Gays and lesbians won’t settle for the back of the bus
Who’s standing the way of gay marriage?
March 19, 2004
ALAN MAASS looks at the background to the birth of a new civil rights struggle.
THE STRUGGLE over the rights of gays and lesbians to marry has emerged with incredible speed. Even last year, the two decisions of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturning a state ban on gay marriage were seen as out of step with U.S. politics.

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No compromise on gay rights
Separate is never equal
March 19, 2004
Danielle Leone, Jessica Rothenberg and Elizabeth Schulte report on the latest developments in the fight for gay marriage. WE CAN’T wait. That’s the feeling among supporters of gay marriage. And nowhere was the sentiment felt more strongly than in Massachusetts, where the state legislature voted March 11 in favor of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

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High court makes move in gay marriage lawsuit
03/18/2004
By CHARLES E. BEGGS / Associated Press
The Oregon Supreme Court took a step toward wading into the state's gay marriage legal thicket.
The court asked lawyers Wednesday to submit written arguments by noon Monday on whether a Portland citizen had adequate grounds to bring a lawsuit asking the state's top court to order Multnomah County to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
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Marriage-amendment bill advances in House
March 18, 2004
A proposal that ultimately would ban gay marriage or its legal equivalent in Minnesota is on its way to the House floor after passing the House Rules and Legislative Administration Committee Wednesday.

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Highlights from the Kansas Legislature
Associated Press
Highlights of Wednesday's activities at the Kansas Legislature:
_ Amending the Kansas Constitution to ban gay marriage could be bad for business, opponents of the proposal told a Senate committee.

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Two New York Unitarian Universalist ministers, who were marrying gays since before the big debate, have been charged with criminal offenses for marrying gay people.