The battle for marriage is heating up once more in New York, and with Governor Andrew Cuomo leading the drive to legalize same-sex marriage the issue has taken center stage in the state legislature. With the likely approval of a homosexual marriage bill by the state assembly, Cuomo has focused his attention on turning some key votes in the state Senate, which the Republican Party controls by a razor-thin 32-30 margin. He is getting some help in his campaign from former Republican and now liberal Independent New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been pressuring some vulnerable GOP state Senators to support the measure.

MTV has pulled a life-affirming advertisement run on its network by the pro-life group Heroic Media, suggesting that the group’s pro-life motives were a strong factor in the decision to ban the commercial. The ad, which has aired on MTV over the past year, was scheduled to be run during the month of May. It features a young woman struggling with an unexpected pregnancy and directs viewers to a toll-free crisis pregnancy line.

Sears Holdings Corp., parent company for national retailers Sears and Kmart, has apologized to customers after the conservative American Family Association revealed that pornographic videos were being sold through the Sears.com website. Following a nine-month campaign during which AFA officials tried to persuade Sears to pull scores of a “X-rated products” from its website, Sears executives finally relented and removed the videos, but only after thousands of individuals had e-mailed to express their anger and dismay that the retailer, which has long cultivated a family-oriented reputation, would carry such merchandise.

A recent poll commissioned by World Net Daily (WND) reveals that a majority of Americans think it is inappropriate to include curriculum in elementary grades that affirms and promotes homosexuality. The survey, conducted by Wenzel Strategies, a media consulting company, found that 65 percent of those surveyed answered “no” to the query, “Do you believe elementary school children should be taught that homosexuality is a normal alternative lifestyle?”

Chaplains in the U.S. Navy will be able to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies under the new military policy permitting openly homosexual individuals to serve in the armed forces. According to the Associated Press, Navy officials explained that they had updated chaplain training “after questions came up about civil ceremonies for gay couples.” The move comes as the Department of Defense prepares to complete the dismantling of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” prohibition against homosexuals serving in the U.S. military.

“You’ll be fine, partner.” That’s the advice America’s favorite cartoon cowboy, Woody from the popular movie franchise Toy Story, is giving to young people struggling with homosexual attraction. In fact, “It gets better,” choruses a cast of Hollywood and entertainment notables such as Anne Hathaway, Kathy Griffin, Lady Gaga, and Adam Lambert, who appear in a television ad promoting both homosexuality and Google’s Chrome web browser.

A ban on public funding for religious organizations, written into Florida’s constitution in the 1880s, would be repealed under a bill now before the state’s legislature. The Associated Press reported that the bill, HJR 1471, won approval in the state House on April 27, but its companion measure, SB 1218, was stalled in the state Senate.

A church in Riverside County, California, is suing the state’s highway patrol after some of its members were arrested during a public Bible reading incident at the entrance to a local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office.

David Wilkerson, who pastored the 5,000-strong Times Square Church (left) in one of New York City’s seedier red light districts, and who founded the highly successful faith-based Teen Challenge drug treatment and Christian mentoring program, has died at the age of 79. As reported by the Associated Press, Wilkerson was killed April 27 “in a car accident in East Texas, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said. Wilkerson’s car smashed head-on into a tractor-trailer rig after veering into oncoming traffic on U.S. 175 west of Cuney, about 95 miles southeast of Dallas, Mange said.”

Proponents of California’s Proposition 8, the state constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2008 that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, are asking a U.S. district court to vacate a federal judge’s ruling that struck down the amendment because the judge is a practicing homosexual.