the pro-life supporters "regularly travel to the public ways adjacent to reproductive health care facilities in Massachusetts to peacefully provide information about abortion alternatives and to offer assistance and support to persons entering and/or exiting the facility." more >>

A family-friendly movie company whose aim is to produce “content that will challenge the mind, capture the heart, refresh the spirit, and please God” plans to build a large-scale movie and production studio in Plymouth, Mass.

Officials from Good News Holdings, the self-dubbed “Spiritainment” company based in California, unveiled the plan to town officials last week.

The plan features multiple soundstages, back lots, and editing facilities built across 1,000 acres. Developers estimate the project could cost at least $150 million and predict it will be fully operating in five years, with construction taking three years. more >>

New England’s only nondenominational Christian college is hosting a controversial group of traveling homosexual activists for a few days of dialogue.

In response to a request from Soul Force, a gay-rights organization that advocates nonviolent resistance against "spiritual violence," Gordon College in Wenham, Mass. agreed to host the group for a series of presentations slated for Apr. 16-17 that are to be facilitated by the school’s Center for Christian Studies.

While Soul Force’s goal is to show religious institutions’ “misuse of religion to sanction the condemnation and rejection of any of God's children," Gordon leaders still support the college’s biblical founding that homosexuality is unacceptable. They do feel that these students must be embraced, however, in a compassionate manner. more >>