SAME SEX MARRIAGE

Wives Tabitha Simmons and Kathy Sprague of Moscow, Idaho were one of the first same-sex couples married in the state of Idaho. The two, who have been…

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to take up the case of a Tri-Cities florist who refused to provide services for a same-sex wedding, leaving in place a decision that she broke state anti-discrimination laws.

The percentage — the highest since the organization began recording the trend in 1996 — marks a 10% increase since 2015, the same year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled all states must recognize same-sex marriages.

The Roman Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex marriages, no matter how stable or positive the couples' relationships are, the Vatican said on Monday. The message, approved by Pope Francis, came in response to questions about whether the church should reflect the increasing social and legal acceptance of same-sex unions.

"What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered," the pope said in an interview in the film Francesco, which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival.

The Supreme Court is throwing out an Oregon court ruling against bakers who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

In a unanimous decision Thursday, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld its earlier decision against a Richland florist who refused to sell wedding flowers to a gay couple.

Jack Phillips, who prevailed in a Supreme Court case about his refusal to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, is suing Colorado in a case involving a cake celebrating gender transition.

While the court's 7-2 decision skirted the main legal arguments the case presented, the court's ruling sets the stage for two similar cases in the Northwest: one involving a Washington florist and another with a bakery owner in Oregon.

When Jerry Nadeau, 72, a Vietnam vet, met his husband, John Banvard, 100, a World War II vet, neither had been openly gay. Together now for almost 25 years, each says he feels completed by the other.