It is extremely important for these youth, who many times aren't getting support from the families, their communities or their teachers, to have a place where they can go and be themselves.

When you have a group saying we're not going to support [gay marriage], in fact, we'll work against it, saying we don't want you to get married, or raise or adopt kids — when that's the message, it has tremendous effects.

Holiday sales have become a vital component of the retail sales cycle for millions of small businesses. Overall, we found 51 percent of U.S. small business owners believe Valentine's Day sales are important to their business and are optimistic that sales will be rosy this year.

We have people coming in that are reporting that they're having difficulties wondering if they need to go back into the closet and not feeling safe.

It is said that if the owners of retail flower shops had to depend upon the shops to support their family financially, then half of them would close, ... It tends to be a second income source for people. It's pretty hard to make money at that small a volume.

This is a chance for the arts council to show we appreciate member support.