Seattle To Recognize Gay Marriages
Posted: March 8, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET
(Seattle, Washington) Seattle mayor Greg Nichels will sign an executive order today giving benefits to the married spouses of city employees and he will propose a council motion to protect the rights of all Seattle same-sex married couples no matter where they were married.
Nichels made the announcement on Sunday.  "The basic message is one of fairness, and that is that people who are willing to make a commitment to one another, who love one another, and who are willing to take on the responsibilities of marriage ought to be able to, regardless of their gender," Nickels told the AP.


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Scalia's talk to antigay group spurs ethics questions
By Richard A. Serrano and David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times, 3/8/2004
WASHINGTON -- As the Supreme Court was weighing a landmark gay rights case last year, Justice Antonin Scalia gave a keynote dinner speech in Philadelphia for an advocacy group waging a legal battle against gay rights.Scalia addressed the $150-a-plate dinner hosted by the Urban Family Council two months after hearing oral arguments in a challenge to a Texas law that made sex between gays a crime. A month after the dinner, he sharply dissented from the high court's decision overturning the Texas law. Some specialists in legal ethics said they saw no problem in Scalia's appearance before the group. But others say he should not have accepted the invitation because it calls into question his impartiality on an issue that looms increasingly large on the nation's legal agenda.


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Rudy opposes gay nups ban
By JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Rudy Giuliani doesn't support constitutional ban on gay marriages, he said yesterday.
WASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani came out yesterday against President Bush's call for a ban on gay marriage. The former mayor, who Vice President Cheney joked the other night is after his job, vigorously defended the President on his post-9/11 leadership but made clear he disagrees with Bush's proposal to rewrite the Constitution to outlaw gays and lesbians from tying the knot.

"I don't think it's ripe for decision at this point," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I certainly wouldn't support [a ban] at this time," added Giuliani,


Groups are starting to act on this, please take action now to stop further discrimination.

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Posted Monday, March 8 at 6:41 AM
Hall GOP calls for ban on gay marriage
by Ken Stanford
 
GAINESVILLE - Saying “marriage has in all times and places been between man and woman,” Hall County Republicans have approved a resolution backing proposed amendments the U.S. and Georgia constitutions banning gay marriage.


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Poll: Voters Not In Favor of Gay Marriage, Support Civil Unions

A slight majority of Florida voters support civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, but most oppose same-sex marriage, a new poll has found.


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The president should promote tolerance for all
MAURA RICIGLIANO
Maura Ricigliano is a junior at Rocky Point High.
March 8, 2004
Every year in school, starting in kindergarten, the subject of acceptance and tolerance always comes up. We learn the wrongs of judging people for their differences and for what they believe in.Even at home I was brought up to always have an open mind and think of people as just that - people. Not skin color, not religion, and not sexuality. Even MTV, which gets so much slack for corrupting youth, sends out this message to its viewers. With this in mind, it is a wonder to me that the president, the man who not only leads our country but the whole world, could promote such prejudice, intolerance and bias toward others by proposing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.


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IF YOU LIVE IN MINNESOTA CALL YOUR LEGISLATURES !!!do not let them pass this bill again!!!

MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE: Bill keying on gay-marriage ban comes up for debate


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While sounding alarm, some gay-rights foes see opportunity amid furor over same-sex marriage
DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
(03-07) 22:25 PST NEW YORK (AP) -- Even as they issue dire warnings, many longtime opponents of the gay-rights movement are welcoming the furor over same-sex marriage as a chance to expand the audience for their unfavorable views of homosexuality.


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Trial for transgender teen slaying set to begin
By Robert Airoldi, STAFF WRITER
A week from today, three young men charged with the slaying of a Newark transgender teenager -- in a case that caught the attention of the entire nation -- will walk into a Hayward courtroom to face charges that could send them to prison for the rest of their lives.


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BATTLE OVER SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
For some, a lot is riding on San Jose benefits vote
Alan Gathright, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, March 8, 2004
At the urging of Salas, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday is expected to become one of the first major cities in the United States to recognize same- sex marriages performed in San Francisco and elsewhere, ensuring that couples like the Salases will receive the same health and pension benefits as married heterosexual employees.
The city of Seattle is expected to take similar action today.


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Australian PM slams gay adoption
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has condemned the country's first law allowing gay couples to adopt.