Kulongoski, other Ore. lawmakers question gay marriage legality
09:06 PM PST on Wednesday, March 3, 2004
By CHARLES E. BEGGS, Associated Press Writer
SALEM --Oregon political leaders from both major parties, most notably Gov. Ted Kulogngoski, were sharply critical Wednesday of Multnomah County's decision to issue licenses for gay marriage -- and for shrouding the decision making process in secrecy.



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CULTURE WARS
The Married State
One good thing about gay nuptials: It'd drive the mullahs mad.
BY CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
Wednesday, March 3, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST

I shall not soon forget an evening I had with my friend Andrew Sullivan, the most eloquent of the gay conservatives, about a decade ago. The issue of homosexual marriage was then just beginning to stir. Look, Andrew, I said in effect, are you sure about this? We've just reached a point where America is more open to, and more reconciled with, its gay citizens than any society in history. The AIDS crisis didn't lead to panic or quarantine. Gay-bashing politicians have learned that the tactic rebounds on them. The armed forces are at least willing to compromise, and might have gone further than that if not for Bill Clinton's cowardice. And, just at this moment, you want to increase the stakes and demand not just equal rights but identical rights, in an area where the mainstream already feels vulnerable. I may have added something flippant about the idea of marriage somehow missing the point of being gay. (In other words, glad as I am not to be gay, if I were I would think, well, at least I don't have to go through all that.)


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Thursday, March 04, 2004
The Advocate
Far-right columnist compares same-sex marriage advocates to Islamic terrorists
In his March 2 column on the far-right religious Web site WorldNetDaily, Dennis Prager compared same-sex marriage advocates to Islamic terrorists. Prager, a popular syndicated radio talk-show host on the Salem Radio Network, who often appears on shows like Larry King Live, Politically Incorrect, and various Fox News programs, titled his article "San Francisco and the Islamists: Fighting the Same Enemy."
"America is engaged in two wars for the survival of its civilization," he wrote. "The war over same-sex marriage and the war against Islamic totalitarianism are actually two fronts in the same war--a war for the preservation of the unique American creation known as Judeo-Christian civilization. One enemy is religious extremism. The other is secular extremism. One enemy is led from abroad. The other is directed from home.
The first war is against the Islamic attempt to crush whoever stands in the way of the spread of violent Islamic theocracies, such as al-Qaida, the Taliban, the Iranian mullahs, and Hamas. The other war is against the secular nihilism that manifests itself in much of Western Europe, in parts of America, such as San Francisco, and in many of our universities....


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Gay massacre trial begins in South Africa
The trial of two South Africans charged with brutally killing nine men at a gay escort agency started Wednesday with the judge refusing to accept a guilty plea from the two accused, as they blamed each other for the grisly crime, Agence France-Presse reports. Judge Nathan Erasmus of the Cape High Court said he would not accept the guilty pleas of Adam Woest, 27, and Trevor Theys, 44, because they blamed each other for the massacre. "Both men raised the issue of compulsion [in their statements], and I will therefore enter pleas of not guilty," Erasmus said.


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Group demands that Lockyer charge mayor for gay marriages
By STEVE LAWRENCE
Associated Press Writer
March 3, 2004, 7:35 PM EST
SACRAMENTO -- The head of a conservative group demanded Wednesday that Attorney General Bill Lockyer file criminal charges against San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and others who have performed gay marriages.
"If New York State can charge a little mayor with violating state law, then California's attorney general should have no problem charging a corrupt mayor of a big city with violating the law," said Randy Thomasson, executive director of the Campaign for California Families.


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Gay activists blaze trail for half century
By Janet Kornblum, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — The year was 1955. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. Disneyland just opened. Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man.

And Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin helped found the nation's first lesbian organization.
Nearly 50 years later, Lyon, 79, and Martin, 83, are still making history. On Feb. 12, two days shy of their 51st anniversary together, they became the first same-sex couple officially to get a marriage license in San Francisco, helping to launch a local gay marriage movement that has been both applauded and denounced.