Morning Sweep

A Staten Island man has been charged with a hate crime for attacking another man who he suspected was gay.

A new poll found that 59% of New Jersey residents would be “fine with” civil unions in their state becoming fully recognized same-sex marriages. And 69% of those polled said they think marriage equality is inevitable in the Garden State.

Another new poll shows that 68% of LGBT people favor Obama, with only 10% supporting McCain, and the rest undecided or rooting for third party candidates.

This news comes just as LGBT for Obama launches. The new blog will feature writers from sites including Bilerico, Pam’s House Blend, Blabbeando, DavidMixner.com, Good As You, Rod 2.0, and Towleroad, just to name a few.

A trans woman is suing the Library of Congress for withdrawing her job offer to work as a terrorism research analyst when it was discovered she is transitioning.

Opponents of same-sex adoption in Arkansas are currently petitioning to put a measure on the state’s Nov. ballot to limit adoption to married couples only.

A coalition of same-sex marriage opponents aims to change the Connecticut State Constitution in order to pass an amendment banning same-sex marriage. The state’s Constitution currently doesn’t allow citizens to petition to get issues on to the ballot, which has kept the coalition from bringing a same-sex marriage ban to the voters.

According to GLAAD, over 1,000 newspapers in the U.S. now print same-sex wedding or commitment ceremony announcements. Only 69 papers did the same back in 2002.

Rachel Maddow will become the first openly gay woman to host a primetime news program. "The Rachel Maddow Show" begins Sept. 8 on MSNBC.