Gay Marriage and Civil Rights (5 Letters)



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Ad campaign asks, "What if it were a gay world and you were straight?"
A newly launched online ad campaign is asking the general public, "What if it were a gay world and you were straight?" Launched by the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, the ads are designed to underscore the denial of hospital visitation rights to unmarried couples. "What if it were a gay world?" puts viewers in the shoes of a man barred from visiting his female partner in the hospital. "No American should ever have to experience being blocked from visiting their partner at the hospital room door," said HRC president Cheryl Jacques. "But without the right to marry, all too many couples have been denied this right. Sadly, there are some gay survivors who have even been robbed of the ability to say their final goodbyes to their partner. This ad shows the pain of a man who in a world where opposite-sex couples are unable to marry is confronted with this painful inequality."


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'Activist Judges' Mainly GOP Appointees Study Shows
by Doreen Brandt
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau
Posted: March 2, 2004 8:03 p.m. ET
(Washington, D.C.)

  A Senate sub committee Wednesday will hear testimony about the implications of judicial decisions supporting same-sex marriage.  The hearing, set up by Sen. John Cornyn's (R-Texas) the chair of the subcommittee, is officially titled "Judicial Activism vs. Democracy: What are the National Implications of the Massachusetts Goodridge Decision and the Judicial Invalidation of Traditional Marriage Laws?"


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Magazine Contributor Wants To Be a Voice for Gay Community

By Melissa Brandenburg, senior, Valley High School
For the Journal
Tuesday, March 2, 2004
"Be open!" is the one message Seth Stambaugh wants to get across. As a contributing writer to Pride magazine, New Mexico's brand new magazine for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender readers, Stambaugh holds strong as one of Albuquerque's youngest gay rights activists.