Police refuse missing person report from man’s boyfriend
Gay partner mistakenly told report must come from ‘relative’
By LAURA DOUGLAS-BROWN
Friday, March 26, 2004
An employee of the Atlanta Police Department acted against department policy when she refused to take a missing person report from the missing man’s boyfriend because he wasn’t a “relative,” the APD’s gay liaison officer said this week.


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Atlanta hires its first full-time gay-crime specialist
The Associated Press - ATLANTA
Sgt. Connie Locke is working to find a killer.
She's been canvassing local gay bars _ Bulldogs, Metro, Model T's, Mary's, New Order and Backstreet _ looking for anyone with clues in the death of Precious Armani, a pre-operative transgender woman.
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Anti-gay Md. delegate accused of abusing daughter
Twice-divorced Amedori demanded to know if gays believe in God
By JOE CREA
Friday, March 26, 2004
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland lawmaker who called marriage a “God-given institution” and demanded to know in a House hearing if same-sex marriage advocates believed in God, physically abused her daughter in 1997 and told her second husband that she needed to be “restrained” from shooting the teenage girl, according to court papers.

http://www.washblade.com/2004/3-26/news/localnews/mdantigay.cfm

Canada captains UN push for gay rights resolution
http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=8ce0f2b9-5e74-4913-9e4a-33f40d488034
Political liaison of love
March 23, 2004
BY LISA FRYDMAN Staff Reporter
Woman. African-American. Lesbian. Talk about hurdles. Mary Morten and Willa Taylor have faced them all. But that hasn't stopped them. On the contrary: It has fueled them. Morten, a fortysomething public policy and organizational consultant, served as Mayor Daley's liaison to the gay and lesbian community from 1997 to 2000. Her activism stretches through the decades; in the '80s and early '90s, some of her higher-profile roles were as president of Chicago's NOW chapter and of the Chicago Foundation for Women. Bold, articulate and attractive, she admits that "taking a breather" isn't in her repertoire.

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Manager keeps gay benefits off budget
Charlotte city administrator fights idea for same-sex partners
RICHARD RUBIN
Charlotte City Manager Pam Syfert opposes providing benefits to city employees' same-sex partners this year, according to a memo sent to the City Council Friday evening.
The idea, which has remained an unresolved and contentious issue for the council over the past year, will not be included in the city's 2004-05 budget unless the council overrules Syfert. The manager's recommendation could sway several council members, who said they were reserving judgment until they heard from her. Mayor Pat McCrory applauded Syfert's decision Friday, saying benefits for unmarried couples would cost too much and cut against what most Charlotteans want. "It's both a policy issue and a budgetary issue, and there's no rationale for either one," said McCrory, a Republican.

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New York Gay Weddings Spread To Albany
by Beth Shapiro
365Gay.com Newscenter
New York Bureau
Posted: March 28, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET
(New York City) There were more gay weddings in New Paltz, New York this weekend, and for the first time in Albany, the state capital.
Two same-sex couples were