Arrest warrants issued in West Virginia gay bashing

Three people have been charged with beating three gay men as they were leaving a bar in Morgantown, W.Va. Two of the alleged victims said the incident was a hate crime, but West Virginia's hate-crimes law does not cover crimes committed because of a person's sexual orientation. Arrest warrants were issued Tuesday for Norman Patrick Barb III of Maidsville and James A. Demidovich and John Leslie Erjavek, both of Morgantown, said police chief Robert Lucci. The men were charged with misdemeanor battery, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $500 fine. "I told one of the officers that it was a hate crime," said John Matthew Aravanis of Princess Anne, Md., one of the alleged victims. "They said it wasn't and that they were just drunk."
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this is huge… next thing you know, we will not be aloud to walk in the side walks….!!


LGBT Federal Workers Lose Job Protections
by Paul Johnson
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau Chief
Posted: March 17, 2004 2:01 p.m. ET
(Washington, D.C.) Gay and lesbians in the entire federal workforce have had their job protections officially removed by the office of Special Counsel. The new Special Counsel, Scott Bloch, says his interpretation of a 1978 law intended to protect employees and job applicants from adverse personnel actions is that gay and lesbian workers are not covered. Bloch said that the while a gay employee would have no recourse for being fired or demoted for being gay, that same worker could not be fired for attending a gay Pride event.

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B'KLYN GAY-NUP STORM

March 17, 2004 -- The gay marriage controversy is coming to Bay Ridge.
Thumbing his nose at the charges against two New Paltz clergymen announced Monday, a Brooklyn minister is vowing to marry same-sex couples in his church.
The Rev. John Farrell says he will sanctify gay unions at Christ Episcopalian Church of Bay Ridge, as soon as his 12-member vestry approves performing gay unions within the 150-year-old house of worship. And that approval is expected tomorrow.

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Views: Meghan Streit
Marriage: No Middle Ground


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EAST TN COUNTY COMMISSION VOTES TO TARGET GAYS Rhea County commissioners unanimously passed a motion on Tuesday asking its state representatives to introduce legislation that would allow the county to charge homosexuals with crimes against nature.

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Gay-rights supporters singing "Chapel of Love" rallied at the state Capitol against legislation to prevent gay couples from being married.
They also protested legislation to prohibit gays and lesbians from becoming adoptive or foster parents.
The Kentucky Senate has passed a proposed constitutional amendment that, if ratified by voters, would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.


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Lawmakers to consider amendments that would weaken, strengthen marriage ban
By JENNIFER PETER
Associated Press Writer
or foster parents.
The Legislature took several major steps toward passing a constitutional ban on gay marriage last week, but still faces at least three days' worth of debate on as many as two dozen proposed changes before final action is taken for the year.


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Gay marriage ban still bandied about
By Jeanne M.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
State House debate resumes March 29
Phone calls, letters, and e-mails are pouring into Beacon Hill by the thousands.
State Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, has received about 6,000 constituent opinions, the vast majority of them opposed to gay marriage
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Bill to ban civil unions delayed 1week in state House
Bonna de la Cruz
A proposal to ban same-sex civil unions stalled today — maybe only briefly — as interested citizens for and against the legislation packed a Legislative Plaza hearing room. The legislation had been recommended by a Senate committee on Tuesday.
The bill will be heard again next week when the committee is scheduled to hear a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and woman. It is sponsored by state Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville.

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Machination ruled gay marriage debate

By Michael C. Levenson / michael.levenson@statehousenews.com / State House News Service / Robert Aicardi
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Never mind morality. Machination ruled the gay marriage debate last week.
Arguments over same-sex marriage swept back into the State House on March 11 with all the force of a full-fledged culture war. There were protesters waving rainbow flags, singing "God Bless America," kneeling in prayer, condemning deviance, and hoisting placards with messages both polite and spiteful.

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Providence mayor lobbies for gay marriage rights in Legislature
By Brooke Donald, Associated Press, 3/17/2004 12:53
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) As one of the few openly gay mayors of a major American city, David Cicilline is a powerful lobbyist for same-sex marriages. But he's not planning to open his City Hall office anytime soon to gay and lesbian couples hoping to be married, as a few of his sympathetic counterparts across the country have done in recent weeks.
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Wash. trial starting for lesbian minister
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL
The Associated Press
3/17/2004, 1:52 p.m. ET
BOTHELL, Wash. (AP) — Dozens of demonstrators were arrested Wednesday as they tried to stop a church trial that could remove a lesbian from the Methodist ministry for living openly in a lesbian relationship.

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Gay Marriage Compromise Reached: Lesbians Yes, Gay Men No


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Irish Gays Protest St Pats Parade