Poll finds support for civil unions, casino vote

The survey, conducted by a new institute at Rhode Island College, also finds that most in the state strongly favor the idea of buying prescription drugs from Canada.


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Gay-rights activists rally at Capitol
By BRUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press
March 17, 2004
FRANKFORT -- Gay-rights supporters singing "Chapel of Love" rallied Tuesday against legislation to prevent homosexual couples from being married. They also protested legislation to prohibit gays and lesbians from becoming adoptive or foster parents and to prohibit local governments from enacting gay-rights ordinances. "I don't know about you, but I'm sick of being a target," Katherine Goodman of Henderson told a rally crowd in the Capitol Rotunda.
"Chapel of Love," a huge pop hit in the '60s for The Dixie Cups, was turned into a theme song. Its signature line: "Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married."
The Kentucky Senate has passed a proposed constitutional amendment that, if ratified by voters, would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.


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E. Mass. Episcopalians endorse gay marriage
By Eric Convey
Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Eastern Massachusetts Episcopalians, despite the objections of theological conservatives within their ranks, have formally endorsed the state Supreme Judicial Court ruling that will open civil marriage to same-sex couples in two months.


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Bans on Interracial Unions Offer Perspective on Gay Ones
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: March 17, 2004
ithout a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages, President Bush warned on Feb. 24, there is a grave risk that "every state would be forced to recognize any relationship that judges in Boston or officials in San Francisco choose to call a marriage." The president invoked the Constitution's "full faith and credit" clause, which requires states to honor court judgments from other states, as the basis for his alarm. But legal scholars say that an examination of the last wrenching national debate over the definition of marriage — when, only 50 years ago, a majority of states banned interracial marriages — demonstrates that the president misunderstood the legal terrain.


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History of U.S. Marriage: Past Debates


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Key West Commission backs same-sex marriages, decries Bush move
Associated Press
KEY WEST, Fla. - The city commission of this longtime gay-friendly community passed resolutions Tuesday supporting same-sex marriages and decrying President Bush's proposed constitutional amendment banning the unions. A crowd of more than 350 people, many waving American flags, cheered Mayor Jimmy Weekley and City Commissioner Tom Oosterhoudt as they read the two resolutions outside the commission