GAY MARRIAGE
From Jim Lehrer News hour

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there is also a poll at this site
Chicago Gay Marriage Activists To Rally
Counterdemonstrations Under Way
UPDATED: 11:55 am CST March 4, 2004
CHICAGO -- Advocates of allowing same-sex couples to marry are scheduled to rally outside the Cook County Clerk's Office Thursday afternoon, demanding that gay couples be issued marriage licenses.

"The fact of the matter is words are cheap," said Andy Thayer, one of the organizers of the rally. "It's action that counts. We demand our civil rights. Orr is hiding behind the law and saying the law does not allow him to do this. The fact of the matter is that the 1960s civil rights movement had to go up against Jim Crow laws that they proudly and defiantly defied."

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Gay Marriage Wildfire Was Years in the Making
Thu Mar 4, 2004 01:11 PM ET
By Greg Frost
BOSTON (Reuters) - A popular uprising for gay marriage erupting in different parts of the United States was triggered by a Massachusetts court ruling in November but the fight for equal rights for gay couples has been years in the making, a key figure in the debate said.
Mary Bonauto, a lawyer representing seven lesbian and gay couples who successfully sued the state of Massachusetts seeking the right to wed legally, said she is not surprised at the sudden spate of officials conducting gay marriages.